Paper No. 68-4
Presentation Time: 8:50 AM
STRATIGRAPHY OF THE NOMTSAS FORMATION IN THE WITPUTS SUBBASIN, SOUTHERN NAMIBIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PLACEMENT OF THE EDIACARAN-CAMBRIAN BOUNDARY IN THE NAMA GROUP
The Nama Group on the Kalahari Craton of southwestern Africa is an archetypal stratigraphic record of the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. The Nomtsas Formation in the upper Schwarzrand Subgroup of the Nama Group contains key biostratigraphic markers of the terminal Ediacaran and basal Cambrian, including erniettomorphs, cloudinomorphs, and trace fossils, yet has a complex stratigraphic architecture across the basin. Here we describe the stratigraphy from three areas where the Nomtsas Formation has been identified within the Witputs (southern) Subbasin of the Nama Basin, and consider geochronology, carbon isotope chemostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy data within this framework to better constrain stratigraphic correlations and the placement of the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in southern Namibia.