The Lower Karoo coal (k2-3) of the Mid-Zambezi basin, Zimbabwe: depositional analysis, coal genesis and palaeogeographic implications

The two coal types led to a new palaeogeographic setting for the Mid-Zambezi basin which is in agreement with the new rift concept. It was more of a trough having a SW-NE trend axis which was in the centre filled by a shallow freshwater lake. The above coal-belt was formed out of a peatswamp zone along its palaeo-shoreline. South of this stretched a ca. 100-km-wide shallow alluvial plain drained towards the NW by some meandering rivers, with adjacent flood plains temporarily occupied by local swamps. The alluvial plain was bounded on the SE by crystalline highlands representing the source of clastic sediments for the basin.