The Karoo basins of south-central Africa

Due to the shifts in tectonic and climatic conditions from the southern to the northern margins of Africa during the Karoo interval, the lithostratigraphic character of the Karoo Supergroup also changes significantly across the African continent. For this reason, the Karoo basins sensu stricto, which show clear similarities with the main Karoo Basin of South Africa, are generally restricted to south-central Africa, whereas the Karoo-age successions preserved to the north of the equator are distinctly different. This paper focuses on the Karoo basins sensu stricto of south-central Africa, synthesizing their sedimentological and stratigraphic features in relation to the tectonic and climatic controls on accommodation and sedimentation.