The Forest Sandstone is a geological formation in southern Africa, dating to roughly between 200 and 190 million years ago and covering the Hettangian to Sinemurian stages of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. As its name suggests, it consists mainly of sandstone.
Fossils of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus and the primitive sauropod Vulcanodon have been recovered from the Forest Sandstone.
Geology Description The formation is a sedimentary unit, consisting mainly of aeolian sands and silts with interbedded fluvial sediments, laid down during a period of increasing aridity.
Extent The Forest Sandstone is found in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in the Mid-Zambezi, Mana Pools, Cabora Bassa and Limpopo Basins, with its greatest thickness in the Cabora Bassa Basin.
Deposition Age The formation is dated at 200 to 190 Ma.
Stratigraphy The Forest Sandstone is the penultimate formation in the Upper Karoo Group of the Karoo Supergroup, lying above the Pebbly Arkose Formation and below the Batoka Formation. In the Thuli Basin it is sometimes referred to as the Samkoto Formation.
The Forest Sandstone has been correlated to the Clarens Formation of the Great Karoo Basin in South Africa.
Fossil content Archosaurs
Protosuchia Protosuchians of the Forest Sandstone Formation Genus Species Presence Materials Notes ImagesProtosuchidae indeterminate Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.unknown protosuchid crocodile
Sphenodontia Sphenodontians of the Forest Sandstone Formation Genus Species Presence Materials Notes ImagesClevosaurus indeterminate Unspecified, Zimbabwe Dinosaurs
Sauropodomorphia Sauropodomorphs of the Forest Sandstone Formation Genus Species Presence Materials Notes Images MassospondylusWeishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Jurassic, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 535–536. .M. carinatus Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. a sauropodomorph Vulcanodon V. karibaensis Geographically located in the Bumi Hills area and the Sibilobilo Islands, in Kariba (District), Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe Partial skeleton and scapula A sauropodomorphSauropodomorpha Indeterminate Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.
Theropods Theropods of the Forest Sandstone Formation Genus Species Presence Materials Notes ImagesMegapnosaurusM. rhodesiensis Geographically located in Nyamandhlovu area, Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. A coelophysid theropod, formally referred to as Syntarsus by Weishampel et al.
Economic importance Hydrogeology The Forest Sandstone is the major groundwater-bearing unit of the Upper Karoo Group.
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