Forest Sandstone

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title: "Forest Sandstone" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["geologic-formations-of-botswana", "geologic-formations-of-zambia", "geologic-formations-of-zimbabwe", "jurassic-system-of-africa", "early-jurassic-africa", "hettangian-stage", "sinemurian-stage", "geologic-formations-with-imbedded-sand-dunes", "sandstone-formations", "aeolian-deposits", "fluvial-deposits", "fossiliferous-stratigraphic-units-of-africa", "paleontology-in-botswana", "paleontology-in-zambia", "paleontology-in-zimbabwe"] description: "Geologic formation in Southern Africa" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Sandstone" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Geologic formation in Southern Africa ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rockunit"]

Field	Value
name	Forest Sandstone
period	Sinemurian
image	Dune beds Chewore.jpg
caption	Dune beds in the Forest Sandstone, Chewore Safari Area, Hurungwe District, Zimbabwe
type	Geological formation
age	Hettangian-Sinemurian
~
prilithology	Sandstone
namedfor	Forests of Nyamandlovu District, Zimbabwe
namedby	A.M. MacGregor, Zimbabwe Geological Survey
region	South-central Africa
country	Botswana
Zambia
Zimbabwe
coordinates
paleocoordinates
map	{{Location map+
relief	1
width	250
float	center
lat_deg	-20.0
lon_deg	28.4
mark	Blue pog.svg
marksize	12
unitof	Karoo Supergroup
Upper Karoo Group
underlies	Batoka Formation
overlies	Pebbly Arkose Formation
::

| name = Forest Sandstone | period = Sinemurian | image = Dune beds Chewore.jpg | caption = Dune beds in the Forest Sandstone, Chewore Safari Area, Hurungwe District, Zimbabwe | type = Geological formation | age = Hettangian-Sinemurian ~ | prilithology = Sandstone | otherlithology = | namedfor = Forests of Nyamandlovu District, Zimbabwe | namedby = A.M. MacGregor, Zimbabwe Geological Survey | region = South-central Africa | country = Botswana Zambia Zimbabwe | coordinates = | paleocoordinates = | map = {{Location map+ | Zimbabwe | relief = 1 | width = 250 | float = center | places = | lat_deg = -20.0 | lon_deg = 28.4 | mark = Blue pog.svg | marksize = 12 | unitof = Karoo Supergroup Upper Karoo Group | subunits = | underlies = Batoka Formation | overlies = Pebbly Arkose Formation | thickness = | extent = | area = | map_caption = 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

Vertebrate fauna

::data[format=table]

Protosuchia	Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
	indeterminate	Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.
::

::data[format=table]

Sphenodontia of the Forest Sandstone Formation	Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
	indeterminate	Unspecified, Zimbabwe
::

::data[format=table]

Sauropodomorphs of the Forest Sandstone Formation	Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
		Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.		[[File:Massospondylus BW.jpg	center
		Geographically located in the Bumi Hills area and the Sibilobilo Islands, in Kariba (District), Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe	Partial skeleton and scapula
		Geographically located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.
::

::data[format=table]

Theropods of the Forest Sandstone Formation	Genus	Species	Presence	Notes	Images
		Geographically located in Nyamandhlovu area, Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.	Note: Referred to as Syntarsus by Weishampel et al.	[[File:Coelophysis_rhodesiensis.JPG	center
::

Economic importance

Hydrogeology

The Forest Sandstone is the major groundwater-bearing unit of the Upper Karoo Group.

References

References

1. "Forest Sandstone Formation". Paleobiology Database.
2. (2007). "Geophysical and hydrogeologic investigation of groundwater in the Karoo stratigraphic sequence at Sawmills in northern Matabeleland, Zimbabwe: a case history". Hydrogeology Journal.
3. Maurice E. Tucker. (1982). "Triassic environments, climate and reptile evolution". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
4. (2001). "Sedimentology of the upper Karoo fluvial strata in the Tuli Basin, South Africa". [[Journal of African Earth Sciences]].
5. (1996). "New palynological data from Karoo sediments, Mana Pools basin, northern Zimbabwe". Journal of African Earth Sciences.
6. (2001). "Age of the Batoka basalts, northern Zimbabwe, and the duration of Karoo Large Igneous Province magmatism". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
7. (1997). "Stratigraphy and palynostratigraphy, Karoo Supergroup (Permian and Triassic), mid-Zambezi Valley, southern Zambia". Journal of African Earth Sciences.
8. (2004). "Sedimentology and taphonomy of the upper Karoo-equivalent Mpandi Formation in the Tuli Basin of Zimbabwe, with a new 40Ar/39Ar age for the Tuli basalts". Journal of African Earth Sciences.
9. (2005). "The Karoo basins of south-central Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences.
10. Paul E. Olsen. (1984). "A review of the reptile and amphibian assemblages from the Stromberg of southern Africa, with special emphasis on the footprints and age of the Stromberg". Palaeont. Afr..
11. Weishampel, 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. {{ISBN. 0-520-24209-2.
12. (January 2018). "Stratigraphy of the Vulcanodon type locality and its implications for regional correlations within the Karoo Supergroup". Journal of African Earth Sciences.
13. M.A. Raath. (1972). "Fossil vertebrate studies in Rhodesia: a new dinosaur (Reptilia: Saurischia) from near the Triassic-Jurassic boundary". Arnoldia.
14. Larsen, Flemming. (2002). "A preliminary analysis of the groundwater recharge to the Karoo formations, mid-Zambezi basin, Zimbabwe". Physics and Chemistry of the Earth.

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