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Karroo basalts of the Tuli Syncline, Rhodesia

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Abstract

Karroo (Triassic-Jurassic) sediments and lavas occupy a N.N.E.-trending trough known as the Tuli Syncline 230 km in length by 45 km wide along the southern margin of Rhodesia. The structure is fault bounded, especially on the north, and comprises a sequence of gently inward dipping lava flows cut by numerous E-W and N.N.E. striking dolerite dykes. The igneous rocks have been subdivided on the basis of mineralogy and chemistry into a stratigraphic sequence of limburgites near the base, olivine basalts and upper augite-plagio-clase-phyric basalts. In addition, rare shoshonite and absarokite types occur. Twentyfour new silicate analyses are comparable to those from rocks in the neighbouring Nuanetsi Province of Rhodesia, and show strong affinities to the northern province Karroo basalts of southern Africa as defined by Cox,McDonald andHornung (1967).

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Vail, J.R., Hornung, G. & Cox, K.G. Karroo basalts of the Tuli Syncline, Rhodesia. Bull Volcanol 33, 398–418 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02596517

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