Amba Aradam Formation
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The Amba Aradam Formation is a Cretaceous sandstone formation in Ethiopia. It is up to 200 metres thick, for instance in the Degua Tembien district.[1] As fossils are absent, the age of the Amba Aradam Formation was interpreted based on the age of assumed corresponding sandstones elsewhere in Ethiopia:[1] the Debre Libanos Sandstones in the Blue Nile Basin, and the Upper Sandstone near Harrar in southeast Ethiopia, both of Late Cretaceous age (100–66 million years ago).[2][3][4] The lithology of the Amba Aradam Formation makes it less suitable for rock church excavation; caves have however been blasted in this formation to serve as headquarters for the TPLF during the Ethiopian Civil War of the 1980s.[1]
Amba Aradam Formation | |
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Stratigraphic range: Early Aptian ~120 Ma | |
Type | Geological formation |
Sub-units | Graua Limestone member |
Underlies | Tertiary basalts |
Overlies | Agula Shale, Mugher Mudstone |
Thickness | 200 m (660 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone, siltstone |
Other | Claystone, conglomerates, iron oxide |
Location | |
Coordinates | 13.328°N 39.438°E / 13.328; 39.438 |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 15.2°S 28.5°E / -15.2; 28.5 |
Region | Tigray |
Country | Ethiopia |
Extent | northern Ethiopian Highlands |
Type section | |
Named for | Imba Aradom mountain, near Hintalo |
Named by | William Thomas Blanford |
Year defined | 1868 |