Nama Group
Stratigraphic range:Ediacaran ~570–543 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Group
Unit of	Nama Basin
Sub-units	See text
Underlies	Table Mountain Sandstone
Overlies	Basement
Area	125,000 km2 (48,000 sq mi)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Siltstone,mudstone,limestone
Location
Coordinates	23°54′S16°42′E / 23.9°S 16.7°E /-23.9; 16.7
Approximate paleocoordinates	41°24′S179°12′W / 41.4°S 179.2°W /-41.4; -179.2
Region	Omaheke,Hardap &ǁKaras Regions
Country	Namibia
Geologic map of Namibia with the Nama Group in beige

TheNama Group is a 125,000 square kilometres (48,000 sq mi) megaregionalVendian toCambrian group of stratigraphic sequences deposited in theNamaforeland basin in central and southernNamibia. The Nama Basin is a peripheral foreland basin, and the Nama Group was deposited in two early basins, the Zaris and Witputs, to the north, while theSouth AfricanVanrhynsdorp Group was deposited in the southern third.^[1] The Nama Group is made of fluvial and shallow-water marine sediments, both siliciclastic and carbonate.^[2]La Tinta Group in Argentina is considered equivalent to Nama Group.^[3]

The group extends from theGariep Belt in the south to outcrops of pre-Damarabasement in the north.^[4] Thrombolite-stromatolite reefs in the Nama Group are best developed in the Kuibis Subgroup of the Zaris subbasin, and in the Huns platform of the Witputs subbasin.^[5] The Nama Group is a series of interbedded shallow marine carbonates and siliciclastics deposited in a storm-dominated ramp setting.^[6]

"Nama-type preservation" is anEdiacaran type preservation that presents sandstone castings of fossil creatures in which organisms are preserved in three dimensions, within fine-grained beds that were deposited in single storm or mudflow events: an example isAusia fenestrata. Analysis performed in 2018 onNamacalathus andCloudina skeletons from the Ediacaran Omkyk Member of the Nama Group demonstrates that both organisms originally producedaragonitic skeletons, which later underwentdiagenetic conversion tocalcite.^[7]

The Nama Group is subdivided into:^[8]

The lower and upper part of the Spitskop Member of the Urusis Formation, Schwarzrand Subgroup, had originally been dated on the basis ofzircons to 545.1 ± 1 Ma and 543.3 ± 1 Ma respectively. Recalibration of the Spitskop radiometric data indicates revised dates of 542.68 ± 1.25 Ma (terminal Ediacaran) and 540.61 ± 0.67 Ma (within error of the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary), respectively. An ash bed from the Hoogland Member towards the base of the Nama Group (Zaris Formation, Kuibus Subgroup) has yielded an age of 547.4 ± 0.3 Ma, in 2018 slightly modified to 547.32 ± 0.31 Ma. The lower part of the Nomtsas Formation has yielded an age of 539.4 ± 1 Ma, in the same year recalibrated to 538.18 ± 1.11 Ma.^[9]

Nama-type Ediacaran fossils found in the group include:

• 
  Reconstruction ofSwartpuntia germsi
• 
  Reconstruction ofNamacalathus hermanastes
• 
  Reconstruction ofCloudina

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Namibia
• Geology of Namibia
• Puncoviscana Formation
• Sierra Bayas Group

• Buatois, Luis A.; Almond, John; Mángano, M. Gabriela; Jensen, Sören; Germs, Gerard J.B. (2018)."Sediment disturbance by Ediacaran bulldozers and the roots of the Cambrian explosion".Scientific Reports.8 (1): Article number 4514.Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.4514B.doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22859-9.PMC 5852133.PMID 29540817.
• Crimes, T. Peter; Germs, Gerard J.B. (1982). "Trace Fossils from the Nama Group (Precambrian-Cambrian) of Southwest Africa (Namibia)".Journal of Paleontology.56 (4):890–907.JSTOR 1304708.
• Grotzinger, John P (2000)."Facies and paleoenvironmental setting of Thrombolite-Stromatolite Reefs, Terminal Proterozoic Nama Group (ca. 550-543 Ma), central and southern Namibia"(PDF).Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia.12:251–264. Retrieved2018-08-25.
• Meert, Joseph G.; Eide, Elizabeth A.; Torsvik, Trond H. (1997)."The Nama Group revisited"(PDF).Geophysical Journal International.129 (3):637–650.Bibcode:1997GeoJI.129..637M.doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1997.tb04499.x. Retrieved2018-08-25.
• Pruss, Sara B.; Blättler, Clara L.; Macdonald, Francis A.; Higgins, John A. (2018). "Calcium isotope evidence that the earliest metazoan biomineralizers formed aragonite shells".Geology.46 (9):763–766.Bibcode:2018Geo....46..763P.doi:10.1130/G45275.1.
• Winterleitner, G.; Le Heron, D.P.; Mapani, B.; Vining, B.A.; McCaffrey, K.J.W. (2015)."Styles, origins and implications of syndepositional deformation structures in Ediacaran microbial carbonates (Nama Basin, Namibia)".Geological Society, London, Special Publications.418 (1):87–109.Bibcode:2015GSLSP.418...87W.doi:10.1144/SP418.12.S2CID 131352816. Retrieved2018-08-25.
• Wood, R.; Curtis, A. (2015)."Extensive metazoan reefs from the Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia: the rise of benthic suspension feeding"(PDF).Geobiology.13 (2):112–122.Bibcode:2015Gbio...13..112W.doi:10.1111/gbi.12122.hdl:20.500.11820/5f33c6b7-a2ac-4d1b-9f8d-a0ee6409af28.PMID 25556318.S2CID 904616. Retrieved2018-08-25.

• 2009 - Cohen, Phoebe A., Alexander Bradley, Andrew H. Knoll, John P. Grotzinger, Soren Jensen, John Abelson, Kevin Hand, Gordon Love, Joannah Metz, Nicola McLoughlin, Patrick Meister, Rebekah Shepard, Mike Tice, and Jonathan P. Wilson - Tubular compression fossils from the Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia. Journal of Paleontology 83, no. 1: 110-122
• M. F. Glaessner. 1979. An echiurid worm from the Late Precambrian. Lethaia 12(2):121-124
• D. Grazhdankin and A. Seilacher. 2002. Underground Vendobionta from Namibia. Palaeontology 45(1):57-78
• J. P. Grotzinger, W. A. Watters, and A. H. Knoll. 2000. Calcified metazoans in thrombolite-stromatolite reefs of the terminal Proterozoic Nama Group, Namibia. Paleobiology 26(3):334-359
• R. J. F. Jenkins. 1985. The enigmatic Ediacaran (Late Precambrian) genus Rangea and related Forms. Paleobiology 11(3):336-355
• S. Jensen and B. N. Runnegar. 2005. A complex trace fossil from the Spitskop Member (terminal Ediacaran–? Lower Cambrian) of southern Namibia. Geological Magazine 142(5):561-569
• G. M. Narbonne, B. Z. Saylor, and J. P. Grotzinger. 1997. The youngest Ediacaran fossils from southern Africa. Journal of Paleontology 71(6):953-967
• J. P. Wilson, J. P. Grotzinger, W. W. Fischer, K. P. Hand, S. Jensen, A. H. Knoll, J. Abelson, J. M. Metz, N. Mcloughlin, P. A. Cohen, and M. M. Tice. 2012. Deep-water incised valley deposits at the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in Southern Namibia contain abundant Treptichnus pedum. Palaios 27:252-273
• R. A. Wood, J. P. Grotzinger, and J. A. D. Dickson. 2002. Proterozoic Modular Biomineralized Metazoan from the Nama Group, Namibia. Science 296(5577):2383-2386

• Geologic groups of Africa
• Geologic formations of Namibia
• Cambrian System of Africa
• Ediacaran Africa
• Sandstone formations
• Siltstone formations
• Mudstone formations
• Limestone formations
• Fluvial deposits
• Reef deposits
• Paleontology in Namibia
• Ediacaran life
• Omaheke Region
• Geography of Hardap Region
• Geography of ǁKaras Region

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Coordinates on Wikidata