Amba Aradam Formation
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. As fossils are absent, the age of the Amba Aradam Formation was interpreted based on the age of assumed corresponding sandstones elsewhere in Ethiopia: 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). 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.
| Amba Aradam Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Early Aptian ~ | |
Cliff and waterfall at Dingilet, Mika’el Abiy tabia | |
| 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 |
| Approximate paleocoordinates | 15.2°S 28.5°E |
| 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 |
Amba Aradam Formation (Ethiopia) | |
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