Geology of Zambia

The granite, gneiss, migmatite, schist, amphibolite, charnockite, granulite, khondalite, phyllite, limestone and metaquartzite basement rocks date to the Paleoproterozoic.

A one billion year Proterozoic unconformity separates the basement rock from the conglomerate, quartzite, schists, iron-rich sandstones and mudstones of the Muva Supergroup.

The Roan Group hosts much of the copper in the Copperbelt as chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite, malachite and azurite, in shale, sandstone, dolomite and quartzite associated with the margins of the Kafue syncline.

The lower unit of the Kundelungu Group is a conglomerate formed from glacial sediments, potentially related to the Hirnantian glaciation in the Ordovician, as Zambia, within the supercontinent Gondwana drifted close to the South Pole.

In Zambia, the Karoo Supergroup is represented by outcrops in major rift block valleys, in the east and south, such as the Luangwa, Lukusashi, Lunsemfwa, Rufunsa and mid-Zambezi rivers.

Because glaciations continued throughout much of the Paleozoic, into the Permian, in Gondwana, the bottom sequence of Karoo Supergroup rocks is a tillite that appears to be glacially produced.

In the Neogene through the Pleistocene, this climate change deposited moderately consolidated sandstones and windblown sands as the Kalahari Group in the Western Province and other parts of northwest, south and central Zambia.

[3] Zambia has extensive natural resources, most famously the copper ore of the Roan Group, which gave rise to the Copperbelt region.