Abstract The regionally well-known Laingsburg depocenter and lesser-known Ripon depocenter is situated between Prince Albert (Western Cape) and Willowmore (Eastern Cape) of the southern Main Karoo Basin, South Africa. Independently, both depocenters are well studied and boast a plethora of literature specifically on key lithostratigraphic units including the Laingsburg and Vischkuil formations (Laingsburg depocenter) and the Ripon Formation (Ripon depocenter). At first glance, exposures of these formations indicate a possible interfingering relationship; yet, the linkages between these two depocenters and their lithostratigraphic units remain cryptic and unresolved. Therefore, this study sought to re-address this unresolved complexity between the Laingsburg and Ripon depocenters by coupling traditional and novel sedimentological techniques. Through detailed facies and architectural analysis, this study was successful in producing a rigorous basin reconstruction, which indicates that sediments were emplaced with a basin floor to slope palaeoenvironment. Broad-scale facies reconstruction coupled with sedimentary petrology indicates that the two depocenters have slightly different source regions and represent two separable submarine fan complexes. These results are corroborated when coupled with markedly different zircon histories recovered from the Ripon (Antarctica provenance: Dyer arc) and Laingsburg (South American provenance: Northern Patagonia Massif, Choiyoi Provence) depocentres. This study was successful in resolving that distinct sedimentological, petrological, and geochronological differences are present between these two depocenters.

中文翻译：

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解析南非卡鲁盆地 Ecca Group 的神秘地层：阐明 Ripon 和 Laingsburg 沉积中心

摘要 区域知名的 Laingsburg 沉积中心和鲜为人知的 Ripon 沉积中心位于南非 Main Karoo 盆地南部的阿尔伯特王子（西开普省）和 Willowmore（东开普省）之间。独立地，这两个沉积中心都得到了很好的研究，并拥有大量专门关于关键岩石地层单元的文献，包括 Laingsburg 和 Vischkuil 地层（Laingsburg 沉积中心）和 Ripon 组（Ripon 沉积中心）。乍一看，这些地层的暴露表明可能存在相互影响的关系；然而，这两个沉积中心与其岩石地层单位之间的联系仍然神秘且未解决。因此，本研究试图通过结合传统和新型沉积学技术来重新解决 Laingsburg 和 Ripon 沉积中心之间这种尚未解决的复杂性问题。通过详细的相和建筑分析，这项研究成功地进行了严格的盆地重建，这表明沉积物是在盆地底板到斜坡古环境中就位的。大尺度相重建结合沉积岩石学表明，两个沉积中心的源区略有不同，代表了两个可分离的海底扇复合体。这些结果与从 Ripon（南极出处：Dyer arc）和 Laingsburg（南美出处：Northern Patagonia Massif，Choiyoi Provence）沉积中心发现的明显不同的锆石历史相结合得到了证实。这项研究成功地解决了这两个沉积中心之间存在明显的沉积学、岩石学和地质年代学差异。