I Read Rocks - Part 1

A special series by Warren Miller

I read rocks! I am pretty average at it. If you were to compare my rock reading abilities to how fast a reader reads a book, I would say I read rocks the same as an average reader reads a book. The thing is – the point of reading (including rocks for this matter) is not to get to the last page of the book as fast as possible, but to rather enjoy the read. Take it step by step, enjoying the unfolding story and if necessary go back a few pages from time to time when things aren’t making sense.  

I have spent the past few years trying to understand a certain grouping of rocks that are rather old and severely deformed. These rocks I speak of outcrop near my home town of Port Elizabeth, along the striking coast between Sardinia Bay and Kini Bay (see below). 

Overview of the study area being investigated, highlighted in red

Similar aged rocks have also been studied in various other parts of the southern tip of Africa, including Damaraland, Cape Nollath, Cape Town, Oudtshroon and George. I have made a pretty picture to help you see the broader setting of southern African geology over the past 1000 – 200 Ma.

This is called a stratigraphic column. It is based on the principle of superposition: that is to say if a sequence of rocks are positioned below another sequence of rocks, the former sequence is older than the latter – assuming there has been no tectonic disruption or the tectonic disruption is resolvable. So look at my picture, enjoy it. I like to draw as I read. It makes the reading more fun.

Now back to my rocks. For months and months I hadn’t a clue what I was reading. Rocks were all over the place. I couldn’t piece the sentences together. It was a mess. It was like a riddle that kept banging against my head week in and week out. But luckily I have some friends who also enjoy reading rocks, of which some of them are a lot better than me. So I would bring them along and we would read together and discuss our interpretations over a big glass of black label beer often making very little progress. But after some time and a little help from another friend in Australia and a very hi-tech machine I was able to make some very interesting progress.

To be Continued…

Warren Miller is a Masters of Geology student at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), working within the Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON) and Earth Stewardship Science Research Institute (ESSRI). He is currently finishing his thesis, looking into the structural dynamics effecting the rocks along the southeast coast of South Africa. Here, he will take us on a journey into the mind of Geologist, listening and observing carefully to the Earth’s Story as it unfolds layer, by layer. As you can see, this is a complex story!

Some of South African Energy Futures

The Field School Blog lives! Even though the field school is done and all our favourite participants are hard at work trying to get their reports and maps done, we will continue the virtual learning tour! Let’s start.

During the recent Conference for Global Change (held at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University between 01-05 Dec - http://globalchange2014.nmmu.ac.za/) a theme of particular interest encompassed the future of energy in South Africa. With this, an Energy Security field trip was organised and visited some energy projects of interest around the Port Elizabeth (PE) area.

PE, commonly known as the “windy city” is well known for blowing people off their feet and kids flying kites, however now the city can add wind energy to this mix. Thus, the trip began at the Metrowind Van Staden Wind Farm (http://metrowind.co.za/home). This project has nine 3 MW wind turbines, together producing 27 MW. In total this project amounted to approximately R 550 million (it is worth noting that Medupi will cost R 150 billion to produce almost 5000 MW). It is expected that the project will breakeven in less than 10 years, and start making remarkable profits as it continues to sell this renewable energy source (at a good REFIT tariff) to Eskom for a further 20 years. South Africa currently aims to produce almost 4000 MW of total renewable energy by 2016; with wind forming a substantial amount of this. These projects will be run, mostly by foreign-based companies.

Wind Resource Atlas, highlighting regions with most promising wind energies (http://www.wasaproject.info/)

Trip to Metrowind Van Staden Wind Farm, with happy cows and happy students; maybe only unhappy birds - the blades spin at more than 100 km/h

The trip then moved on to the Crossways Farm Village. Here, the South African Rhino Group has constructed an R 8 million house that runs completely off the National Energy Grid and produces its own electricity and its own water treatment plant (http://crosswaysfarmvillage.co.za/news/virtual-tour-house-rhino). The house uses a plethora of renewable energy sources, including solar PV, wind and a heat pump system. The idea is that Crossways Farm Village will have several self-sufficient houses forming the community of the Future. A good question to raise here is that what happens to the vast accumulation of battery waste?

Byron, from the Rhino Group giving a guided tour through the Rhino House. Completely self/energy-sufficient. Filters and treats its own water and produces its own methane gas! But, will cost you a substantial R 8 million

Finally, the trip visited the InnoVenton labs near NMMU. Here, Prof. Ben Zeelie, the director of InnoVenton presented a fascinating method of converting coal dust/ash waste to a combustible fuel (http://news.nmmu.ac.za/News/First-public-showcasing-of-cutting-edge-algae-to-e). The carbon ash would normally amount to a large proportion of waste material associated with coal-fired energy production. However, with the highly innovative method of algal-adsorption, the coal dust binds together and forms a fuel ready for re-burning. The exact mechanism of how the algae adsorbs onto the coal is still unknown.

"Coalgae" - don't fear, there's no Alien activity here, simply highly innovative science of algae adsorbing onto coal dust; creating a fuel ready for re-combustion

These applications show major promise and highlight a bright future for South African Energy Security. And now, I have to run, load shedding awaits...

A Special Message from Ngqondi

"...This was the best Field School ever – both professionally and socially. Sincere thanks to the management team for affording us this opportunity and for their amazing leadership over the past three weeks. I learnt so much geology in three weeks than I have learnt in my five years at the lab, I guess it’s true when they say: ‘the best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks’.   Long live to Field School!

Nox..."