Richtersveld Science Week 2015

This year we marked the 10^th year of the Council for Geoscience Field School with our 2^nd Richtersveld Science Week. This year we aimed high, visiting three schools within the Richtersveld region. These included; the Stephen Malherbe Laerskool in Eksteenfontein, the Johan Hein Laerskool in Kuboes and the Hoerskool Alexander Bay.

The location of these schools, especially the primary schools, in the furthest north western region of South Africa has resulted in them being largely isolated and almost forgotten. Many of these scholars face a dire future, with few opportunities and even lesser support. Despite this, the exemplary commitment shown by the teaching staff at these schools is inspirational. As such the Field School team has felt obliged to try and give something back to these communities. After all, these communities have warmly welcomed and supported us for our many years of visiting and performing our research.

The Science Week programme closely followed the school curriculum. For the primary schools, this broadly consisted of a lecture series focussing on the solar system, space travel and the life of a geoscientist. We also ran a volcano and river system experiment much to the delight of the students. For the high school, we placed a strong emphasis on possible bursary and scholarship opportunities, as well as information about subject choices and grades required for university entry. We also had special lectures by other young geoscientists and some of our very own field school participants.

An extra special surprise for all the schools this year was the donation of GIS-ready desktop computers. Nine computers were very generously donated by the Council for Geoscience and prepared by our ITC department. Most were equipped with GPU’s and had various open source software installed. This included; Quantum GIS, Stellarium, GIMP, Inkscape, Open Office and Google Earth. In addition, various spatial data was copied onto these machines, including; SPOT, Landsat and CGS Geological Data. Brief training sessions were held with the teaching staff, equipping them with knowledge to share with the scholars.

We hope that these computers will allow the scholars an opportunity to gain early PC literacy, especially understanding the ins and outs of GIS. It cannot be perceived where this kind of advantage could lead. We may have South Africa’s next top scientist coming from the Richtersveld!

Overview of the Field School 2015

Here is an Amazing summary of this year's field school, a MUST READ:

By: Leslee Salzmann

A ROUND TRIP OF THE COUNTRY

Few people can attest to having circumnavigated South Africa. Whilst this opportunity is usually restricted to mad-hatter-adventurists biking their way around the country and decrepit retirees with a caravan and a few years of free time to kill, this year’s field school saw a bunch of Council for Geoscience interns doing just that! (Okay we missed out Limpopo and the Free State if you must know).

Field mapping school is a Council initiative intended at metamorphosing young and inexperienced additions to the company into gung-ho, GI Joe geologists. It affords new interns the opportunity to witness first-hand the country’s main stratigraphic units (Supergroups) and geography, but more importantly, to gain practical experience in mapping and field work. To this end we spent a week driving to various points of geological fascination, received tuition in imperative skillsets such as remote sensing and GIS, spent ten days in the Richtersveld (Northern Cape) learning the hard way how mapping is done, after which we headed home. But not without passing a number of the country’s largest mines (iron and base metals, limestone, dimension stone, ‘granite’, brick clay and pegmatites included) and being harassed by two emus in Upington. Innumerable drool-worthy geological sites were seen along the way and all of us have been left with memories, stories for the grandkids and perhaps the need for a little psychological counselling and a pedicure.

BREAK IT DOWN

To kick off field mapping school thirteen interns and five soon-to-be-tortured supervisors (Taufeeq, Nick, Neo, Tshimane (aka Doc) and Conrad) met up in Pretoria and made our way slowly and steadily in a clockwise manner around the country. We drove through from Gauteng to the Barberton Greentsone Belt and GeoTrail in Mpumalanga, witnessing some of the oldest rocks in the country.

            

We passed by coal-bearing deltaic deposits of the Ecca Group as we traversed KwaZulu-Natal – which I’ll have you know were the only redeeming quality of the Karoo Supergroup exposures along the entire eastern coastline! Stopping at Hole in the Wall in the Eastern Cape was a guilty indulgence which we could not pass up. Jennifer –a member of our clan– had never before seen the ocean and this was a milestone experience for her, enough so that she had nightmares of the sea that night (Lets call them dreams rather. Vivid dreams). Shin-high dunking was the most we were going to get out of her despite best efforts.

Thereafter we stopped in East London and Knysna, having entered into the disfigured Cape Fold Belt lithologies.  Onwards we drove into the Western Cape passing through the quaint and idyllic dorpies of Oudtshoorn, Montagu and Worcester. Luckily for us it was still light as we traversed through Bain’s Kloof Pass, one of the ‘most picturesque passes in the Cape’, constructed by the labour of convicts in 1853 and home to insane folding nog al!. In good old Cape Town we received a regal Peninsula tour (geologically oriented I swear). The fish and chips from Kalk Bay were nothing more than a necessary pit stop) and thereafter we made our way up to the north-western limits of the Northern Cape (or as we like to say: the back-ass­ end of nowhere), where we were to carry out the bulk of our fieldtrip season doing what we all came for: mapping and perhaps a little dollop of trial and tribulation.

RICHTERSVELD IMMERSION

The field mapping school this year felt like a passage of fire to the majority of those who attended. This is despite the fact that we were never subjected to the harsh realities of camping in the near-desertlike Richtersveld for a fortnight as previous years have been known to do. Instead we found ourselves rather comfortably accommodated in the house of one of a local “Tannie” and immersed in a cultural experience. We stayed amongst the very isolated and quaint Nama settlement of Eksteenfontein, at the very northern reaches of the Northern Cape, and by the end of the trip were venturing forth with all manner of basterdised Afrikaans in an attempt to communicate with our hosts (most likely to request more vetkoek for breakfast).

Our task for the two weeks was to map and collect structural data for a portion of the Port Nolloth Zone within the Pan-African aged Gariep Belt. This elongate, north-south and coast-parallel striking zone was deposited/intruded during the rifting and separation of the Kalahari Craton of southern Africa from the Rio Del Plata Craton of South America beginning around 771±6 Ma. This rifting led to the formation and infilling of the Adamastor Ocean, but was overprinted with a distinct compressive thrusting regime when these cratons later reunited to form Gondwana (~575 to 545 Ma). It is precisely this later tectonic and metamorphic overprint which confounds and stymies any but the most fervent of structural mappers, and certainly challenged and humbled us as interns as we attempted to conquer our designated map sheets. Rather than allowing us an easy ride, our field school leaders decided to challenge us with an area subjected to extension, transpression, thrusting, back-thrusting, distortion due to intrusions, overturning, metamorphic overprinting and the like. We like to think that we rose to the challenge. They humoured us and allowed us to think that.

Surprisingly, the Richtersveld had other hurdles to throw at us apart from unbearable heat. One day was so miserably windy that it saw me catching my precious notebook by the corner of a single page as it flapped madly in the wind at a 90° angle and threatened to fly away faster than ever I could run to catch it. Losing your notebook in the field would be akin to losing your 3-year old toddler at the beach on New Years. Generally frowned upon and, depending on how much work was in that notebook (or how much you wanted to keep said toddler), unforgiveable.

One choice day saw us heading out in 14°C, rainy and (yes, you guessed it) windy conditions. Some of us hoped for a split second that we would be allowed to stay cuddled up in bed with our fluffy socks, but alas this was not the case. Our slave drivers had us out traipsing through the elements, as per every other day, regardless. Thus there dawned on us the harsh realities of a career spent outdoors, and thus we developed a new level of respect for those in our company who do this on a near-continuous basis- oftentimes in conditions worse than this. A case in point is the ‘Namibian team’ who have been known to work without even a permanent nightly camp but rather by moving camp each night and carrying all provisions (including up to 12L of water) on their backs. Work is carried out across deathly-cold winter nights and fiery summer days alike.

Other hitches encountered in the field were snakes, thorns, ticks and perhaps most hazardous of all: squishy succulents. Beware these unassuming specimens: one false step will have you sliding downhill and falling on your butt in the most painful fashion. Another lethal adversary: dolomite which can shred the most hardened of boots and will most certainly leave you with a bum-flap if you are unwise enough to sit down in a moment of weakness. It had me feeling rather unprofessional as I walked around each day with my panties exposed. The dolomite, together with the searing heat of midday, had a way of eating away at one’s boots and I can boast at having used three tubes of superglue on my shoes in order to see them through the entire fieldtrip. Now that’s hardcore!

Some last highlights for the trip were:

1)    Passing through the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Richtersveld Ai Ais National Park where we saw a field of literally hundreds of cairns, which had been stacked by passers-by since who knows when as well as some SAN etchings reportedly “1000s of years old”!

2)  The incident with the tick which found a household of girls squealing and ended with the tick’s prolonged and agonised death on the hotplate of the stove.

3)   Trying to get a good look at a snake the size of a ruler which had slithered under a bush, which elicited the fearful warning from one of the girls (who shall remain anonymous. We’ve got you covered): “You’re making it angry! You’re going to make it angry!”

4)   Swimming in the Orange River- a stone’s throw away from the Namibian border

5)  The slaughtering of a sheep. Yes we actually entered into an auction for a sheep to braai. What can we say, the Eksteenfontein lifestyle was charming.

A non-scientist in the field: Day 2

By: Cindy

The first part of my day started with a very worthy cause of educating our young learners of Eksteenfontein. We visited the primary school which hosted our efforts. Looking at the excited little faces of 11-14 year olds from grades 5-7 made the start of the day perfect. We enlightened their little lives with information of Earth science and what you need to become a young scientist. The CGS also donated computers to the schools.

The second part of my day went unexpectedly well. I was a bit overwhelmed with the information loading of the geology as I am not a scientist and I did feel intermediated. As the day progressed I felt more comfortable as taking notes of the discoveries helped me to understand the basics of the Richtersveld geology. On my first attempt of measuring the dip and the dip direction was quite an amazing experience. Thanks to my tutor Taufeeq I feel comfortable with the study of geology.

#Geology; #Amazing; #OMG; #Etc...

My discoveries of the day were:

• Lekkersing conglomerate (and quartzites)
• How to identity a rock/formation with characteristics of :
o Colour
o Sorting
o Roundness
o Grain size
o Structure
o Mineral
o Matrix

• What is a shear and the direction
• Fracturing
• Lineation
• Foliation (Shearing)
o Bedding – non foliation
o S1- Foliation
o S2-Acute angle 45 degrees
• Stratigraphy highlights

Guys thank you for hot weather experience, walking 2km, heavy bags, having to use nature as a toilet and for the major support of the team and encouragement. 

A non-scientist in the field: Day 1

By: Cindy Petersen

Key words: Patience, communication, dedication…. These are words are jump out at me when I think of my first day in the field with geologists. I now have major respect for a geologist as this is a true art detecting and exploring the science of our dear earth. I have learned a lot for the lectures that were given and also so many avenues of understanding were opened . Due to my experience in the field I can perform so much better with the tools I have been handed. The quality of the communication towards to Education of the intern is exceptionally well but major improvements can be done within the field of communication between the team members. Case and point, safety of team members has to be improved and relaying the message more clearly will have a much more positive effect than just not saying a word.

Cindy and Yasmine on the field school

I believe that day one was not an eye opener to the team leaders but also to the rest of the team who have dedicated themselves to this great initiative. Furthermore, the Field School can be an amazing tool to create and nurture the skills of our future scientist. To Day one we bid you goodbye.

Day 6 - GIS and Remote Sensing

By: Lwazi and Malusi

“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things” First law of Geography

Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing

After a long drive from Knysna we finally arrive in Bellville, where we had our final pit stop for our South African geology tour. Bright and early we departed for the CGS offices in Bellville, where we attended lectures on basics of GIS, remote sensing and marine, given by one of the best scientists in the CGS. Firstly Chiedza Musekiwa took us for an introduction of GIS, with emphasis on the Arc GIS software, showing us the different tools within it:Arc Catalog and Arc Map and their capabilities for mapping purposes. She also touched on the most crucial issue of map projections and datum which normally confuses young GIS users, explaining to us the difference between the two and lastly she showed us how to georeferencing images in Arc Map.

GIS and Remote sensing course in Bellville

Following her presentation it was Paul Macey, whom took us for modern geological techniques and how to conduct and manage geological mapping projects. With his vast amount of experience in the geological mapping and the forever evolving technologies, he reiterates that a good geologist still needs to write down field notes, rather than relying on modern technologies.    One of the popular technologies which is being utilized for geological mapping is remote sensing, where we are able to retrieve the vital information without being in contact with them. With different mathematical manipulations embedded within it,  such as band combination, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), band ratios and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index,etc embedded a user is able to extract useful information in the desktop stage of a mapping project. Various satellite data sets which are being used for geology are ASTER, LANDSAT, SPOT, etc. Showing us a glimpse of some of the work that he has done through the years it is evident that experience must be earned.

To cap off the long and knowledgeable day, we had Mac (Michael Machutchon), who’s a senior scientist in the marine geoscience unit (MGU). As expected, concentration spans were at a low, considering it was Friday afternoon. However, we had to pull ourselves together and brace ourselves for the last session of the day. The presentation kicked off with an intro into the various geophysical techniques utilized within the unit. These include single-beam, multi-beam surveys (for bathymetry), seismics (boomer and pinger) and side-scan sonar, to mention a few. This was followed by a series of videos and photos meant to demonstrate what the marines get up to on a typical day out to sea.

Some engineering geology along the southern Cape

By: Phuti, Mawande and Tshilidzi

Engineering geology

Engineering geology is a field of science concerned with the application of geological principles in investigating and understanding the natural materials varying from soil, rock, surface water to ground water that impinge on the construction, operation and design of civil engineering structures and projects.

The Huguenot Tunnel, Western Cape

Geotechnical considerations in tunnelling design

When planning for a tunnel project, maximum information on aspects such as rock characteristics (rock type), structural system (discontinuities; joints, faults, folds, fractures, etc) and ground water conditions need to be obtained. This information is of paramount importance to the tunnel designer in that it should enable him to anticipate the behaviour of the rock surrounding the tunnel and the type of support methodology required to maintain the tunnel in a stable condition.

Huguenot Tunnel

The construction of the Huguenot Tunnel started in 1984 and the tunnel started operating in 1988. It is located along the N1 road, connecting Worcester, Paarl and the City of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province. The Huguenot Tunnel is considered the longest in South Africa, with the maximum length of 3.9 km. It traverses through the sandstone and quartzite rocks of the Du Toitskloof Mountains which are part of the Cape Fold Belt. The tunnel is shorter a route in comparison to the older Du Toitskloof Pass, and it shortens the travelling distance by 11km.  

Geotechnical methods used to assess the geological setting of the Du Toitskloof (Huguenot) Tunnel
The methods included but not limited to the following assessment criterion:

(a) Drilling a pilot tunnel along the line of the second main tunnel;
(b) A detailed geological mapping and surface geology of the area through which tunnel was excavated.
(c) In situ stressed measured under various overburdens
(d) Strength and behaviour of rock types over the tunnel were also determined and
(e) The geotechnical aspects and support required over geological zones of the main tunnel were assessed.

Day 5 - Enon

By: Sesethu and Pumelela

We woke up early from Knysna driving along the Table Mountain Group Sandstones/quartzites. As the day continued we came across older crust rocks(phyllites) lying on top of younger rocks of the Cape Fold Belt showing deformation caused by subduction of tectonic plates. While we were busy on the outcrop trying to understand the exciting geology explained by our extraordinary scientist (Conrad), we saw a shark egg. Everything about shark is scary look at that egg! LoL! Looking at the planar features of the rock, foliation is parallel at a slight angle to bedding.

 Crazy geologists looking at the crazy Gamtoos Inlier

 I have no idea what is this, however, apparently this is a shark egg?!

We then went back to the road and made a stop and looked at folded, thrusted and overturned quartzite outcrop of the Peninsula Formation (Cape Supergroup).

Crazy foliation

These fluvial Enon Red beds were caused by rifting of Gondwana, which began around 180 Ma. These clasts supported quartzite pebbles-boulders(~350mm) of the Table Mountain Group have a red colour that signifies a high oxygen content on earth.

Enon red beds

Day 4 - Confounding Contortions

By: Zamampondo and Leslee

After a relatively monotonous drive from Ermelo to East London the previous day, with the underlying stratigraphy comprising Beaufort Group sediments of the Karoo Supergroup. These deposits, though renowned for their luscious assemblages and variety of fossils from the Permian, make for unchanging scenery to the geologist’s eye.

Today, however, our group of mappers were treated to a continuously varied landscape as we travelled southwards from East London to Knysna and along the way passed down a major cascade of South African lithologies.

Catholic Church in King Williams Town - 1918

We hopped in our cars bright eyed and fluffly tailed, ready for a day of exploration. After exiting the Beaufort Group sediments of which we had become so fond, our journey took us down the stratigraphic column of South Africa and into the underlying Ecca Group shales and then briefly into the Dwyka tillites (both similarly of the Karoo Supergroup). Thereafter, we travelled down into the –dare we say significantly more exciting (~360-510 Ma) rocks of the Cape Supergroup, which is composed of the Table Mountain Group, Bokkeveld and Witterberg Groups. At this point our bored passengers were roused by the awe-inspiring folding to be seen in road cuttings and along steep banks along the way. Likewise, this portion of the trip took us through the world-renowned Tsitsikama Forest which several of our passengers had never yet had the chance to witness.

Along the way we were met by Warren Miller of Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. Warren, who has been researching the folding of the Cape Supergroup sediments in this region as a part of his master’s degree, explained to our group of young, intrepid mappers the history and nature of deformation and folding in this region and the complexity thereof.

Warren Miller explaining some Amazing Geology in Kini Bay

Warren spent countless days scoring over the highly inclined and deformed folds, felsic intrusions, veins and cleavage planes present along the beaches in his area of study – just slightly south of Port Elizabeth – trying to unravel the details and timing of various phases of the CFB’s deposition and deformation. Clues are to be found in the form of bedding-subparallel and bedding-oblique cleavage planes, felsic intrusions with cross-cutting relationships to the intruded rocks and the upending and contortion of the sequence. It is believed that the extreme degree of deformation seen along the southern limb of the Cape Fold Belt is the result of northward-verging subduction underneath the Kalahari Shield.

Work in this region and the raging debate regarding its’ history is ongoing and the interested reader is referred to recent literature regarding the Cape Fold Belt in this region.

Day 3 - Hole in One

Wow. Our blog has a huge backlog! Lets see if we can catch things up:

On our third day we traveled crazy to see a hole in the wall. Our route crossed the Wild Coast through rugged and beautiful terrain toward Coffee Bay. This was a crazy trip, but well worth the reward. The hole in the wall is a cliff face of Ecca that is capped with a dolerite sill. Continuous wave action over many years cut the cliff and created the iconic Hole in Wall!

Sisanda and Leslee enjoying the hole in the wall

Day 2 - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Day 2

By: Mihlali, Jennifer and Matsie

Bright and early from Ermelo we headed down towards Vryheid to meet up with Nigel Hicks from the CGS Pietermaritzburg office. He would turn out to be a truly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious guide and we honestly think he would make a great lecturer (Just putting that out there). To the geology. The day was mainly about sedimentology and we started looking at the Vryheid Formation of the Karoo Supergroup. The impressive  railway cutting outcrop that Nigel showed us was deltaic in origin, showing planar bedding at the base indicative of the pro delta  and trough cross bedding near the top indicative of the delta- front. The Vryheid Formation is perhaps best known for coal; the seams occur in the distal delta plain, however, they were  not visible at this locality as the sediments had been eroded away.

We then got back on the road and made a quick stop along the way where we looked at an outcrop of the White Umfolozi Formation falling under the Pongola Supergroup. The outcrop was an exceptionally sheared and deformed quartzite, but the most interesting feature was the armored lapilli tuff. Nigel informed us that the lapilli tuff was formed during a volcanic eruption where the pyroclasts from the lapilli and the armour is the ash that covered the lapilli. The clear contact between these deposits and the overlying andesitic lava was thrown in for good measure at this exposure! Just for interest, the geology was first comprehensively described by P Matthews  in 1967 (The Pre-Karoo formations of the  White Umfolozi  inlier northern Natal) in the GSSA Transactions..

GOLD !!!! J J J

Denny Dalton Gold Mine No 22 : sorry to burst your bubble  but sadly the gold left in the area is not economically viable!  Back to the sedimentology. The gold is hosted by the conglomerates of the Singeni Formation still in the Pongola Supergroup, the conglomerate is known as the contact reef, existing as it does between the Agatha  and  Singeni  formations.

Midday and it was blazing hot and we were sweating like CRAZY! Nigel had one more stop to show us and oh what a stop it was. There was plenty to take in and again we gonna say that Nigel is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as he took us across almost 3 billion years of geology in one human ‘step’!

According to the stratigraphy of South Africa the volcanics and quartzite of the Nsuza Group was deposited first and then followed the andesitc lava and siliclastics of the Mozaan Group;  these lithologies were affected by a clear normal fault. The tillites are not displaced at all (# current situation) so the fault pre-dated the Dwyka deposits.

We then saw the glacial striations showing a North to South flow directions, plus other the glacial features including well preserved rock flour ,a nail head indentation,  and an Eskia (conglowerate at front of the melting glacier) – now that was a new one for us guys! Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Snapshots - Day 2

Great news! The baton has been handed over, thus I have now much less work to do. From today our field school participants have held a mutiny to this blog and will start sharing their stories and what they've learnt during our trip. With that being said, I can now simply share some snapshots of the day!

Day 2 - AMAZING Geology

Nigel Hicks: Senior scientist and expert from the Pietermaritzburg regional office of the Council for Geoscience explaining the intricacies of Delta depositional environments. Note the expert drawing of the background Vryheid Shales trough cross beds - Ecca Group of the Karoo Supergroup.

Expert team work is important in these situations. 

Conglomerates of the Sinqeni Formation - 2.9 Ga Pongola Supergroup, with the notably erratic Mozaan Contact Reef, which was mined by the Denny Dalton family. Note the sulphides and uranium staining (yellow tinge).

The most AMAZING of all. Seems like the Dwyka does not only carry rocks, but also Baas Groenewald and Baas Mofokeng, who both exist ca. 390 Ma and 2900 Ma. Note the striations all over the quartzites.

Day 1 - Building Continents

And we’re off – a team of 18 people and 5 vehicles. This is almost like the first day of school (well, I guess it is) we have new faces and new friends to make. The trip starts with the team heading out through the Transvaal Supergroup and up to Sabie. Here, we looked at stromatolites of the Malmani Subgroup in some detail and discussed what this means to a 2.3 billion year old Earth. Also, we discussed what kind of bearing this has on the early Earth processes, especially when considering that the top of the Chuniespoort Group is Banded Iron Formation. The existence of these rocks, and many more that we’ll be seeing, for that matter, has major implications of the chemistry that defines Earth processes. Some of these include: How exactly does a oxidising or reducing environment control important process of evolution of the Earth?

After a short run over the Karoo Supergroup, we’re into Archean Granites of the Nelspruit Batholith and shortly thereafter crossing the Kaap Valley Tonalite. Later, we entered the Barberton Greenstone Belt and had some more interesting discussions. What is the link between these Archean granites and the Greenstone Belts, and how did this transform the Earth, how does this define tectonic action. In addition, what can Komatiites, tell us about an Archean Earth?

Thereafter we straddle the Swaziland border and unbelievably, the Field School arrived at our overnight destination at the reasonable time of 19h30; an incredible improvement from last year! Lets now see if we can keep this up!

2015 Participants

The participants for the CGS Field School of 2015 has been decided! Of course, many have unfortunately missed out this year, but should not despair. There will most certainly be another opportunity! Here is a brief overview of the participants for 2015:

Overview of the CGS Field School participants for 2015

RSA Geotour 2015: Day 3 - 5

Lets continue!

Overview of the route along the Cape Fold Belt

Day 3

On this third day we continue through the Natal Sector of the NNMB as we depart PMB and travel across the Mzumbe Terrain. As we continue along the coast we’ll cross the Mellville Thrust Zone and enter the granulite-facies Margate Terrain. Here we encounter more granites and exotic varieties of the charnockite of the Oribi Gorge Suite. Charnockites are granitoids that contain orthopyroxene. In order to allow for the stabilisation of orthopyroxene, the bulk rock composition must have low water content and exist at high temperatures, i.e. in granulite facies space. One of the charnockite we’ll be visiting is the Port Edward Enderbite. This is a charnockite that consists of quartz, antiperthite, orthopyroxene and magnetite. The name Enderbite is derived from the type locality of this rock, in Enderby Land, Antarctica. For now, this is as close as we can get – however we should have some Antarctic alumni on our team, so remember to ask them about Enderby Land!

We will then continue south and exit the NNMB, for now, and enter the Karoo Supergroup once again. This time we now travel through the Adelaide Subgroup of the Beaufort Group. We will have a chance to look at this more carefully once we cross the historical Kei River. Soon after entering the Eastern Cape we’ll find our way to the overnight destination of East London. 

Day 4

By now I’m sure everybody’s heads will be spinning (like mine, for example, while typing all this geology); and this will thus be the ideal time to travel west and into the Cape Fold Belt (CFB). The rocks encompassed within the CFB were deposited ca. 485 – 300 Ma under continental shelf to beach marine environments. The Cape Supergroup comprises of three distinct lithostratigraphic groups. These include: The quartzite and shale of the Table Mountain Group; shale of the Bokkeveld and sandstone and shale of the Witteberg Group.

These rocks were later deformed to form the CFB. This was in response to compression associated with the formation of Gondwana. The CFB can be separated into three tectonic domains, including; the western and eastern limbs, separated by the Syntaxis situated north of Cape Town. Our journey will take us from East London to Port Elizabeth, across the CFB and along the Zuurberg Pass. Here we will be able to investigate the intricate structural features defining the Western Limb of the CFB. Perhaps we may also get the compasses out and get everybody to measure some strikes and dips!

After crossing the CFB we join the Garden Route and travel along the vast quartzite of the Peninsula Formation. For our engineering geology friends, we’ll stop and have a look at some of the incredible bridges build over the mammoth gorges. Our overnight stop on this day is Knysna.

Day 5

This is the final leg of this phase of the journey. Today we travel from Knysna to the Council for Geoscience regional office in Bellville. First, our journey continues out of this picturesque town and continues down the Garden Route toward George. Before this, we may have a quick stop at the famous Knysna Estuary and potentially some calc-silicate rocks associated with the Cape Granite Suite. Upon arriving in George, we’ll cut back across the CFB once again and head toward Oudtshoorn. In Oudtshoorn we’ll note a Cango Precambrian inlier of ca. 900 Ma rocks and one of the large E-W faults that define much of the CFB. These faults are often synonymous for the Enon Formation of red beds residing along the scarp. Also, these faults are renowned for controlling the development of numerous hot springs. Perhaps one day we’ll harness this heat and generate energy from it!

From Oudtshoorn we’ll take the R62 and see lots of cool stuff! Basically many, many more structural features, e.g. the Huis River Thrust Zone and Cogmanskloof. Eventually we’ll near the, now even more famous, Syntaxis and we’ll get to see how much more intensely the CFB features are around here. The remainder of this trip will take us through most of the Table Mountain Group, and eventually onto the Malmesbury shale. Sadly, these shale mark the approach of Bellville and the end of this first leg of our South African geological tour.

Our group Our group will now get to learn some remote sensing, GIS and participate in several lectures and short courses in Bellville. In addition, we’ll have a tour of the Cape Peninsula before starting the next leg of our geological tour. This next leg will take us from Cape Town, up the western Limb of the CFB and into the Namaqualand-sector of the NNMB. Stay tuned for that!  

RSA Geotour 2015: Day 1 - 2

The Council for Geoscience Field School provides an ideal opportunity for participants to experience just some of the special geological sites around South Africa! 

Overview of the Geological Tour around South Africa

Day 1

Here we go! We begin our journey at the head office of the Council for Geoscience in Silverton, Pretoria. Our start is located within the central region of the Transvaal Basin. These rocks were deposited ca. 2.7 – 2.1 Ga within an extensional basin located atop an Archean basement of granite-gneiss and Witwatersrand rocks. Five distinct and unconformably bounded sequences are recognised. These include various basal clastic and fluvial sediments deposited along with volcanic lavas, i.e. Protobasinal rocks and the Black Reef. This is overlain by the Chuniespoort, most notably, the Malmani dolomite and chert. Continued extensional subsidence in the Transvaal Basin created a deep marine environment and the deposition of uppermost Chuniespoort of banded iron formation, followed by an extensive marine regressive sequence. This latter depositional phase defines the Pretoria Group rocks.

Continuing east along the N4 highway, we arrive in Nelspruit and cross the ca. 3.2 Ga Kaap Valley Tonalite. This pluton is of special interest as it forms an example of the earliest continental crust on Earth. This is the result of partial melting of subducted hydrated oceanic crust, highlighting the existence of early Earth tectonic processes.

From Nelspruit we continue south along the R40 into the ca. 3.5 – 3.2 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt. The Barberton Greenstone Belt is one of the most well preserved fragments of the early Earth and holds many secrets of early life and geodynamic evolution. There are three distinct lithological zones. From bottom to top, these are: The shallow marine Onverwacht Group of ultramafic-mafic volcanic rocks with minor felsic volcanics, tuff and lesser sediments. The shallow to deep marine turbidite, shale, mudstone, interbedded chert and banded iron formation of the Fig Tree Group. And, finally the topmost Moodies Group. The latter was deposited in a shallow marine to fluvial environmental setting and consists of conglomerate, feldspathic quartzite, shale and lesser banded iron formation and some volcanic rocks. Terrane assembly ca. 3.2 Ga, along the Saddleback-Inyoka fault system sutured these zones together and formed the general NE structural trend.

Our route then continues and straddles the Swazi border through vast indigenous forest until we finally reach the N17 and follow it to our overnight destination of Ermelo.

Day 2

We depart Ermelo nice and early (we hope) and continue east along the N2 toward Piet Retief. From here we head south toward Vryheid. Along the way we will encounter the Commondale Komatiites. The composition of these lavas implies a much higher melting point than what currently exists on Earth. This suggests that early Earth was much hotter, or perhaps had a sufficiently enough hydrous content. Further south, toward Paulpietersburg we cross the Pongola Basin and onto our final look at Archean granites. Heading further south and we enter the vast plains of the Karoo Supergroup.

The rocks of the Karoo Supergroup were deposited into numerous basins formed during tectonic processes defining the evolution of Gondwana; and a ca. 120 Ma geological record. For this trip, our interests lie with the Main Karoo Basin, which covers most of the country. Sedimentation of the Main Karoo Basin can be subdivided into five phases. These are: Glacial and the deposition of the Dwyka Group; Marine to coastal plains and the deposition of the Ecca Group; and fluvial to aeolian and the deposition of the Beaufort and Stormberg Groups. And finally, extensional tectonics and the outpouring of the Karoo Large Igneous Province.

As we head south we continue through the lower successions of the Ecca. This region is especially renowned for the vast coal deposits. Coal is the overwhelming fuel used for South Africa’s energy generation and is found largely within the Ecca; and also the Beaufort and Stormberg Groups. Depending on time, we will have numerous interesting sites to visit in the Karoo, including a Glacial Pavement developed on the ca. 2.9 Ga Mozaan Quartzites and several excellent stratigraphic unconformities and special fossil sites (ask me to tell you more about this while we’re in the field).

Heading even further south, we exit the Karoo Supergroup and enter the Natal Sector of the Namaqua-Natal Mobile Belt (NNMB). The NNMB is an orogenic suture that forms the basement underlying most of the Karoo. It represents the remnants of a collisional event defining the formation of Rodnia ca. 1250 – 950 Ma. The NNMB is exposed in two regions, namely, the Northern Cape and KZN. The Natal Sector comprises several distinct geological terrains that are thrust-bounded together. These are, from north to south; the Tugela greenschist ophiolite complex, Mzumbe upper-amphibolite facies granulites and Margate granulite facies rocks. A major feature of this region is the development of the Oribi Gorge Suite of granite and charnockite. These rocks are generally restricted to the Mzumbe and Margate terrains. We will encounter some of the granites as we head toward our overnight destination of Pietermartizburg.

Almost that time again

It's almost that time of the year again! The Council for Geoscience Field School 2015 is almost upon us and we've just about finalised the itinerary. Have a look and let us know what you think!

A Historical Aspect of Geoscience

A brief history/thinking of Geoscience: Part 1 - By Gaathier Mahed

Recently at a major German Research facility a talk relating to the micro-, meso- and macro- scales of research in Earth Science was delivered. It was interesting to note how we, as geoscientists, are integrating multiple tools in order to better understand the world around us and thus in turn improve society as a whole. Possible future projects were also outlined and these delved into the unknown. The real personal question which arose is: Where did all of this thinking originate?

In order to properly understand geoscience one has to delve into the past and see where the thinking originates from, how it has developed and consequently what has molded our thinking. It is critical to note that great geoscientists of the past were not necessarily geoscientists by classification and looked at problems from a holistic viewpoint. These great minds were keen observers, thinkers and in many cases philosophers and mathematicians with an interest in the world around them.

The Pyramids at Giza, in Egypt, are a prime example of the applied geosciences. The stones were sourced from another location, due to the fact that the designers knew of the ability of the material to withstand the elements. Furthermore the exact design, orientation and location of these ancient wonders allows one to believe that applied geological science was in existence some 3000 years before Christ, but nobody had the nomenclature in order to classify it. When standing in the presence of these structures, armed with this knowledge, one can only stare in awe and only imagine how, when and where the idea for these magnificent structures came about. Everything about these three large pyramids is amazing. This leads you to question whether the deeper understanding of the magnificent history of science could guide our future applications.

The Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ a/af/All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg)

When one looks into the annals of history we find that as early as 300 BC in Ancient Greece Theophrastus, who was a student of Aristotle and Plato, was examining concepts relating to geological science. He was a philosopher and deep in thought about processes on the earth. His ideas were guided by those of Aristotle who made critical observations of the slow rate of geological change. Furthermore his teacher also hypothesised what happens to water below the subsurface. It is interesting to note that the basis for earth science as we know it was deep thought observation and critical analysis.

Approximately 1300 years later Ibn Sina commented on the work of Aristotle and further delved into these surface processes, mountain formation, sources of water, formation of minerals and the origin of earthquakes. Thereafter Shen Kou, who was also a naturalist, proposed the modern theories of Geomorphology. This Chinese scientist, who dabbled in many fields, observed surface processes and the erosion of mountains as well as the consequent deposition of materials in the ocean. From a better understanding of these processes we have learnt to understand the formation of offshore mineral resources and thus extract them.

The initial applied use of geological science related to the extraction of resources, as previously mentioned. This can be seen from the oldest gold mine in the world in Georgia, which supposedly dates back to the third millennium B.C. This application in turn affected where we situate our dwellings, the materials used to construct these dwellings, as well as the relationship/impact we had with/on the immediate (surrounding) environment. It is a known fact that settlements were located along rivers in order to minimise the amount of time spent on collecting water. This life source also caused destruction when flooding occurred, yet we persisted to reside on the floodplain.

Panning for Gold (http://www.old-picture.com/american-adventure/pictures/panning-Miner.jpg)

More recently and closer to home, due to the groundwater resources supplying the majority of the country’s freshwater, Henry Darcy became the father of hydrogeology in 1856. He examined flow in saturated porous media in the water supply of Dijon, France and then announced a law named after him.

Thus heralded an era of French Mathematics, particularly applied to the earth sciences,  which we have never seen before. Charles Matheron, Benoit Mandelbrot and Pierre Gy all looked at problems related to understanding the earth. Thus it is clearly evident that a rich history of geoscience has lead to the point whereby we are at the cutting edge of great discoveries and intergration of knowledge. The future is so bright I have to wear shades!

Global Fooling. I mean Cooling

Climate Change, What?! - By Gaathier Mahed

Ever since a former American president released a movie on inconvenient truths (Watch here) and another film maker created a piece of art related to perceptions related to shale gas (Watch here) it seems as if everybody is now aware of the problems we face in terms of preserving the environment. On a local scale we see great concern stemming from the environmentalists in the Karoo. A professor of mine said that we should separate environmentalists from environmental scientists and let the data speak and not some naked person running around with a placard saying “stop fracking with the Karoo”.

Melting of the Polar Ice Caps?! (http://media.nj.com/hudson_voices_impact/photo/polejpg-b59b830bd901735d.jpg)

Recent work suggests that climate change is cyclical and has occurred over the past few millions of years at various points in time. Furthermore the research does point to exacerbation of global warming due to the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases emitted by anthropogenic activities. There are multiple arguments floating around in the scientific arena related to the subject matter. Some even argue that there is no such thing as global warming and that it is merely a figment of our imagination. I agree, because it is not just necessarily warmer, but also cooler in certain places at specific times. I landed in Germany in 2010 and they had the worst winter in 50 years with temperatures averaging at minus 30.

The fact remains that the facts should do the talking and not emotional talk related to the number of people who have fire in their water. Science is concerned with the data and interpreting that data, not how some politician or movie maker feels it should be. Furthermore the scientists should be allowed to do the work and not be swayed by political or financial interests. It is Jarod Kintz who said “Abstain from reading comedy or government economic statistics”. I think this could be linked to the point made by Nassim Nicholas Taleb “Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.” I am not bad mouthing economics or statisticians, it is just to emphasize a point.

Science is the only thing left that is honest and open, excluding statistics of course. This is due to the fact that Benjamin Disraeli said “There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics”. Yet one finds it amusing to see that this very tool aided in the removal of outliers over the years from climate data, and thereafter the addition of these outliers lead climate scientists to better understand Elnino and changes in the climate.

The point is that those who work in their field should be the ones who are consulted for a professional opinion, not a politician who shouts for the nationalisation of everything and could not even pass woodwork in matric. The times are changing, and so is the climate…

Feedback Session - Hello, Goodbye

Finally, we may officially close the Field School of 2014. This was done in dramatic fashion as our brave souls received feedback regarding their incredible maps, reports and mini-research reports. There were scenes of tears and screams as the most of the group was reunited among familiar faces and giant muffins. The muffins were much needed as we began a long process of listening attentively to each giving their report back on their individual research topics. Once more we were taken down memory lane thinking about the Barberton Greenstone Belt, The Karoo and all those lovely things seen during our trip. There were nerves of steel, and nerves of jelly, but all succeeded incredulously. Of course, a moment of silence was needed to remember those who did not survive the grueling field school and the lack of their lovely faces was clearly missed among the group, pity.

"Who's your lambs to the slaughter?!" All our wonderful field school participants, all grown (geologically), and teaching us something about something!

There was also time to look back at the marvelous geological maps created by our group. One sees colourful maps, but if one were to look really carefully, you may be lucky enough to make out the geo-poetry in them. What a wonderful sight to see! Our group left as lambs to the slaughter and they returned champions of the Gariep Belt, a treasure to behold for the rest of their lives. And now, hopefully, South African geology is all the better for it.

Are these really their maps?? Somewhere, somehow here are the million dollar products! Fanciful things, really. Great job all around - take a moment of silence for those we lost in geological cyberspace, their gaps will be remembered...

Previous field school participants were also seen this day, hiding in the crowd, no doubt remembering their wonderful times. Zwanga was asked about here experience back in her day, and she responded: "Mara, no shame, I must support them, I know the pain they suffered..."