Geological Mapping in South Africa

LucyTweed,Summer 2012

GeologicalMappingin SouthAfrica I spent9 weeksin SouthAfricathis summercarryingout a geological mappingproject.The fieldworkformedthe basisof our Partll projectwhichspecifieda minimumof 28 daysin the field makingobservations of the geologyin orderto producea geological map and elucidatethe structuresand geological historyof the areachosen. A groupof five fellowgeologists and I carriedout our mappingprojectin the VredefortDome which represents the centralupliftof the VredefortlmpactStructure;one of the largestand most deeplyerodedmeteoriteimpactstructuresin the world.Our fieldareawas locatedroughly 120kmsouth-westof Johannesburg. lt traverseda sectionthroughArcheanand Palaeoproterozoic rocksof the Kaapwaal Craton.Theserepresentsomeof the oldestrockson earth and recordconditionsvery differentfrom thosetoday.Moreover,the catastrophic deformationcausedby the meteoriteimpactresultedin a rangeof rockand mineraldeformation phenomenathat are uniqueto suchlargeimpactstructures. The intriguinggeologythat this area hadto offer madethis projectoriginaland fulfilling. The projectrequireda lot of planning.Much of this wasvia correspondence with academics from Cambridge and the WitwatersrandUniversityin Johannesburg. On arrivalin SouthAfricawe visitedWitwatersrandUniversity to meet someof the academics who specialised in our area.We alsomet a mastersstudentwho wasstudyingthe sameareaas us who we invitedto join us on our fieldwork.I feel our extendedcommunication with the EarthScience departmentof WitwatersrandUniversity will aid future studentscarryingout projectsin SouthAfrica. We stayedin a guesthousenearthe town of Parys.The landin the areawas ownedby private gamefarmers,and the firstjob wasto introduceourselves to the ownersin orderto arrange dailyaccesson to their land.Theyall provedveryconsiderate; showinggreathospitalityand goingout of their way to help us.Manyalsoshowedgenuineinterestfor the geologyon their land.Overthe courseof the project,we engagedwith the SouthAfricanculture:attendingbris ( b a r b e c u e sa )n d d r i n k i n gm a m p o e r( v e r ys t r o n gh o m e - d i s t i l l esdp i r i t )w i t h t h e l o c a g l ame farmers.We alsoachieveda localcelebritystatusafterappearingin the localnewspaperand beinginterviewedon the radio. We were met with manychallenges in the field,and I feelthat I havelearnta lot from the experience of doingindependentfieldworkin a foreigncountry.The lackof cloudcoverduring the dry seasonmeanttemperaturesswungfrom -3"Cto +20"Coverthe courseof a day.The ruggedterrainand thickvegetationwere alsophysically challenging. Lastly,sharingthe landwith buck,cattle,giraffes,zebras,ostrichesand rhinosresultedin someamazing,and occasionally terrifying,experiences. After finishingour project,we took advantage of beingin SouthAfrica,and travelledaroundthe restof the country.Wesaw manybeautifulplaces,met manyamazingpeople,and had many memorable xperiences. I w o u l dl i k et o t h a n kt h e C o l l e g e f o r f i n a n c i a l lsyu p p o r t i n tgh i s p r o j e c t .