Below are some examples of projects being pursued in the Department of Geology.  More detailed descriptions are available under the individual staff member or at:
 

• Bushveld Complex and Geodynamics
• Mineralogy and Applied Mineralogy
• Engineering- and Hydrogeology
• Aon Benfield Natural Hazard Centre 

Bushveld Mapping and Compilation

A major project entails the detailed mapping and compilation of 1: 50 000 scale geological maps of the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, led by Dr Tom Molyneux, an honorary member of staff. Tom has spent much of his professional life in this part of the Bushveld, working in various guises, and has recently completed this set of maps which are currently being drafted in digital form. He started to extend the compilation work to the other limbs of the Complex in 2007. In early 2009 the new map of the eastern Bushveld Complex and accompanying map report will be available within the Department of Geology, both electronically and in hard copy.

Tectonic and structural setting of the Bushveld Complex

This is an ongoing project, led by Dr Adam Bumby, Prof Eckart Wallbrecher (Uni-Graz), Prof Pat Eriksson, Dr Martin Rigby, Dr Roelof van der Merwe as well as Prof Roland Merkle and Dr James Roberts. Use will be made of satellite imagery, available geophysical data and detailed geological maps to aid understanding of the structural setting. Attention will be paid particularly to the lower (and upper) contact of especially the Rustenburg Suite, and also to metamorphic conditions in floor and roof lithologies, across the preserved intrusion. Additionally, tectonic inferences gained from tectonic discrimination diagrams will be analysed.

Evolution of the Transvaal and Waterberg Basins

This is an amalgamation of two long-standing research areas pursued by UP Geology, now conceptually joined together to address their relationships to the tectonic evolution of the Bushveld plume and its mechanisms of intrusion into the Transvaal basin. Prof Pat Eriksson, Prof Wlady Altermann and Dr Adam Bumby lead this project, which is carried out in close affinity with the above project. Other areas of great interest lie in the sequence stratigraphy of both basins (research in co-operation with Prof Octavian Catuneanu, University of Alberta), the character of their component sedimentary systems (in co-operation with Prof Ken Eriksson of Virginia Tech, USA, and Prof Ed Simpson of Kutztown University, USA), especially those of epeiric marine coastlines and the earliest ergs on the Earth. Prof Wlady Altermann has long studied the related Griqualand West Transvaal basin, particularly the evolution of its giant carbonate platform deposits and their microbial life, in conjunction with Polish and international colleagues. A number of postgraduate students from UP, Polish and German universities are involved in this research.

Microbial mat structures preserved in the Precambrian clastic record

This project began with work on the c. 2.1 Ga Magaliesberg Formation (Pretoria Group, Transvaal Supergroup) carried out in co-operation with Manuel Parizot, an exchange student from the University of Rennes, and continues in co-operation with Mr Pieter Bosch (Council for Geoscience; PhD student in the Dept.). A much broader international co-operative project on these features was completed in 2007, with a book from Elsevier Science: “Atlas of microbial features preserved within the siliciclastic rock record” (#2 in the Elsevier series, “Atlases in Geology”), co-edited by Prof Juergen Schieber (Univ. of Indiana), Prof Pradip K Bose (Jadavpur Univ., India), Prof Patrick G Eriksson (UP), Prof Santanu Banerjee (IIT-Mumbai, India), Dr Subir Sarkar (Reader, Jadavpur Univ.), Prof Wladyslaw Altermann (LMU-Munich; now with UP) and Prof Octavian Catuneanu (Univ. of Alberta). This international work continues also, particularly on examples from India and South Africa.

Determining sustainable yields of potential productive well fields in the basement aquifers of the Limpopo Province

With special emphasis on the Limpopo (WMA 1) and Luvuvhu/Letaba (WMA 2) Water Management Areas). Funded by the Water Research Commission. Duration: 01/2007 – 03/2010. Project leader: Prof Louis van Rooy. The main objectives of the project are:

• based on stakeholder involvement (e.g. DWAF etc.) and previous studies (including areas that are experiencing water stress), to identify regionally significant water-bearing structural features and geological domains for further detailed groundwater reconnaissance and exploration (to be based on utilising integrated groundwater exploration approaches viz. hydrocensus, tectonics and geodynamics analysis, strain analysis for field structural mapping, remote sensing, etc.);
• to conceptualize flow dynamics (interconnectivity, regional directional permeability and transmissivity) and flow paths (including dating and tracing of deep water) in the identified water-bearing structural features and geological domains;
• to determine storage capacity and storage coefficients (and sustainability yield constraints) of the various geological domains and their reliability during droughts using appropriate investigative techniques;
• to capture all data in accordance with DWAF policies and procedures.

Vadose Zone Classification

Mr Matthys Dippenaar and Prof Louis van Rooy are currently busy with a Water Research Comiission funded project on classifying the unsaturated zone.  The aim of the project is to refine the field and empirical methods presently being used to determine percolation rates and hydraulic conductivities, as well as to assess some new methods to better define the process of seepage in the unsaturated zone.  Preliminary findings were presented at the Biennial Groundwater Conference 2009.

Early Jurassic Termite Nests and Ichnofossils

Dr Adam Bumby, together with Dr Emese Bordy of Rhodes University, is currently investigating the presence of suspected fossilised termitaria in the Clarens Formation of southern Africa. Their research is focusing on the architecture of these structures and how they compare to that of modern termite nests. In addition they are investigating the consequences of the presence of early Jurassic termitiaria to the age and causes of the evolution of eusocial behaviour.

The metamorphic, structural and temporal evolution of the Limpopo Belt

Dr Martin Rigby together with Dr Ian Basson (UCT & Tect), Dr Wayne Barnett (SRK), Dr Richard. Armstrong (ANU), Prof Jan Kramers (Bern), Dr Giles Droop (University of Manchester), Prof Gary Stevens (Stellenbosch) & Philani Mavimbela (UP), is currently investigating the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Limpopo Belt. The aim of the project is to:

• Determine robust and reliable P-T paths via a pseudosection approach to thermobarometry.
• Determine the age of metamorphic, igneous and structural events.
• Integrate P-T, geochronological and structural data to decipher the tectonic evolution of the Limpopo Belt.

Trace element profiling of gold/ origin of gold in the Witwatersrand Basin

Together with Roger Dixon from the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratories, Dr. R.J. Roberts and Prof. R.K. W. Merkle are working on an ongoing investigation into the use of trace element fingerprinting on gold. Current project focuses:

1) Evaluating the source of gold seized in police operations through the identification of distinctive artefacts produced in the trace element profiles by processing operations;

2) Investigating the origin of gold in different reefs of the Witwatersrand through evaluation of distinct trace element ratios in gold prills;

3) Differentiating between goldfields in the Wits basin through characteristic trace element signatures.