Date: 2-16 September 2012
Duration: 14 days
Location: South Africa -Bushveld
Presenters:Prof. Marco Fiorentini, Dr. Nicolas Thebaud, Ms Estelle Dawes, Ms Wendy Carter and South African affiliates.
Cost: (includes international flights from Perth to Johannesburg return, local transportation costs, 3 meals a day, accommodation and nominated entry fees): $10,000 per person
This field excursion provides students with a UWA-guided tour of some of the richest mines and best geological exposures in South Africa. This exclusive biennial course, which this year runs for two weeks in September, looks at a wide range of mineral systems, including gold, PGE, iron and base metals. Limited places are available for geologists to join Associate Professor Marco Fiorentini on this once in a lifetime experience.
The field trip to this geological wonderland will cover the Gauteng, Northwest, Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces of northeast South Africa. Much of this area consists of the Highveld (veld = plateau), about 1.5 km above sea level. One of the highest parts is the Witwatersrand (Afrikaans for “white water ridge”), forming a watershed, 2 km above sea level, between the Vaal River to the south that flows into the Atlantic Ocean and the Limpopo River to the north that flows into the Indian Ocean. Spectacular undulating topography typifies the area around Johannesburg, with quartzite ridges of the gold-bearing Witwatersrand Supergroup forming the positive relief. 300 km towards the east lies the breathtaking escarpment, where there is up to 1 km of vertical relief resulting from erosion of the Highveld during the last 3 million years. To the southeast, the magnificent Barberton Mountainland contains some of the world’s most spectacular komatiite outcrops. The entire region is underlain by the Archean Kaapvaal craton, and almost all the mines and geology visited in this field excursion are greater than 2 billion years old. This field excursion will visit numerous world-class ore deposits. Throughout the trip, a mineral system approach will be discussed in order to unravel together the processes that led to the formation of such a wide range of mineralised systems.
There are strictly limited places available for our geological adventure. Be quick to register your interest as the allocation will be based on a first come first served basis.