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Department of Geological Sciences

Research Report 2006

Head of Department: Associate Professor C. Harris
Departmental Profile
Research in the Department of Geological Sciences covers a wide range of topics. The Department has strengths in geochemistry, structural geology and tectonics, igneous and metamorphic petrology, sedimentology, marine geology, economic geology and petroleum geophysics. General research interests include: global tectonics and geodynamics with emphasis on Gondwana geology; oceanic and continental igneous processes and the geochemical evolution of the underlying mantle; kimberlites and the genesis of diamonds; evolution of the Kaapvaal craton and gold genesis; paleoclimatology; marine geoscience and sedimentary geochemistry; paleoclimate and environmental geochemistry. Analytical facilities include X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, ion chromatography, fluid inclusion stage, stable isotope extraction lines and access to a stable isotope mass spectrometer, sedigraph for particle size analysis, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (solution and laser analysis), and solid source thermal ionization mass spectrometer and associated clean laboratories.

Departmental Statistics
Permanent and long-term contract staff

Professors	2
Associate Professors	5
Senior Lecturers	3
Lecturers	0
Research Staff	0
Technical Support Staff	13
Administrative & Clerical Staff	3
Total	26

Honorary staff

Honorary Research Associates

4

Students

Postdoctoral	1
Doctoral	9
Masters	14
Honours	9
Undergraduate	284
Total	327

Research Fields and Staff
Permanent staff
Professor Anton le Roex

Igneous geochemistry; analytical geochemistry; mantle evolution

Professor Maarten de Wit

Geodynamics; tectonics; stratigraphy; Gondwana; GIS

Associate Professor John Compton

Low-temperature and sedimentary geochemistry; marine geology

Associate Professor Hartwig Frimmel

Metamorphic petrology; hydrothermal geochemistry; economic geology; crustal fluids

Associate Professor Chris Harris

Head of Department; Stable isotope geochemistry; igneous petrology

Associate Professor David Reid

Precambrian crustal evolution and metallogeny; carbonatites; isotope geochemistry

Associate Professor Stephen Richardson

Isotope geochemistry; geochronology; diamonds; mantle evolution

Dr John Rogers

Senior Research Officer; marine sediments; manganese nodules; continental shelf

Dr Alakendra Roychoudhury

Senior Lecturer; environmental geochemistry

Mr George Smith

Senior Lecturer; petroleum geophysics

Honorary Research Associates
Dr Harold Annegarn

Atmospheric geochemistry

Dr Herbie Klinger

Paleontology

Dr Roger Smith

Palaeontology

Dr Robert Zartman

U-Th-Pb isotope systems

Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Jacek Stankiewicz

African river basins

Contact Details

Postal address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701

Telephone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Web: http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/geolsci

Research Output
ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
Banerjee, N.R., Furnes, H., Muehlenbachs, K., Staudigel, H. and De Wit, M.J. 2006. Preservation of ~3.4-3.5 Ga microbial biomarkers in pillow lavas and hyaloclastites from Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 241: 707-722.
Barry, T., Pearce, J.A., Leat, P.T., Millar, I.L. and Le Roex, A.P. 2006. Hf isotope evidence for selective mobility of high -field-strength-elements in a subduction setting: South Sandwich Islands. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 252: 223-244.
Bisnath, A., Frimmel, H.E. and Board, W.S. 2006. Tectono-thermal evolution of the Maude Belt: New SHRIMP U-Pb zircon data from Gjelsvikfjella, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Precambrian Research, 150(1): 95-121.
Class, C. and Le Roex, A.P. 2006. Continental material in the shallow oceanic mantle - how does it get there? Geology, 34(3): 129-132.
Compton, J.S. 2006. The mid-Holocene sea-level highstand at Bogenfels Pan on the southwest coast of Namibia. Quarternary Research, 66(2): 303-310.
De Wit, M.J. 2006. Valuing copper mined from hydrothermal ore deposits. Ecological Economics, 55(3): 437-443.
De Wit, M.J. and Horsfield, B. 2006. Inkaba yeAfrica Project surveys sector of Earth from core to space. EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 87(11): 113, 117.
De Wit, M.J. and Stankiewicz, J.M. 2006. Changes in surface water supply across Africa with predicted climate change. Science, 311: 1917-1921.
Dludla, S., Le Roex, A.P. and Gurney, J.J. 2006. Eclogite xenoliths from the Premier kimberlite, South Africa: Geochemical evidence for subduction origin. South African Journal of Geology, 109: 351-366.
Franceschini, G. and Compton, J.S. 2006. Holocene evolution of the Sixteen Mile Beach Complex, Western Cape, South Africa. Journal of Coastal Research, 22(5): 1158-1166.
Frimmel, H.E., Tack, L., Basei, M.A.S. and Nutman, A.P. 2006. Provenance and chemostratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic West Congolian Group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 46: 221-239.
Gregoire, M., Tinguely, C., Bell, D.R. and Le Roex, A.P. 2005. Spinel lherzolite xenoliths from the Premier kimberlite (Kaapvaal craton, South Africa): Nature and evolution of the shallow upper mantle beneath the Bushveld complex. Lithos, 84: 185-205.
Jacob, J., Ward, J.D., Bluck, B.J., Scholz, R.A. and Frimmel, H.E. 2006. Some observations on diamondiferous bedrock gully trapsites on Late Cainozoic, marine-cut platforms of the Sperrgebiet, Namibia. Ore Geology Reviews, 28(4): 493-506.
Klein, E.L., Harris, C., Renac, C., Giret, A., Moura, C.A.V. and Fuzikawa, K. 2006. Fluid inclusion and stable isotope (O, H, C, S) constraints on the genesis of the Serrinha gold deposit, Gurupi belt, northern Brazil. Mineralium Deposita, 41(2): 160-178.
Le Roex, A.P. and Becker, M. 2006. Geochemistry of South African on- and off-craton, group I and group II kimberlites: Petrogenesis and source region evolution. Journal of Petrology, 47(4): 673-703.
Le Roux, P., Shirey, S.B., Hauri, E.H., Perfit, M.R. and Bender, J.F. 2006. The effects of variable sources, processes and contaminants on the composition of northern EPR MORB (8-100N and 12-140N): Evidence from volatiles (H₂O, CO₂, S) and halogens (F, Cl). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 251: 209-231.
Macey, P.H. and Harris, C. 2006. Stable isotope and fluid inclusion evidence for the origin of the Brandberg West area Sn-W vein deposits, NW Namibia. Mineralium Deposita, 41(7): 671-690.
Masters, J.C., Anthony, N.M., De Wit, M.J. and Mitchell, A. 2005. Reconstructing the Evolutionary Theory of the Lorisidae using morphological, molecular and geological data. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 127: 465-480.
Masters, J.C., De Wit, M.J. and Asher, R.J. 2006. Reconciling the origins of Africa, India and Madagascar with vertebrate dispersal scenarios. Folia Primatologica, 77(6): 399-418.
Minter, L. 2006. The sedimentary setting of Witwatersrand placer mineral deposits in an Archean atmosphere. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Memoir 198: 105-119.
Orton, J. and Compton, J.S. 2006. A reworked mid-Holocene lithic assemblage at Dunefield Midden 1, Elands Bay, South Africa. African Archaeological Bulletin, 61: 90-95.
Rau, A., Rogers, J. and Chen, C.M.-T. 2006. Late Quaternary palaeoceanographic record in giant piston cores off South Africa, possibly including evidence of neotectonism. Quaternary International, 148(1): 65-77.
Riishuus, M.S., Peate, D.W., Tegner, C., Wilson, J.R., Brooks, C.K. and Harris, C. 2006. Temporal evolution of a long-lived syenitic centre: The Kangerlussuaq Alkaline Complex, East Greenland. Lithos, 92(1-2): 276-299.
Rogers, J. and Rau, A.J.R. 2006. Surficial sediments of the wave-dominated Orange River Delta and the adjacent continental margin off south-western Africa. African Journal of Marine Science, 28(3 and 4): 511-542.
Roychoudhury, A. 2006. Time dependent calibration of a sediment extraction scheme. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 52(4): 397-403.
Roychoudhury, A. and McCormick, D.W. 2006. Kinetics of sulfate reduction in a coastal aquifer contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. Biogeochemistry, 81(1): 17-31.
Roychoudhury, A. and Merrett, G.L. 2006. Redox pathways in a petroleum contaminated shallow sandy aquifer: Iron and sulfate reductions. Science of the Total Environment, 366(1): 262-274.
Roychoudhury, A. and Starke, M.F. 2006. Partitioning and mobility of trace metals in the Blesbokspruit: Impact assessment of dewatering of mine waters in the East Rand, South Africa. Applied Geochemistry, 21(6): 1044-1063.
Smith, D.S. and Basson, I.J. 2006. Shape and distribution analysis of Merensky Reef potholing, Northam Platinum Mine, western Bushveld Complex: Implications for pothole formation and growth. Mineralium Deposita, 41(April): 281-295.
Sponheimer, M., De Ruiter, D., Lee-Thorp, J.A. and Spath, A. 2005. Sr/Ca and early hominin diets revisited: New data from modern and fossil tooth enamel. Journal of Human Evolution, 48: 147-156.
Stankiewicz, J.M. and De Wit, M.J. 2006. A proposed drainage evolution model for Central Africa - did the Congo flow east? Journal of African Earth Sciences, 44(1): 75-84.
Stankiewicz, J.M., Thiart, C., Masters, J.C. and De Wit, M.J. 2006. Did lemurs have sweepstake tickets? An exploration of Simpson's model for the colonization of Madagascar by mammals. Journal of Biogeography, 33: 221-235.
Tuchscherer, M.G., Reimold, U.W., Gibson, R.L., De Bruin, D. and Spath, A. 2006. Major and trace element compositions of melt particles and associated phases from Yaxcopoil-1 drill core, Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 41(9): 1361-1379.
Westerlund, K., Shirey, S.B., Richardson, S.H., Carlson, R.W., Gurney, J.J. and Harris, J.W. 2006. A subduction wedge origin for Paleoarchean peridotitic diamonds and harzburgites from the Panda kimberlite, Slave craton: Evidence from Re-Os isotope systematics. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 152: 275-294.
Wigley, R. and Compton, J.S. 2006. Late Cenozoic evolution of the outer continental shelf at the Head of the Cape Canyon, South Africa. Marine Geology, 226(1-2): 1-23.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
Thiart, C. and De Wit, M.J. 2006. Fingerprinting the metal endowment of early continental crust to test for secular changes in global mineralization. In S.E. Kesler and H. Ohmoto (eds), Evolution of early Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere – constraints from ore deposits. Geological Society of America Memoir 198: 53-66.
Zhao, B., Robb, L.J.R., Harris, C. and Jordaan, L.J. 2006. Origin of hydrothermal fluids and gold mineralization associated with the Ventersdorp Contact Reef, Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa: Constraints from S, O, H isotopes. In U.W. Reimold and R.L. Gibson (eds), Processes on the Early Earth: 333-352. United States of America: Geological Society of America.

PUBLISHED CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS
Compton, J.S., Franceschini, G. and Wigley, R. 2006. A proposed Neogene synthesis of the West Coast and West Coast Fossil Park. African Natural History 2 (1816-8396): 182-183.
Middleton, X.N. and Rogers, J. 2006. Rare-earth and trace element geochemistry of the phosphorites and phosphatic sands of Varswater Quarry, Langebaanweg. African Natural History 2 (1816-8396) : 189-190.
Rogers, J. 2006. Sedimentology of Late Cenozoic sediments of the Varswater Formation in the Varswater Quarry at Langebaanweg, Western Cape Province, South Africa. African Natural History 2 (1816-8396) : 192-193.
Rogers, J. 2006. Sedimentology of Late Cenozoic sediments, including the Pliocene Duynefontyn Member of the Varswater Formation, Koeberg nuclear power station, Melkbosstrand, Cape Town. African Natural History 2 (1816-8396) : 194-196.

THESES AND DISSERTATIONS PASSED FOR HIGHER DEGREES
Joubert, W.R. 2006. Seasonal variability of sediment oxygen demand and biogeochemistry on the Namibian inner self. Master of Science.
Mabidi, T. 2006. Quantifying spatial association between mineral deposits and geology across three African crustal segments of different age, with implication for secular change in mineralization during earth history. MSc.
Smith, M. 2006. Prediction, control and rehabilitation of iron encrustation in water supply boreholes, Western Cape, South Africa: A geochemical approach: 1-279. PhD.
Tonsing, T. 2006. Using rock physics to determine uncertainties in pore-fluid and lithology-estimates from seismic attributes in the Bredasdorp Basin, offshore South Africa: 120. MSc.