Day 1: Sunday, February 16th, 2020


Day 1: Sunday, February 16th, 2020 - Barberton



Today was our first official day in South Africa. After our breakfast in Johannesburg (Kempton Park) we drove to Barberton.

Aflah and his umbrella.


On the way we made a couple stops.

Stop 1: Barberton Greenstone Belt and Archaean Granite

Professors Dan Gregory and Xu Chu



Our first stop was the contact between an archaean trondhjemite (3.4 Ga) and amphibolite (3.7 Ga). The amphibolite is fine grained and dark in colour and it's a lower member of the greenstone belt. The trondhjemite is low in potassium at the source region. 3.2 Ga the trondhjemite intruded the amphibolite at a subduction zone, and it is one of the oldest intrusive amphibolites. We shared the site with a couple of cows and jumped a stream to see the crosscutting relationship between the two rocks.

Trondhjemite and amphibolite, hammer for scale.

Trondhjemite and amphibolite.

Stop 2: Granite 3.21 Ga

We made a quick stop at this 3.21 Ga granite which formed post orogenic/ in the last stage of orogeny. It is A-type granite, anhydrous and alkaline. The black rocks in the stream are amphibole from the greenstone belt.


Upon arriving at Songimvelo Kromdraai we went for a hike Along the Komati River.

Students in the parking lot at Songimvelo Kromdraai.

Stop 3: Komati River Hike, Barberton

On our hike we saw pillow basalts (oceanic origin). Chert which is a hard, fine grained sedimentary rock that is often of biological origin.

Songimvelo Kromdraai Hike

Bridge over the Komati River


Bridge Selfie
Pillow basalts.



After our hike we made dinner (salad,corn, and boarwrst sausage) and got some rest. 
Dean and Daryll.


Barbecue dinner.



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