BARBERTON - Geological knowledge of the newly created “Barberton Makhonjwa Mountain Land” World Heritage Site, advanced several small steps last week as Prof. Christoph Heubeck, a researcher from Germany who has worked with his students in these mountains for many years, passed on another set of geological maps from parts of this region to local stakeholders. They include maps by two MSc students, Sebastian Reimann of Freiberg Technical University and Andreas Zametzer from Jena University, both of whom had done fieldwork supervised by Heubeck last year.

“These maps are not meant to help locating ore or gold deposits, but rather serve to reconstruct the complicated geological history of the region”, Heubeck said. “This includes the conditions under which the sedimentary strata were deposited, how they were then deformed by folding and faulting, and how they were intruded by magmatic dikes and covered by volcanic rocks a short time later. They contribute ‘pieces to the puzzle’ to understand the surface conditions on the Archean Earth under which early life gained a foothold on the planet.” The Archean, Heubeck explained, is the second-oldest geological time period of our planet and extends from 4.0 to 2.5 billion years ago.

Geoscientists working on these extremely old rocks, Heubeck commented, ask not where and which rocks occur, but rather try to understand why they occur in specific strata and what information their composition and patterns hold to reconstruct past climate, tides, atmospheric composition and volcanic eruptions. These are fundamental properties which affected the spreading of life and the origin of continents.

Eventually, the geological maps by Heubeck and his students will be incorporated into a digital geologic map covering the entire mountain land, including the area covered by the World Heritage Site. That map will then be easily combinable with other data, such as land use or infrastructure, and therefore assist in making better decisions about the development of the region. “But to that point,” Heubeck estimates, “a few more years will pass by”.

Heubeck and a group of new students are planning to return again next winter to Barberton to continue their fieldwork.

Editor: Anchen Coetzee
Subeditor: Lynette Brink