The Northern margin of the Kaapvaal craton is a classic example of Archaean (to lower Proterozoic) high-grade terrane. In this region, crust was formed and/or recycled for ca. 1 Ga by a range of processes: in-situ partial melting of early TTG compositions, erosion/sedimentation/melting, or intrusion of mantle-derived magmas with an important crustal input (sanukitoids and related). All these processes have been documented based on petrology and geochemistry.

This trip will proceed from the Murchison belt in the South (a classical Archaean greenstone belt), to the gneisses and late-Archaean granitic intrusions of the Northern Kaapvaal Craton, to the heavily reworked Limpopo Belt with beautiful occurrences of anatectic metasediments.

Outcrops in this region are relatively uncommon, but typically form huge (100’s of meters), fresh platforms in inselbergs and river beds; most localities offer spectacular outcrops. Key localities should include (depending on final logistic arrangments) the ca. 2.95 Ga Rooiwater mafic layered intrusion; several example of high-grade gneisses and migmatites of the Northern Kaapvaal; a range of late-Archaean granites, including the Matok pluton; complex interactions between orthogneisses and peraluminous leucogranites in the Limpopo Southern Marginal Zone; Anatectic metapelites of the SMZ; and the iconic Three Sisters (large inselberg of porphyritic granite) and Sand River (huge platform of anatectic orthogneisses and metapelites) localities in the Central Zone.

As a bonus, the trip will start in Phalaborwa, allowing participants to spend some time in the Kruger National Park before the excursion.

Field Trip Leader: J-F Moyen                                                                            
Start: Phalaborwa Airport              
End: O R Tambo Airport

Dates: 6 days, Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th August 2016                     
Price: R 22 000 per person sharing with single supplement of R 2 240 per person

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