This 6-night / 5-day trip will provide participants with an overview of BGB geology and its context within the Kaapvaal Craton. Participants will examine the principal outcrops, lithologies, style of preservation and deformation of the Onverwacht, Fig Tree and Moodies Groups (3.57-3.21 Ga) and discuss key lines of evidence on which much of our knowledge of early Earth processes is based. (See pre-conference BGB excursion for a summary of these topics).

Compared to the pre-conference excursion (Pre16), this field trip will spend more time studying the lower stratigraphic members of the greenstone belt, including their type sections, and on the igneous rocks surrounding the BGB. Participants will be based in Badplaas and Barberton (3 nights each) and use minibuses to access outcrops in the Makhonjwa Mountains, mostly using tarred roads. All meals are included in the trip fees. The trip begins and ends by shuttling participants to/from Nelspruit.

Field Trip Leaders: Christoph Heubeck, Eugene Grosch, Paul Mason
Start: Participants will be picked up in Nelspruit on Sept. 4th and transferred to Badplaas
End: Program ends in the evening of Sept. 9. Participants will be transferred from Barberton to Nelspruit early on Sept. 10
Departs: Monday Sept. 5th, 9a.m., from Cradle of Life outside Badplaas for first day in the field
Dates: 6 days, Sunday 4th to Saturday 10th September 2016
Price: R 14 500 per person sharing, single supplement not applicable

Info from Trip Leader 

The Group

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5