Inkaba yeAfrica
Project Status Report to DST/NRF
Year End Report 2013-4
STUDENT REPORTS
HEART of AFRICA : The Deep Earth and the Distant Past
Sub-Project 1.1 :
Earth and ocean monitoring network across Southern Africa (SADC) a long-term regional project to support
a multi-disciplinary Earth science approach
Sub Project 1.1
Student Name : Christina BOTAI
Black Female – PhD, UP
Project Name:
Evaluation of gravity field models using Satellite Lunar Ranging (SLR)
data for precise satellite orbit determination
Start: (month, year); finish April 2013
Project Manager/Supervisors
Ludwig Combrinck (HartRAO, UP)
The project uses the SLR analysis program developed at HartRAO. This program incorporates the different gravity
models developed from the SLR data to compute target SLR satellites orbits. The main objectives of the project
include: determining satellite orbital parameters due to the different gravity field models, determining the most
suitable gravity model that can be used for precise satellite orbit determination with application minimising the
observed-computed residuals, identifying solve-for parameters which are affected adversely by less-accurate gravity
models and developing a method to improve observed-computed residuals either by choice of gravity model or other
intervention. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Student Name: Valentino VAN DE HEYDE
Black male – MSc, UWC
Project Name:
Development of Ionospheric Total Electron Content model for Southern
Africa using Global Navigation Satellite Systems network
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: PhD – (month) 2014). Running Title: …
Project Manager/Supervisors
Daniel M Moeketsi (CSIR), Robert Lindsay (UWC)
Sub Project 1.1
This project has commenced in February 2010. To date the student completed literature review, looking at the
different ionospheric models that has been developed in South Africa, the US TEC model over the Northern American
sector and other ionospheric models that calculates ionospheric parameters, including TEC. At the moment, the
student is busy with the construction and development of the ionospheric model, which will compute ionospheric
parameters over Southern Africa utilising GNSS network (HartRAO and Trignet) and he is also currently writing up
background theory of his thesis.
During April this year, he accompanied me to attend international workshop entitled: 2nd Satellite Navigation Science
and Technology for Africa, in Trieste, Italy, 06 April - 24 April 2010. The workshop was focused on training students
and researchers from various fields in Africa on the use of GNSS and its applications in various disciplines including
geodesy, ionosphere and space weather. I would like him to attend another workshop late this year in Ethiopia, were
he will be presenting his first results. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 1.2 :
COMPASS: COmprehensive Magnetic Processes under the African Southern Sub-continent
Sub Project 1.3 :
Quantifying surface processes as a key to the Kalahari and Madagascar epeirogenies
Student Name: Taryn SCHARF
White Female – MSc, UCT
Project Name:
Denudation rates and geomorphological analysis in the Cape Fold Belt,
determined with 10Be and 21Ne in quartz; and a comparative study of
molecular clock dates derived from the unique Cape-Karoo biodiversity
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Maarten de Wit (UCT)
Sub Project : 1.3
The student has recently completed her initial field investigation across the Swartberg and Langeberg mountain ranges.
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Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
Sediment samples were collected from ten rivers draining the high-standing peaks of Peninsula quartzite that
characterise both mountain ranges. In addition to river sediment, a number of samples were taken from both
depositional and strath terraces associated with Tradouw River which cuts through the Langeberg mountains. All
samples now await preparation for AMS analysis at GFZ, Potsdam, as part of an investigation into the rates of
denudation affecting the Cape Fold Belt.
River terraces associated with the down-cutting of Tradouw River have been mapped, largely by field investigation, and
a broad outline of the scheme of terraces deduced from the results. The sequence of river terraces, together with rates
of erosion and abandonment ages of depositional terraces, will be used in an attempt to determine the how-and-why
of landscape development in the area. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Project 1.4 :
Plate tectonics and ecosystems on the Early Earth
Student Name: Scott MACLENNAN
White Male – MSc, UCT
Project Name:
Linking surface structural geology with electromagnetic geophysics
across the Barberton cryptic suture zone
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Maarten de Wit (UCT), Ute Weckman (GFZ)
Sub Project: 1.4a
Scott has visited his field area a number of times in Mpumalanga, South Africa. He completed his structural analysis of
serpentinites found along the Moodies fault in the southern part of the Barberton Greenstone Belt and has also
collected a sample set from that area for impedance spectroscopy measurements, which are currently under way at
the GFZ Potsdam. This is to try and identify which rock types are responsible for the high conductivities observed
during an electromagnetic geophysical field campaign in 2009. Scott participated in this geophysical campaign and its
goal is to probe the deep structure of the Barberton Greenstone Belt. He is scheduled to take part in the second and
final part of this geophysical field campaign in August 2010 and will start analysing and inverting this data towards the
end of the year. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Project 1.5 a :
Tracking continental growth on the Southern end of Africa – Deep crustal structure
Sub Project: 1.5a
Student Name: Naledi CHERE
Black Female – Hons, UCT; MSc, NMMU
Project Name:
A study of the structure and geochemistry of breccia pipes near
Loeriesfontein and Calvinia, Northern Cape
Start: Hons (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: MSc (NMMU) – (month) 20…; to finish (month, year). Running
Title: …
Project Manager/Supervisor
Maarten de Wit, Chris Harris (UCT)
This project has started with two week field trip just completed. The aim of the project is to study the structure and
bulk geochemistry of the breccia pipe complexes in the Western Karoo Basin. A crucial part of the project is to
establish whether the widely accepted relationship between these structures and the dolerite intrusions does exist.
The two week field trip entailed of the mapping of the location of these features in the Northern Cape as well as the
collection of the rock samples to be analysed at the laboratory for geochemistry. Thin sections of some of the rocks
have been made and the study of the petrography of the rocks has commenced. More thin sections are still to be
made. The geochemical analysis of the rocks and the construction of digitised maps are due to start soon. The Hons
project is due to be submitted in November 2011. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication
No. …
Project 1.5 b :
Structural and geomorphic mapping program in the Cape Mountains and Karoo Basin to complement
geophysics transects
Sub Project: 1.5b
Student Name: G BRUNSDON
White Male – PhD, NMMU
Project Name:
A study of the structural geology of the Bokkeveld and Witteberg
Groups near Uitenhage
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
Project Manager/Supervisor
Peter W Booth (NMMU), Maarten de Wit (NMMU)
Brunsdon has made several visits to his field area, collecting data on rock types and structures. He is focusing initially
on the very important relationship between bedding and cleavage. This relationship is not always easy to decipher in
the field because rock types of the Bokkeveld Group, in particular, are mostly argillaceous, where cleavage tends to be
the dominant characteristic of the rocks, and is easily confused with bedding.
He is still in the initial stages of his PhD study which will incorporate a GIS based assessment of the structural geology
of the Bokkeveld and Witteberg Groups near Uitenhage. This approach will be confirmed by lithological and structural
field data. The area shows pervasive thrusting in the Bokkeveld Group, as well as the Witteberg Group, which will
necessitate a new approach to deciphering the stratigraphy in this part of the fold belt.
At this stage Brunsdon’s progress is hampered by a full time commitment to teaching geology in the Geosciences
Department at NMMU. He will only be able to make significant progress with this project when his application for
sabbatical leave is approved, which will probably only be in 2011. Published (month, year) in (publication name) –
Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 1.5b
Student Name: Wasiu SONIBARE
Black Male – MSc, SU
PhD, SU
Project Name:
Geological modelling of the Tanqua-Karoo sub-basin for improved
reservoir characterization
Start: MSc (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: PhD – (month) 2014; to finish (month, year). Running Title: …
Project Manager/Supervisors
Daniel Mikes (SU), … Schlumberger (…)
Sonibare has studied the three-dimensional architecture of the Kookfontein Formation delta system at
Pienaarsfontein Se Berge using vertical sections and photopanels around the whole mountain. He focuses on the way
in which facies analysis on vertical sections c.q. well-logs/cores (one-dimensional) and photopanels/seismic sections
(two-dimensional) can be used to reconstruct the three-dimensional features of a sedimentary system. It shows that
the three-dimensional aspects of a system are not straight-forwardly represented by one/two-dimensional data.
There were some difficulties with funding in the first half of this year. Nevertheless, Sonibare should finish his MSc
project within a year. He is in an advanced stage of the writing of his MSc thesis and had presented his plans on the
NAPE in Nigeria last year. He has expressed the desire to extend this work into a PhD so as to fully develop the
methodology regarding this ambitious and difficult topic. The Petroleum Agency has agreed to supply him with data.
Schlumberger has agreed to train him in the use of Petrel. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba
Publication No. …
MARGINS of AFRICA : Continental Break-up and Oceanic Gateways
Project 2.1 :
The Western (Atlantic) Margin
Sub Project 2.1a
Student Name: Nils BACKEBERG
White Male : MSc, UCT
Project Name:
Petrogenetic evolution of basaltic dyke swarms associated with the
opening of the South Atlantic
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Dave Reid (UCT), Robert Trumbull (GFZ), Ralph Romes (GFZ)
It is now well know from previous work that the separation of Africa from South America during the breakup of
Gondwanaland was preceded by intense magmatism that was largely basaltic. Extensive dyke swarms and associated
flood lavas are preserved in western Namibia, but their development progressively dwindles as they are traced south
towards the Cape. This southward reduction in magma flux is accompanied by the disappearance of flood lavas,
progressively restricted areas of dyke intrusion and the lessening in magmatic diversity.
Dyke swarms that cut the African continent at the Cape are being studied with the aim to better understand their
emplacement controls, compositional variation and petrogenesis. Claims of limited magmatic diversity have been
confirmed in terms of magma type, but the research results indicate quite extreme differentiation to evolved
compositions. Explanation for this behaviour is currently being sought in the suspected sluggish movement of magma
through the crust in a low flux setting, where prolonged interaction with country rock could lead to extensive
assimilation and fractional crystallization. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Project 2.2a:
Gondwana Breakup and Evolution of the Southern Oceans - Continent-Ocean transition on the Indian
Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
Ocean Margins (MARMOZ)
Project 2.3a :
Sequence Stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy and petrophysical modelling of the western Atlantic margin of
South Africa
Project 2.3b :
Sedimentary systems and Ocean Gateways Neogene palaeoceanography of the western South African
margin
Project 2.3c :
Sedimentary systems and Ocean Gateways Seismic investigations, ocean currents and offshore sediment
systems
LIVING AFRICA : Habitat, Reosurces and Global Change
Project : 3.1 a
Ecosystems and Climate change, Natural gas generation, migration and sequestration - implications for
greenhouse gas budgets on continental slopes, South Africa
Sub Project 3.1 a
Student Name: Alfred ONANEYE
Black Male – MSc, SU
Project Name:
Upscaling of poroperm on the X reservoir for improved reservoir modeling
Start: (month, year); to finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Daniel Mikes (SU)
Onaneye plans to test an alternative upscaling procedure as proposed by Dr D Mikeš in a previous work. He has studied
existing upscaling procedures and has written a literature review on those. He is now writing the methodology for his
project. Ideally he is to use data from a producing reservoir to perform the upscaling using a conventional procedure
and the proposed procedure. He will then compare the results from both procedures with the true production to test
which is more accurate. It is expected that the outcome might not be the same for all kinds of reservoirs and
sedimentary systems.
There were some difficulties with funding in the first half of this year. The Petroleum Agency has agreed to supply him
with data and he will be meeting with them soon to select an appropriate data set. He will be looking for data from a
reservoir that is similar to the Kookfontein deltas in the Tanqua-Karoo, so that the two projects be complementary.
Onaneye plans to finish his project halfway next year, 2011. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba
Publication No. …
Sub Project : 3.1 b
Living Africa - Reconstructing quaternary environments of southern Africa
Sub Project 3.1 b
Student Name: Claire BROWNING
White Female – PhD, UCT
Project Name:
Fossil dune gastropods: implications for climate change
Start: (month, year); dropped out (Jan 2013)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Dave Roberts (CGS), Roger Smith (UCT and Iziko Museum), Chris Harris (UCT)
Collections of fossil and recent dune snail from various southern/west coast localities is already well under way. A
program of further systematic collection of live (for genetic studies) and fossil specimens will shortly commence.
Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project : 3.1 c
Living Africa - present and past lake ecosystems in southern Africa
Sub Project 3.1 c
Student Name: Ponani MTHEMBI
Black Female – MSc, UCT
Project Name:
Ancient crater lake deposits of southern Africa
Start: (month, year); finish June 2014
Project Manager/Supervisors
Dave Roberts (CGS), Roger Smith (UCT and Iziko Museum), H Wilkes (GFZ)
Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
Currently an inventory of known Crater Lake deposits is being compiled. The core of the Kalkkop deposits will shortly
be transported from Pretoria to Cape Town for intensive logging and sampling. A field trip to the site is envisioned for
late August 2010. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2a
Living Africa – Multi-scale assessment of the hydrological situation in and around Sutherland and the
Western Karoo
Project 3.2b
Vulnerability of the critical zone of central South Africa
Sub Project 3.2a
Student Name: Fabian MAY
Black Male - MSc, SU
Project Name:
Preferential flow to groundwater recharge in the Koegelberg Biosphere
Reserve
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Daniel Mikes (SU)
May will study the flow paths of rainwater through the soil in the Koegelberg Biosphere Reserve. He will use permanent
soil humidity sensors and resistivity surveys after heavy rain falls to monitor the flow through the soil into the bedrock.
He will collect bedrock samples to estimate the porosity and permeability of the bedrock and to employ reservoir
characterisation on the area. His data will be used as input values for a numerical model that is to be run by his cosupervisor at CSIR, Dr N Jovanovic.
His project is part of a big CSIR project sponsored by the WRC. Several students from CSIR, soil science are working with
different methods in the same area and others in the Riverlands Nature Reserve. He has a background in physics,
applied mathematics and programming. May has expressed possible interest in pursuing a PhD study after finishing his
MSc. He has worked on several contracts for CSIR and his line manager has expressed the interest to have him
employed by CSIR from next year, 2011.
Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2b-1
Hydro-vulnerability of the Central south African region
Student Name: Pieter SNYMAN
White Male - Hons, UFS
Project Name:
Monitoring the Bloemfontein Urban Heat Island
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Stephan Steyn (UFS)
Sub Project 3.2 b-1
We have acquired the custom-build radio-controlled aircraft and Pieter completed his flight training during the June
holiday. By the first week in July we have set up all the temperature sensors (28 in total) that will log the hourly
temperatures at 2m above ground level throughout the city. Vertical temperature profiles are taken daily (sometimes
three times a day) within the city and this data will be collected for at least a one-month period spanning 15 July - 15
August 2010 and preferably longer. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2b-2
Downscaling climate change scenarios over central South Africa
Sub Project 3.2 b-2
Student Name: Charles THARAGA
Black Male - Hons, UFS
MSc, UFS
Project Name:
Downscaling Global Circulation Model Output to Daily Temperatures
within the Orange River Catchment
Start: Hons (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: MSc – (month, year); finish (month, year). Running Title: …
Project Manager/Supervisors
Stephan Steyn (UFS)
Tharaga will only start with this project in August but is already busy with a literature study. Published (month, year)
in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2b-3
Crop models to promote sustainable farming practices along the critical zone
Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
Sub Project 3.2b-3
Student Name: Palo Francis LOKE
Black Male – MSc, UFS
PhD, UFS
Project Name:
Effect of long-term tillage practices on the stratification of organic matter
and essential plant nutrients
Start: MSc (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: PhD – (month) 20…; to finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Elmarie Kotze (UFS)
Practices like ploughing, stubble mulch and no tillage are applied since 1979 in a long-term wheat trial at the ARCSmall Grain Institute near Bethlehem. Before the trial commenced the soil was ploughed for at least 40 years.
Stratification of organic matter and essential plant nutrients was quantified in 1989 and again in 1999. The results
showed that after 20 years the stratification process still proceeds. It is therefore of importance to quantify the
stratification of organic matter after another 10 years and establish whether yield is affected or not.
This student completed a proper research proposal which was approved by a supervising committee. Soil samples (in
total 228) at different depths (0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-25, 25-35, 35-45 cm) were collected in June 2010 at the ARC-Small
Grain Institute experimental site. Preparations are currently been made for analyses of these samples. The next few
months will be spent on doing all the relevant analyses (inter alia C, N, S, P, pH, micro- and macro-nutrients).
Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2b-4
A socio-economic analysis of food security
Sub Project 3.2 b-4
Student Name : Relebohile Mirriam LEBENYA
Black Female – MSc, UFS
Project Name:
Effect of grassland conversion to forestry on organic carbon stocks in
the Weatherley catchment
Start: MSc (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Cornie W van Huyssteen (UFS)
A baseline study on this aspect was done by us in the 160 ha catchment just before the grassland was converted to
forestry, viz. Eucalyptus nitens, Pinus elliottii and Pinus patula. These tree species were established on soil types
regarded as suitable for each, resulting in several combinations. Harvesting of the trees will commence within two to
three years. An excellent opportunity therefore exists to quantify the influence of this kind of change in land use on
organic carbon stocks.
This study aims to quantify the carbon stock in the vegetation (trees, grass, and roots) and soil of the Weatherley
catchment. The student completed the literature review, material and methods and project proposal. The soil and
vegetation litter samples were also collected. A total of 1456 soil and 112 vegetation litter samples were collected.
These samples are currently being prepared for laboratory carbon analyses. Published (month, year) in (publication
name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.2b-6
Extent and probable surface effects of recent geological process on the regolith in the critical zone
Sub Project 3.2 b-6
Student Name: Nequita MACDONALD
White Female – MSc, UFS
Project Name:
The sediment petrography of palaeoterraces on the Orange River in the
Hopetown-Douglas-Prieska area in relation to the geomorphology
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Chris Gauert (UFS), Charley Kaufman (GFZ)
Qualitative determination of the mineralogy and moisture contents of saprolites and crusts in the river area, as well as
the spatial distribution of river terraces and palaeocurrents. Determination of the saprolites geochemical and
mineralogical composition and calculation of sedimentation volumes of various fluvial terrace episodes. Two field trips
each 3-4 days; extensive sediment-lab work; attendance of SAGA 2009 meeting. Published (month, year) in
(publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub-project 3.2b-8
Project outreach to simulate science awareness in rural areas and to improve science teaching skill of
teachers
Student Projects Status Report 2013-4
White Female – DTech, TUT
Project Name:
Development of a Solar Water Treatment Plant for Rural Areas for special
application from the Science and Technology Train
Start: (month, year); to finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Dr Stoffel Fourie (TUT), Prof. Jannie Maree (TUT)
Sub Project 3.2b-8
Student Name: Danel VAN TONDER
Van Tonder started her studies in 2010. To date she has completed her project proposal, her literature search and her
project planning. She has started with the purchasing of the pilot plant equipment, although all the transactions have
not been made. She was recently invited by the NRF to attend the young PhD’s conference at the NRF head quarters
in Pretoria. She has been presented with an opportunity to gain some funding from a THRIP source to purchase an
automatic sampler and a 5-channel continuous temperature monitor, but these have not been finalised . There is,
however, some doubt as to whether this promise of further support will materialize.
Van Tonder does not require funding in the form of a bursary, as she is a full time employee of the Council for
Geoscience, but requires some funding to acquire the last sampling and monitoring equipment to get the pilot plant
operational. This will allow her to start with the gathering of data towards her DTech thesis.
She is currently planning to attend an international conference on Renewable Energy next year (2011) in the U.S., as
well as the Inkaba Workshop in Cape Town (2011). Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Pub No. …
Living Africa Project : 3.3 a-c
Mineral resources, mining and the environment (a, b) and The Platinum Value Chain (c)
Sub Project: 3.3a
Student Name: Chazanne ALLISON (Long)
White Female - MSc, UCT > NMMU
Project Name:
A geochemical study of land and water contamination due to acid mine
drainage as a result of South Africa’s gold mining industry – quantifying
the cost of environmental degradation and the associated health risks
Start: (month, year); finish (month, year)
Project Manager/Supervisors
Maarten de Wit, Stephanie de Villiers (UCT), Henk Coetzee (CGS)
This project has only just commenced, and to date the first field visit has not yet been undertaken.
The proposed plan for the student is to initially compile a GIS map of the West Rand, East Rand, Rustenburg and
Pretoria area, indicating mining areas, rivers and other surface water bodies as well as geology and aquifers. The GIS
map will be used to identify likely positions for the preliminary surface water sampling program, which will be
undertaken as a pilot study to identify contaminated areas. Based on the results of this preliminary study, smaller
geochemical studies will be carried out and will include sampling groundwater, surface water and bedload sediment.
An aim of this project is to gain a better understanding of the transportation and precipitation processes of heavy
metal contaminants and to constrain a realistic area of influence that this has on the environment.
A ‘tooth fairy study’ will be conducted concurrently, by collecting deciduous teeth from local dentist practices and
analysing the enamel. By comparing the isotopic fingerprint of U from mining activities to that in human teeth, a
deduction of the impact of mining on human health may be quantified. The final section will estimate the geoenvironmental costs incurred by acid mine drainage on the environment, as well as the cost implications for human
health. This will be the first time a study of this kind is done in South Africa.
This project requires ongoing funding with the major portion of the budget being consumed by fieldwork and chemical
analysis costs. Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
Sub Project 3.3c
Student Name: Bianca KENNEDY
White Female – Hons, UFS
MSc, UFS
Project Name:
Experimental investigation of the behaviour of the PGE in systems which
contain Ni, Fe and S.
Start: Hons (month, year); finish (month, year)
Cont: MSc – (month) 20… Running Title: …
Project Manager/Supervisors
Marian Tredoux (UFS), Chris Ballhaus, Hassan Helmy (UB.de)
Kennedy has travelled to the University of Bonn, where she worked with Prof. Chris Ballhaus and Dr Hassan Helmy
(both experts in the field) to prepare her experimental sulphide charges. Some SEM analyses have been done but more
are planned. She will also use the nano-SEM at the Physics Department of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
and the scanning Auger microscope at the Physics Department of the UFS, to try and isolate nm-sized PGE clusters.
Published (month, year) in (publication name) – Inkaba Publication No. …
…/end