THEME

TOPIC

DESCRIPTION

Environmental

Geobiology

Over Earth history, the evolution of life has influenced the geosphere, and changes in the geosphere, in turn, may have enabled or even triggered ecological change. Geobiology is an emerging field that lies at the intersection between life and the planet, merging disciplines such as microbiology, geochemistry, sedimentology and palaeontology. South Africa has an incredibly rich fossil record spanning the earliest microbial life, the rise of animals, and major Phanerozoic radiations and mass extinctions, as well as a diverse modern ecosystem. This session welcomes any work that contextualises the evolution of life in South Africa. This could include, for example, sedimentological evidence for increasingly arid conditions in South Africa during the evolution of tetrapods; isotopic data that track changes in oxygen availability in deep time; or new microfossils from Archean stromatolites. We welcome contributions based on both ancient and modern environments, from fields as diverse as genomics, isotope geochemistry, phytoremediation, or ichnology.

Acid mine drainage and other mine pollution issues

Acid mine drainage has many far-reaching and detrimental impacts particularly in countries, such as South Africa, which have long histories of mining and mineral resources extraction. Several problems arising from this phenomenon include mobilisation of deleterious elements under low pH conditions, changes to tracemetal speciation, dissolution of carbonate host and the formation of sinkholes, negative impacts on crucial potable water resources, among other forms of degradation to the natural environment. This session aims to highlight the recent advancements in the science underpinning our understanding of acid mine drainage and its remediation. Furthermore, the session will accept abstracts related to other forms of environmental degradation linked to anthropogenic and mining activity. This includes the effects of airborne particulates on human health, and encompasses the broad theme of medical geology.  

Environmental Geochemistry

This session recognises the role of Earth Scientists in the Anthropocene. We invite contributions from fundamental and interdisciplinary research, including (but not limited to) chemical and medical geology, ecological modelling, soil and atmospheric sciences, limnology and oceanography. The session is open to presentations on observed changes resulting from human activities, quantifying exposure-response relationships, understanding dynamics or solving environmental issues from local stream pollution to global climate change. Stakeholders and policy makers are most welcome to join this session.

Geoscience for a sustainable energy-environment nexus

This session aims to explore geoscience research in the field of energy, energy generation and energy management with a focus on the link between a sustainable energy-environment nexus. In particular, this session should welcome research looking into renewable research and geoscience-climate mitigation.

Climate, environments and landscapes of Africa: Miocene, Pliocene, present and future

The African continent is well established as the place of origin for humankind, with abundant fossils of numerous hominin species that preceded, and co-existed with our species Homo sapien discovered throughout the continent. Fossil bearing sites in Southern Africa and especially South Africa contain a number of early hominin species including Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus sediba, Paranthropus robustus and early Homo. While the fossil evidence has shaped our understanding of human evolution, the backdrop to such evolution is the environment our early ancestors inhabited and the changes to their surroundings in response to shifting climate. Evidence for this is preserved in the deposits themselves, which range in age from Pliocene to Holocene. Investigation of these sediments provides a unique opportunity to expand our understanding of the intersection between human evolution and changing environmental conditions. Thus, combining all geological research on these deposits is essential for the complete understanding of the evolution of hominin species in southern Africa and their movement into other parts and out of Africa. This session will focus on all geological data (e.g. site description, sedimentology, geochemistry, geochronology etc.) that help us understand the climate, environments and landscapes of southern African recent geological and palaeoanthropological history. The session is further open to those workers focussed on past-, present- and future climate within the region, especially those focussed on the agents of its change. We invite submissions, particularly those that involve students and early career researchers, reporting on new results, discoveries, techniques, innovative and multidisciplinary collaboration that drive growth of southern African palaeoanthropology and the linkages with modern and evolving climate.

Current and future outlook for Carbon Capture and Storage in South Africa and abroad

As the global response to the climate crisis appears to have reached some prevention lethargy, with no signs of CO­2 emissions slowing down. All stakeholders (local and abroad) must, with renewed urgency, explore all possible measures to avoid the looming GHG emission induced climate crisis. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has remained on the table as one of several mitigation strategies contemplated and explored by South Africa since 2007. Contributions by the geosciences remain at the heart of this discourse, and the session aims to bring together all major workers on the topic to outline CCS’s status quo and prospects.

Advances in Southern African Hydrogeology

Southern Africa is a water stressed region, and both climatic (rising average temperatures, reduced rainfall, increased frequency and magnitude of extreme drought events) and non-climatic (population growth and urbanisation) drivers are placing increasing pressure on regional surface water resources. Groundwater will (and does in some areas already) therefore play an increasingly important role in meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, through providing sustainable water resources for municipal and rural drinking water supply, agricultural irrigation, and mining/industrial activities. This session aims to showcase innovative research and development by the private sector and industry, universities and research institutions, and government agencies across all facets of hydrogeological science in southern Africa, including (but not limited to): aquifer parameter estimation and characterisation, groundwater exploration, hydrogeophysics, wellfield development, hydrochemistry, groundwater contamination and remediation, numerical groundwater modelling, aquifer and groundwater-dependent ecosystem monitoring, and groundwater management.

Energy

Future of petroleum geosciences in Southern Africa

With the recent increase in petroleum exploration in South Africa both on and offshore it is important to understand what the hydrocarbon potential is in Southern Africa and how it might shape the energy security in the country. Currently feedstocks to industry in Gauteng and the Cape provinces seems to decrease due to reduced supply. Can this trend be turned around by additional exploration in South (southern) Africa and if so how. What is the remaining hydrocarbon potential and what has to be done to unlock it. Is there enough petroleum geosciences experience in South (southern) Africa for the future?

Solid fossil fuel resources

The focus of the session will be on various aspects of energy (non-nuclear),  geoscience and geometallurgy across the value-chain from exploration, exploitation, characterisation, processing, and by-product assessment, as well as related environmental issues. Coal accounts for one of the highest foreign exchange revenues for South Africa, and continues to provide affordable energy access across the world. South African energy production is dominated by coal, and, whilst diversification is required in the energy mix, clean coal technologies across the value-chain enable the continued use of this valuable natural commodity. Coal has other applications beyond combustion for electricity, including the metallurgical industry, cement industry, gasification, advanced carbons, and domestic  use. Advanced exploration and extraction, geometallurgical developments, and holistic characterisation of this vital natural resource are ongoing research areas globally and in South Africa. Southern Africa also hosts other potential forms of hydrocarbon-based energy resources, including: shale gas; natural gas; methane gas; and oil (petroleum). Coal by-products, including ash, may be upgraded for use in novel applications.

Igneous

Diamonds, kimberlites and cratonic lithosphere: a session in honour of John J. Gurney

John Gurney’s research interests spanned cratonic lithosphere structure and evolution, mantle xenolith petrology and geochemistry, kimberlite geology and indicator mineral chemistry, diamonds and diamond inclusion studies. This session honours John’s scientific legacy by inviting presentations on any of these topics, also including geophysical/tectonic investigations of cratonic and circumcratonic lithosphere, studies of marine and alluvial diamonds as well as diamond exploration techniques and case studies in southern Africa and elsewhere. It is hoped that the contributions will form the basis for a special section or issue of the South African Journal of Geology.

Advances in Bushveld Petrogenesis and Ore Genesis

Magmatic ore deposits (massive sulphide bodies, chromitite and Fe-Ti oxide layers, platinum group element-rich horizons, etc.) associated with the Bushveld Complex and other layered intrusions are essentially quite normal igneous rocks that are generated by processes of magma differentiation, crystallization and solidification in crustal chambers. Therefore a key to understanding the origin of these deposits, the geological controls on the distribution of the mineralisation and thus developing a better strategy for their exploration can be achieved from a deeper knowledge of the physico-chemical processes that govern magma evolution in crustal chambers. A strong emphasis in this session will therefore be put on igneous petrology as a key discipline that provides answers to major ore-related questions: Where are ore deposits located? How did they get there? How were they produced? and What controls the limits of the mineralisation? This session aims at bringing together researchers who study igneous rocks by field observations, textural analysis, computer simulations, mineralogical, geochemical, experimental and geophysical methods. Contributions on all aspects of magma chamber processes and magmatic ore deposits are welcome.

Igneous beyond the obvious

The world is endowed with a great diversity of igneous rocks, and South Africa is no exception to this rule. However, most South African conferences focus their attention primarily on the Bushveld Complex, kimberlites and Archaean granulite-greenstone terranes, forgetting about the riches of the Namaqua-Natal Belt, the Cape Granites, Mesoproterozoic alkaline complexes, the Phalaborwa Complex and many more ‘gems’. Within the basaltic realm, South Africa's geological heritage is furthermore blessed by several, more or less large, igneous provinces, ranging from the oldest Dominion-Pongola to the youngest Karoo LIP. This session thereby provides a forum for every igneous subject that does not focus on South Africa’s Big Three.

Felsic rocks of the Bushveld complex: Petrogenesis and metallogeny

The Lebowa Granite Suite and the Rooiberg Group represent intrinsic and voluminous components of the Bushveld Complex and yet they have received substantially less attention from researchers world-wide than the mafic portions of this igneous province. Consequently, the petrogenesis of the acid phases of the Bushveld and their relationship to the better studied Rustenburg Layered Suite is still poorly understood. Despite being prolifically mineralized, the acid phase metallotect also receives scant attention from exploration companies. This session invites papers and posters aimed at advancing our understanding of the petrogenesis and metallogeny of the acid phases of the Bushveld Complex.

Metamorphic

Differentiation of the Earth’s crust at the metamorphic:igneous interface

The Earth’s crust undergoes chemical differentiation though processes of partial melting, magma emplacement, metamorphic devolatisation and fractional crystallization amongst many others. These processes redistribute chemical components within the crust thereby determining the crust’s geochemical and rheological characteristics. This has wide reaching implications from the tectonic evolution of the earth’s surface to the development of economic deposits. This session aims to bring together a wide array of techniques including geochemistry, geochronology, structural geology, geothermobarometry and phase equilibria modelling to answer the simple question “how does the crust differentiate”?

Earth Evolution

Archaean Processes and Environments

This session focusses on the evolution of the Archean Earth system. It explores geodynamic crust-mantle processes and the emergence of plate-tectonics on the early Earth. This includes investigating secular changes in the style of metamorphic and igneous processes from the Eoarchaean through to the Archaean-Paleoproterozoic boundary. It aims to investigate the petrogenesis of felsic rocks in the earliest micro-continents, as well as the origin and preservation of mafic-ultramafic oceanic lithosphere in cratonic nuclei. The session also encompasses the earliest evidence for life in the Archaean rock record, ocean-atmosphere biogeochemical cycling (C, N, S, transition metals) and life-sustaining hydrothermal environments on the young Earth.

The Proterozoic of Africa

The session covers all the Proterozoic terrains in South  Africa, west Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa: The advantage of the session is that it includes a wide coverage - from Damara to Eburnian to Namaquan to Pan-African events including the East African Orogeny of east Africa and middle east. Speakers from all corners of the African continent are encouraged to submit an abstract.

Central Africa

Central Africa – for variable reasons – arguably constitutes one of Earth’s geologically least explored continents and thereby also holds the greatest potential for both research and mineral resources. This special session and subsequent workshop proposal for South Africa’s 2023 Geocongress aims at (1) reviewing our current understanding of the geology of Central Africa, encompassing an Archean Greater Congo Craton, internal and surrounding Proterozoic mobile belts, as well as any Phanerozoic overprint; (2) presenting ongoing research into any of these geological fields; and, in a subsequent workshop, (3) explore future key targets, both in an economic and scientific sense. Realizing that this is a relatively broad topic, both geographically and scientifically, which falls outside the artificial confines of South African geology, it is still believed to attract enough interest to validate its existence, as a supplement to a Colloquium of African Geology. Provided that enough submissions deem it to be necessary, the session may be further subdivided into either geochronological sub-sessions and/or sub-regions, chaired by appropriate specialists.

Africa’s Phanerozoic tectonic evolution and associated magmatism

Africa is a special continent, not only because it preserves a continental record of all of the World’s four supercontinental cycles, exemplified by Proterozoic orogenic terranes bounding ancient Archean cratons (focus of other the other two “Earth Evolution” sessions), but because (1) it is currently surrounded mostly by passive margins, (2) hosts the World’s largest and most volcanically active East African continental rift, and (3) at least four breakup-related Phanerozoic large igneous provinces (CAMP, Karoo, Parana-Etendeka and Afar). This session therefore focuses mainly on more recent and typically extensional (neo)tectonic processes, with or without associated magmatism, which has affected (and is affecting) the African continent during and since it was dismembered from the Pangea/Gondwana supercontinent. Apart from providing more constraints on both tectonic and magmatic processes, in general, the session encourages a discussion on how much of this supercontinental breakup, tectonism and associated magmatism may be linked to (1) an underlying Tuzo large low shear velocity province (LLSVP), its peripheral mantle plumes and even a central geoid high, and/or how much may be attributed to (2) pre-existing lithospheric structures and the continent’s varied lithology.

Planetary

Planetary Geology: Earth, Moon and Beyond

Hypervelocity impact events and planetary tectonics are two fundamental processes for the formation and geological evolution of the planetary bodies within the solar system. Impacts and tectonics shape planetary surfaces and interiors, affect atmospheres, and are critical for the origin and development of life. Impacts play critical roles in planetary evolution by delivering the primary mineral and chemical constituents to planets, re-melting and homogenizing crustal material, and by blanketing planetary surfaces with impact craters. Tectonics efficiently resurface terrestrial planets and natural satellites within the solar system. On Earth, tectonic processes are responsible for global geochemical cycles, volcanism, material differentiation, and the evolution of the crust and mantle.The influx of data from planetary missions hosted by numerous countries globally allows for new insights into geological processes in the solar system, and technological innovations which have allowed for new understandings of impacts, notably in regard to terrestrial and lunar impact craters and meteorites. This session focuses on the study of the geology of planetary bodies in the solar system, including studies of impact cratering processes, impact structures and meteorites, tectonics of planetary bodies, global cycles, the origin of life and astrobiology, as well as numerical and analog simulations of planetary processes. Contributions dealing with these aspects of planetary geology are welcome.

Ore and Structure

Applied Mineralogy Session

Applied mineralogy is intrinsic to the minerals value chain, from exploration to mining and processing of various commodities, as well as in protection of the environment. Investigations and development of a wide variety of industrial and societal products require application of mineralogical principles. Mineralogical studies additionally find application in society through forensics and socio-economic-politic initiatives. Novel mineralogical characterisation tools are often developed to address specific requirements. The Mineralogical Association of South Africa invites contributions to showcase these and other applications of mineralogy. The contributions can include, but are not limited to, the development or application of new mineralogical techniques, mineralogical case studies as well as studies and comments on the past, present and future of applied mineralogy.

Sediment-hosted ore deposits

Sediment-hosted ore deposits contain significant quantities of important commodities on Earth. Important examples include: iron and manganese in the Transvaal Supergroup of South Africa; large-scale iron ore deposits in Western Australia, Brazil, India and central Africa; gold in the Witwatersrand Basin and Tarkwaian Group; uranium in the Karoo Supergroup; heavy mineral deposits in coastal sands and copper in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia and the DRC; and base metal enrichments in the Aggeneys region of South Africa to name a few. Great debate still exists today around aspects of ore genesis of sediment-hosted ore deposits, for example the placer versus hydrothermal models for conglomerate hosted gold deposits, the nature of the enrichment that took place in the high grade iron ore of the world as well as sedimentary depositional models for lower grade manganese deposits. Additionally, numerous exploration projects on sediment-hosted ore deposits are running in Africa, South America and Asia which are still poorly constrained and understood. This session will provide an opportunity for any research on sediment-hosted ore deposits, whether it is on the regional geology, ore characterization, genetic models, exploration or ore mineralogy, to be submitted for presentation.

Ore-structure relationships

Exploration and mining are increasingly focused on deeper, more structurally-complex, poly-deformed prospects and deposits.  This is particularly relevant for gold, REE and base metal deposits that are currently being explored and developed.  The understanding, resolution and 3D modeling of these complexities should form part of most feasibility and resource studies.  However, the development of a standardized set of requirements or a universal workflow for interpreting, accurately representing and 3D modelling of these controls on mineralization has yet to emerge.  This Session seeks to highlight the various approaches taken in resolving the controls on mineralization in structurally-complex settings and the manner in which robust structural analyses have been intelligently translated into 3D.

Tectonics, Seismology and Geological Hazards. 

This general session is intended for researchers working broadly on neotectonic deformation, seismology and geological hazards. Studies which are based in Africa, or which present methodologies which could be productively applied to African case studies, are particularly encouraged. Suggested research areas include studies of earthquakes through seismology and satellite radar interferometry, seismic interferometry applications, seismic imaging, experimental studies on the physical properties of fault rocks, geological constraints on the evolution of fault systems and the processes controlling brittle deformation, fault mapping through remote sensing, geophysical data or field work, seismic hazard and risk analyses. Contributions from the fields of earthquake engineering and mining seismicity are welcome, as are contributions related to geological hazards more generally (including landsliding). 

Sedimentary

Detrital Zircon: Methods, problems, applications

U-Pb ages and other isotope data from detrital zircon are important as a tool to trace provenance of clastic sediments, determine the age of deposition, correlate between sedimentary basins and to understand continental evolution. The interpretation of data is, however, not unproblematic. A huge amount of detrital zircon data of potential importance for the interpretation of regional geology has now been accumulated. This session will invite contributions related to any aspect of detrital zircon in clastic sediments, such as: Methods of data collection, principles of interpretation, qualitative and quantitative handling of data, the use of data to solve geological problems.

Sedimentary basins in Southern Africa

The southern African sedimentary rock record spans over 3 billion years capturing glimpses of ancient environments, climates and evidence for life. It encapsulates pivotal information contributing to, but not limited to, our understanding of plate tectonics, the evolution of life and major mass extinction events. This session focuses on the application of siliciclastic sedimentological methods for answering questions related to basin evolution, basin stratigraphy (including chemo-, chrono- and magnetostratigraphy), resource potential, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, provenance and evidence for the evolution of life. We invite abstracts addressing these topics and aspects related to the southern African sedimentary record.

Society

Geoscience and society

Geoscience Education, Water for South Africa, Geoscience and natural hazards, Geoscience communication, Geotourism, Geoheritage

The Future Geoscientist

Geosciences and the role of the geoscientist have changed in the last century. However, the rate of change is now accelerating significantly due to innovation and new technologies. These will continue to shape the way we conduct our work. What will the future hold for a geoscientist? What will be our daily tasks and responsibilities? Will our current skillset be useful, or do we require an entirely new toolbox? Geometallurgy, machine learning and artificial intelligence are making rapid leaps forward, and hyperspectral scanning and online analyzers are collecting data autonomously.  How does this impact the geoscience workflow and the role we play in it? Sea-floor mining, asteroid mining and lunar mining are common themes at conferences. How will geoscientists support these new challenges? Changing mining laws and social/ community pressures are threats to the future of mining. How will these influence the future roll of the geoscientist? Geoscientists have always been regarded as Indiana Jones type characters with wide brimmed hats, belts stuffed with hammers, bottles and notebooks roaming the bush looking for shiny rocks. Will this still be the case in 2050?

Open

Open Session

This session is for everyone who feels that the topic of their presentation does not fit into any of the other sessions, but is nevertheless something that would fall under the broad subject of the geosciences.