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Meandering in the Main Karoo Basin, Eastern Cape, South Africa FIELD TRIP LEADERS: Emese Bordy & Goonie Marsh

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Meandering in the Main Karoo Basin, Eastern Cape, South Africa FIELD TRIP LEADERS: Emese Bordy & Goonie Marsh POST 10 Meandering in the main Karoo Basin, Eastern Cape, South Africa FIELD TRIP LEADERS: Emese Bordy & Goonie Marsh This comprehensive five day trip will take us through, via an unique route in the shortest travel time and distance, a geo-traverse through over 400 million years of South African geological history. The main focus of the field trip is the sedimentary fill of the southern main Karoo Basin, including the nature of some of the major Karoo intrusive and volcanic complexes of the Eastern Cape. Field Trip Leaders: Emese Bordy and Goonie Marsh Start: Port Elizabeth End: Port Elizabeth Dates: 3-8 September 2016 ITINERARY SUGGESTION OF FLIGHT BOOKING FROM CAPE TOWN TO PORT ELIZABETH: SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS FLIGHT 1803 DEPARTING CAPE TOWN AT 07h00, ARRIVING PORT ELIZABETH AT 08h15 Day 1 3 September 2016, Saturday Arrival at Port Elizabeth Airport and transfer to Grahamstown Overnight at the Graham Hotel in Grahamstown BB via Addo Elephant Park Day 2 4 September 2016, Sunday Stop 1 : Overview of 400 million years of South African geological history though the rocks and landscape of Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Topics covered: Cape and Karoo systems, formation of the main Karoo Basin and Cape Fold Belt, Gondwana breakup, Cenozoic sea level changes. Location : 1820 Settlers' Monument Features to be seen : Relationship of the geology and geomorphology Cape Fold Belt - large-scale geological and geomorphological features: Witteberg quartzite ridges with some mudstone lenses to the south (cut by the N2 national road) & to the north (called Botha’s Ridge) running across the horizon. City bowl overlying the E-W running contact between soft Witteberg mudstones to the south and Dwyka tillites to the north Flat peneplain underlain by hard silcretes (with Joza/ King’s Flat township on it), visible along the northeastern horizon. Stop 2 : Tillites of the Dwyka Group (Late Carboniferous – Early Permian) in various wreathing stages Location : Roadcut along the N2, SE of Grahamstown Features to be seen : Textural features of the tillite (e.g., grain-size range, poor-sorting, roundness, clast types) Dropstones Rock colour changes (variable chemical weathering, locally enhanced by fractures) Massive bedding Quartzite-mudstone contact in the Witteberg Group - marked by vegetation change. Stop 3 : Tertiary peneplain and associated chemical sediments (weathering profiles with silcrete, kaolinite, etc.) of the Grahamstown Formation Location : Roadcuts along the N2, SE of Grahamstown and Makana’s Kop Features to be seen : Grahamstown Peneplain (silcrete duricrust) around Rhini Rock colour changes in the tillite (further weathering) Weathering profiles in the highly bleached Dwyka tillites with silcrete, kaolinite, Liesegang bands and ghost-dropstones Social/cultural: Visit of the Albany Museum (Karoo display) and dinner in town Overnight at the Graham Hotel in Grahamstown BB Day 3 5 September 2016, Monday Grahamstown-Aloe Grove. Stop 4 : Glacio-marine tillites, Dwyka Group (Late Carboniferous – Early Permian) Location : Abandoned quarry, ~15 km NE of Grahamstown Features to be seen : Textural features of the tillite (e.g., grain-size range, poor-sorting, roundness, clast types) Dropstones Soft-sediment deformation in syn-Dwyka sandstone clasts - Massive bedding Overnight at the Aloe Guestfarm BB Day 4 6 September 2016, Tuesday Queenstown-Tarkastad area. Stops 12 & 13 : Meandering river deposits in the Burgersdorp Formation, Tarkastad Subgroup, Beaufort Group (Early to Mid-Triassic) intersected by dolerite dykes Location : Roadcuts along R394 (to Lady Frere -12) and R392 (to Dordrecht -13) – NB Stop 12 (Nonesis Neck Pass) is part of the global biostratigraphic standard for the non-marine Triassic; it displays the world famous late Early to early Mid-Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone. Features to be seen : Architecture of the sandstone units: lateral and vertical accretion Well-preserved crevasse splays Floodplain successions with erosional features Gigantic desiccation cracks Palaeosol features (pedogenic nodules, root traces) Trace fossils Vertebrate fossils Karoo dolerite intrusions and their relationship to the jacked up sedimentary successions Stop 14 : Golden Valley sill complex [stratigraphically in the Burgersdorp Formation, Tarkastad Subgroup, Beaufort Group (Early to Mid-Triassic)] Location : Roadcut along the R344, N of Tarkastad Stop 15 : Vertebrate burrows in the lower Katberg Formation, Tarkastad Subgroup, Beaufort Group (Early Triassic) Location : Roadcut along the R61, ENE of Cradock Features to be seen at 15 : Medium-grained, tabular, multi-storey sandstones Erosively based upward-fining cycles Rip-up mudstone clasts and intraformational conglomerates Floodplain successions, crevasse-splays, palaeosols, bioturbation and amazing desiccation cracks In situ fossils from the Earliest Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone In situ vertebrate burrows Overnight at the Aloe Guestfarm BB Day 5 7 September 2016, Wednesday Dordrecht-Jamestown area. Stop 16: Braided fluvial channel succession and associated organic matter rich floodplain sediments in the Molteno Formation, Stormberg Group (Late Triassic) Location : Roadcut along the R56, W of Dordrecht Features to be seen : Fluvial architecture: vertical accretion resulting in a multi-storey channel succession Rip-up mudstone clasts Trough cross-bedding - roadcut perpendicular to flow direction Carbonaceous floodplain sediments Major post-Karoo fault Dykes Growth rings on in situ tree trunks Stop 17: Meandering river channel in the lower Elliot Formation, Stormberg Group (Late Triassic) Location : Roadcut along the R56, W of the junction of the R56 and N6 Features to be seen : Fluvial architecture: asymmetrical channel-fill, lateral accretion surfaces and well-preserved steep cut-bank Rip-up mudstone clasts Trough cross-bedding - roadcut perpendicular to flow direction Trace fossils Potentially dinosaur bone fossils Small post-Karoo fault Dykes Stop 18: Diatremes Location : near Jamestown, just W of the N6 Features to be seen : The diatreme & its fascinating story Near the diatreme, aeolian features in the Clarens Formation (Early Jurassic). Overnight at the Aloe Guestfarm BB Day 6 8 September 2016, Thursday Departure/travel day Depart from Aloe Grove Guest Farm via East London to Port Elizabeth. Fly out from East London or in the evening from Port Elizabeth (some can overnight in Port Elizabeth) Travel distances on the final day: Aloe Grove Guest Farm – East London = ~200 km; East London - Port Elizabeth = ~300 km (either via the N2 or the coastal route of R72; weather dependent) Transfers in 15-seater vehicle COST INCLUDES: • 2 Nights accommodation at Graham Hotel on a BB basis • 3 Nights accommodation at Aloe Guest Farm on a BB basis • 5 x lunches • 4 x dinners • Handling Fee • Transport in private touring vehicles • Local English speaking driver on all transfers • Local English speaking guide on all sightseeing excursions • Guide and Driver meals & accommodation where necessary • Entrance fees to sightseeing venues as stated in the itinerary above • Porterage at airports on arrival (1 x standard piece of luggage per person) • 2x 500 ml bottled water a day COST EXCLUDES • All airfares, air reservations and airport taxes • All other accommodation • All other meals • All other transport • All other sightseeing • Personal expenses such as tips for meals, gratuities for guides & drivers, all alcoholic and other beverages, telephone calls and laundry • Any other services not mentioned above .
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