Parts, the Coastal Areas Are Rocky with Small Sandy Beaches in Places. at the Eastern End of the Site There Is a Relatively Long, Sandy Beach
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parts, the coastal areas are rocky with small sandy beaches in places. At the eastern end of the site there is a relatively long, sandy beach. The site is dominated by a headland bypass dune system running west to east, inland of the small peninsulas of Seal Point and Cape St Francis, to the east of the site boundary. Dunes form a series of parallel strips lying between Slangbaai (Oyster Bay) and Krom River), a distance of some 18 km, and are responsible for maintaining the long-term down drift of sand along the coast, with sand originating at one point and feeding a bay (St Francis Bay in this case) across a headland (Tinley, 1985). These dunes have created an undulating landscape ranging from sea level to about 100 mamsl. Dune ridges alternate with broad to narrow slacks (valleys). In the north, the sandstone topography slopes gently in a northerly direction, from about 100 m to 160 mamsl. Dunes are chiefly of the hairpin parabolic deflation type (Tinley, 1985), overriding vegetated hairpin parabolics. Locally, a moving sand sea comprising largely transverse and barchanoid dunes is found, travelling in parallel with the wind- rift system. Just inland of Algoa Bay a mobile system of 120 km2 is believed to have permitted the evolution of a number of endemic animal species (Callan 1964; McLachlan et al., 1982). As with the Namaqualand coast, transverse dunes tend to be the result of a reworked parabolic system (Tinley, 1985). Figure 55: Topographic location of the proposed Thyspunt site in relation to the broader geographical area (Burger, 2007) (c) Climate Meteorological data has historically been collected at four sites in the vicinity of Thyspunt, namely De Hoek, Thyspunt, Klippepunt, and Brakkeduine. The climatic information was taken from Burger (2007). (i) Temperature The annual variation clearly shows a cooler period from about June to September. The daily mean temperature ranges between 15°C and 20°C. Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-74 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 (ii) Wind The most dominant wind direction in the vicinity of Thyspunt is from the west northwest to northwest. The offshore slow (northerly winds) are characterised by slow wind speeds and somewhat frequent occurrence, indicating the effect of breezes. The surface wind character is summarised in the wind roses in Figure 56. Onshore flow at the surface is mostly experienced through October to March during which time there is increased vertical motion, which will promote the dispersal of emissions to higher elevations. During winter the flow is either offshore or only obliquely onshore (November to January) at 850 hPa, during all winter months. This suggests that the dispersal of emissions from this site will depend strongly on the height to which they are advected during summer and will likely either be offshore or alongshore during winter. Figure 56: Wind roses for Cape St Francis, one of the weather stations used to infer weather data at the Thyspunt site (Burger, 2007) (d) Geology and Seismology The geological and seismological information was taken from CGS (2007a). The Thyspunt is situated on Palaeozoic arenite of the Nardouw Subgroup (~420 Ma), the uppermost unit of the Table Mountain Group De Beer (2006b) (and). The closest Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-75 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 on land Mesozoic rocks comprise those of the Gamtoos Basin near the 40 km radius from the site. A thin veneer of Pliocene to Pleistocene marine beds and aeoloianite overlay these rocks. East of Jeffrey’s Bay, these rocks are covered by Quaternary gravel, alluvium and sand associated with the terraces of the Gamtoos River. The presence of significant faults within the eight km radius from the Thyspunt site is not suggested by the present onshore geological information. No offshore information is available for areas located in close proximity to the shore. Numerous offshore faults occur, the largest being the Plettenberg fault. The onshore exposures of the Gamtoos and Kouga faults both occur 45 km from the site. All of these normal faults are believed to be of Mesozoic age, with no known evidence of Cenozoic activity. Figure 57: Geological structure, setting and seismicity for the Thyspunt site (derived from a 1:250,000 digital database) (CGS, 2007a) Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-76 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 Figure 58: Simplified geology map for the Thyspunt site (SRK, 2007b) (i) Tectonics The Humansdorp Thyspunt area is relatively fault free. The closest on-land major faults are the Gamtoos and Kouga faults that are 39 to 45 km and 42 km from the site, respectively. These two faults are structurally linked to the 715 km long Ceres- Kango Baviaaanskloof Coega St Crois fault system that extends along the southern Cape Fold belt (Goedhart, 2004, 2005). Two potentially hazardous offshore faults within a 40 m radius from the site are indicated by the offshore geological coverage obtained. The Plettenberg fault, a 100 km long, steeply southwest dipping normal fault with a throw of some 5600 m (McMillan et al., 1997) extends to within 18 km of the site. The other is a smaller, unnamed fault combined with a southwest downthrow, the Cape St. Francis fault (De Beer 2005) that is known to exist until about 16 km from the site (Du Toit 1976). If this fault continues along strike on land it would pass Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-77 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 1.75 km north of the site (De Beer, 2005), well inside the regulatory, site vicinity, radius of eight km. No on land continuation of this fault is shown on the AEC map for this area (AEC, 1987) and neither do any existing CGS maps. The closest offshore fault on the AEC map is the Klippepunt fault, a structure that Faurie et al. (1993) did not regard as “capable”. The fracture pattern at the Thyspunt site became established primarily during the Permo-Triassic Cape Orogeny and was amplified during the Mesozoic. (ii) Palaeo-seismicity While palaeoseismic investigations have not been conducted in the immediate vicinity of the Thyspunt site, the reactivation of a major Mesozoic fault was established by Geodehardt (2004, 2005, 2006). Data presented by Visser (1998) indicates that the Plettenberg fault has been active since the 6At11 unconformity formed in the offshore Pletmos Basin around 117.5 Ma A Soekor seismic profile closest to the Thyspunt site, suggests that the fault may continue into younger strata, but fails to cut the 15At1 regional unconformity formed 92 Ma ago across the Pletmos, Gamtoos and Algoa Basins. The fault position is, however, uncertain and the possibility for Quaternary activity along the Plettenberg fault should be considered in the seismic hazard assessments. Mininal evidence indicates Cenozoic reactivation along the landward part of the Gamtoos fault, although an offshore segment was reactivated in the Tertiary (McMillan et al., 1997). There is secondary evidence that the offshore Cape St. Francis fault may come to within 1.75 km of the site if extended landward; its SSW dip would imply that it could be present at some depth under the site (De Beer, 2005). This fault has not been considered in any previous geological reports or seismic hazard analyses (Raubenheimer et al., 1988; Kijko et al., 2001), and is accepted currently to have been inactive since about 100 Ma ago, the age of the 13At1 unconformity in the Gamtoos Basin (McMillan et al., 1997). Evidence of post-Pliocene faulting in the Alexandria and Nanaga Formations at Port Elizabeth and some 100 km to the east (Hattingh and Goedhart, 1997) poses no direct hazard to the Thyspunt site, but suggests that there is an increased neotectonic hazard in this area in general. (iii) Seismic Hazard The seismic hazard associated with the site will be determined during the detailed assessment phase of the EIA process. Preliminary investigations indicate that there is no fatal flaw with respect to seismic risk. (e) Geohydrology The geohydrological information was taken from SRK (2007b). (i) Groundwater occurrence Two types of aquifers occur within the 20 km radius surrounding the proposed Thyspunt site (Figure 59): • A minor fracture rock aquifer (secondary) within the Bokkeveld (predominantly argillaceous rocks and TMG rocks, with some areas of Major Aquifer classification in the latter; and • A major intergranular aquifer (primary) within partly to unconsolidated deposits Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-78 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 of the Nanaga Formation and recent dune sediments (undifferentiated coastal and inland deposits). Figure 59: Simplified groundwater map for the Thyspunt site and surrounding regions (SRK, 2007b) Nuclear 1 EIA: Final Scoping Report Eskom Holdings Limited 6-79 Issue 1.0 / July 2008 The following information pertains to the fractured rock aquifers within the Bokkeveld and TMG rocks: • Joint structures in subordinate sandstone interbedded with the largely water restricting shales of the Bokkeveld group can be utilised on a limited scale for groundwater development; • A network of joints and fractures control the infiltration, recharge, storage and movement of groundwater in the competent but often brittle TMG with deep ± 30 to 50 mamsl; • Average borehole yields range from 0.5 to 2 L/s, but yields of > 5 L/s were obtained from discrete fractures in the TMG; • Springs are abundant in the TMG and are fault or lithologically controlled by impeding layers such as the Cedarberg shale; • Recharge to the fractured rock aquifer occurs in relatively high rainfall areas located at high elevations and typically 15 % infiltration of precipitation occurs, but higher recharge rates are possible; • Groundwater flow directions are predominantly to the south and east with flow from higher elevation discharging into the ocean; and • Groundwater flow from higher elevation around the Krom River is north towards the river, then south-east towards the ocean.