Natura Viva cc

Section 24G Application for the Ruigtevallei to Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline

Environmental Impact Report

PALAEONTOLOGICAL HERITAGE ASSESSMENT

John E. Almond PhD (Cantab.) Natura Viva cc, PO Box 12410 Mill Street, Cape Town 8010, RSA [email protected]

15 June 2014

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

I, Dr John Edward Almond, as duly authorised representative of Natura Viva cc, Cape Town, hereby confirm my independence (as well as that of Natura Viva cc) as the palaeontological heritage specialist for the Ruigtevallei to Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline project and declare that neither I nor Natura Viva cc have any interest, be it business, financial, personal or other, in any proposed activity, application or appeal in respect of which Arcus GIBB was appointed as environmental assessment practitioner in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998), other than fair remuneration for work performed in terms of the NEMA, the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2010 and any specific environmental management Act) for the Ruigtevallei to Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline project. I further declare that I am confident in the results of the studies undertaken and conclusions drawn as a result of it. I have disclosed, to the environmental assessment practitioner, in writing, any material information that have or may have the potential to influence the decision of the competent authority or the objectivity of any report, plan or document required in terms of the NEMA, the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2010 and any specific environmental management Act. I have further provided the environmental assessment practitioner with written access to all information at my disposal regarding the application, whether such information is favourable to the applicant or not. I am fully aware of and meet the responsibilities in terms of NEMA, the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2010 and any other specific and relevant legislation (national and provincial), policies, guidelines and best practice.

Signature:

Full Name: John Edward Almond

Date: 15 June 2014 Title / Position: Palaeontologist Qualification(s): PhD in palaeontology (University of Cambridge, UK) Experience: 24 years Registrations: Palaeontological Society of Southern Africa, Geological Society of South Africa (Western Cape), Association of Professional Heritage Practitioners (Western Cape)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Eskom are proposing to complete construction of a 132 kV transmission line of approximately 80 km length between the existing Ruigtevallei Substation, situated about 40 km east- northeast of Colesberg, and the existing Dreunberg Substation some 20 km northwest of Burgersdorp, Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape. Four alternative routings are currently being assessed for the 132 kV Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg powerline (Figure 6 herein):

(a) Route alternative 1: This was Eskom’s original preferred route, as assessed in the earlier basic assessment, and is c. 80 km long.

(b) Route alternative 2: This was assessed during the basic assessment and is c. 81.5 km long.

(c) Route alternative 3: This was the formally approved route, running alongside the existing 66 kV transmission line, with minor deviations. It is c. 85 km long.

(d) Route alternative 4: This is Eskom’s currently preferred route. It follows the alternative 1 route for most of its length but entails two important diversions. Substantial sections of route alternative 4 have already been constructed.

The transmission line route options traverse the outcrop areas of several different rock units of contrasting palaeontological sensitivity including:

Late Permian to earliest Triassic fluvial sediments of the Lower Beaufort Group (= Adelaide Subgroup) that contain important assemblages of terrestrial vertebrates (reptiles, mammal-like reptiles, amphibians etc), plants and trace fossils (e.g. burrows) recording the major End Permian Mass Extinction Event on the supercontinent Gondwana (Palaeontological sensitivity = generally HIGH, locally VERY HIGH);

• Early to Middle Triassic fluvial and lacustrine sediments of the Katberg and Burgersdorp Formations (Upper Beaufort Group = Tarkastad Subgroup) that contain important terrestrial assemblages of vertebrates, plants and traces documenting the gradual recovery of terrestrial life from the End Permian Mass Extinction Event (Palaeontological sensitivity = generally MODERATE TO HIGH, locally VERY HIGH);

• Early Jurassic intrusions of the Karoo Dolerite Suite that are unfossiliferous (Palaeontological sensitivity = ZERO);

• Quaternary to Recent superficial deposits – river alluvium, colluvium (scree and other slope deposits), calcretes etc formed over the past c. 2.5 million years (Palaeontological sensitivity generally LOW, but may be locally HIGH to VERY HIGH where well -preserved fossil mammal bones and teeth are present).

Numerous palaeontologically important rock exposures and Karoo vertebrate fossil localities of Late Permian to Middle Triassic age have already been recorded close to the Orange River between Colesberg, Burgersdorp and Aliwal North. These include, for example, one of the most informative fossiliferous sections across the Permo-Triassic mass extinction boundary in the Bethulie region, just north of the Gariep Dam, several key fossil sites in the Katberg Formation between Aliwal North and the Gariep Dam, and the rich Triassic vertebrate faunas of the Winnarsbaken and Burgersdorp areas (Burgersdorp Formation).

None of the four transmission line route alternatives are fatally flawed in terms of potential impacts on fossil heritage. Significant additional impacts associated with deconstructing the partially built sectors of route alternative 1 are not expected since these areas are already disturbed.

There are almost no substantial differences in impact significance between the four transmission line route options. This is because all routes traverse very similar geology in terms of both the bedrocks and the superficial sediments concerned. The palaeontological impact significance for all four transmission line route alternatives is rated as medium during the construction phase. However, this significance rating is probably inflated because impacts on fossil heritage, however modest, are of permanent duration and high probability. It is noted that the footprint of the individual transmission line pylons is small. No significant additional impacts are anticipated during the operational or decommissioning phases of the power line.

Pending the discovery of significant new fossil remains during the construction phase, specialist palaeontological mitigation is not considered necessary in the case of route alternatives 2, 3 and 4. Should route alternative 1 be approved, however, pre-construction mitigation by a suitably qualified professional palaeontologist as outlined in Section 4.3 of this report would be necessary within the palaeontologically sensitive area of Farm 225 that is outlined in red in Figure 81 herein. The palaeontologist concerned with mitigation work will need a valid fossil collection permit from SAHRA and to arrange for an accredited palaeontological repository (e.g. museum, university) to accept and curate the fossil material collected. All work would have to conform to international best practice for palaeontological fieldwork and the study (e.g. data recording fossil collection and curation, final report) should adhere to the minimum standards for Phase 2 palaeontological studies published by SAHRA (2013).

There is a small preference on palaeontological heritage grounds for route alternative 3, despite its slightly greater length and marginally higher potential impact on older alluvial deposits. This is because it avoids the most palaeontologically sensitive areas identified during this field study (i.e. Farm 225 and Broekpoortspruit close to the R58) and fewer new access roads would be required here.

No specialist palaeontological monitoring is considered necessary for this transmission line project. Where potentially fossiliferous rocks are present within the development area, the Environmental Control Officer (ECO) should regularly monitor all substantial excavations into superficial sediments as well as fresh (i.e. unweathered) sedimentary bedrock for fossil remains. In the case of any significant fossil finds made by the ECO or by others during construction, these should be

• Safeguarded - preferably in situ - by stopping work in the immediate vicinity and fencing off the area with tape to prevent further access; and • Reported by the ECO as soon as possible to the relevant heritage management authority, ECPHRA i.e. The Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (Contact details: Mr Sello Mokhanya, 74 Alexander Road, King Williams Town 5600; [email protected]) so that appropriate mitigation by a palaeontological specialist can be considered. • A qualified palaeontological specialist should be appointed to inspect, record and (if warranted) sample or collect the fossil remains, at the developer’s expense. • Any further mitigation measures proposed by the palaeontologist should be implemented. • Work should be allowed to resume only once clearance is given in writing by the relevant authorities.

These recommendations should be incorporated into the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg powerline project.

SECTION 24G APPLICATION FOR THE RUIGTEVALLEI TO DREUNBERG 132 KV POWERLINE

CONTENTS

Chapter Description Page

1 DETAILS OF SPECIALIST AND EXPERTISE 4

2 INTRODUCTION 5

2.1 Background 5

2.2 Legislative and Policy Context 10 2.2.1 Legislative requirements 10 2.2.2 Policy Requirements 11 2.2.3 Permit requirements 11

2.3 Scope and limitations 11

2.4 Assessment Methodology 12

2.5 Description of any Assumptions Made, Uncertainties or Gaps in Knowledge 13

3 DESCRIPTION OF AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT 16

3.1 Geology of the study area 17 3.1.1 Outline of geological setting 17 (a) Beaufort Group 21  Balfour Formation 22 (b) Karoo Dolerite Suite 37 (c) Late Caenozoic superficial deposits 42

3.2 Palaeontology of the Study Area 47 3.2.1 Fossils within the Adelaide Subgroup 48 (a) The Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone 50 (b) The Dicynodon Assemblage Zone 51 3.2.2 Fossils within the Tarkastad Subgroup 58 (a) Fossils in the Katberg Formation 59 (b) Fossils in the Burgersdorp Formation 66 (c) Fossils in the Karoo Dolerite Suite 68 (d) Fossils in Late Caenozoic superficial sediments 68

4 IMPACTS IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT 73

4.1 Introduction 73

4.2 Identification of Impacts 73 4.2.1 Construction phase 73 4.2.2 Operational phase 74

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 1 4.2.3 Decommissioning phase 74 4.2.4 Cumulative Impacts 74

4.3 Potential Mitigation Measures 75

4.4 Impact Assessment Methodology 76

4.5 Impact Assessment – Proposed Development 77 4.5.1 Construction Phase: assessment of impacts on palaeontological heritage 78 4.5.2 Construction Phase Impacts and Mitigation Measures 79

4.6 Impact Assessment - Alternatives 80 4.6.1 No Go Option 80 4.6.2 Alternative Powerline Routings 80

5 MONITORING PROGRAMME 84

6 CONCLUSIONS 85

7 REFERENCES 87

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 2 Appendix 1: Ruigtevallei - Dreunberg locality data

ABBREVIATIONS

DEA Department of Environmental Affairs Ma Millions of years ago amsl Above mean sea level

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 3 1 DETAILS OF SPECIALIST AND EXPERTISE

Dr John Almond has an Honours Degree in Natural Sciences (Zoology) as well as a PhD in Palaeontology from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has been awarded post-doctoral research fellowships at Cambridge University and in Germany, and has carried out palaeontological research in Europe, North America, the Middle East as well as North and South Africa. For eight years he was a scientific officer (palaeontologist) for the Geological Survey / Council for Geoscience in the RSA. His current palaeontological research focuses on fossil record of the Precambrian - Cambrian boundary and the Cape Supergroup of South Africa. He has recently written palaeontological reviews for several 1: 250 000 geological maps published by the Council for Geoscience and has contributed educational material on fossils and evolution for new school textbooks in the RSA.

Since 2002 Dr Almond has also carried out palaeontological impact assessments for developments and conservation areas in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape under the aegis of his Cape Town-based company Natura Viva cc. He has been a long-standing member of the Archaeology, Palaeontology and Meteorites Committee for Heritage Western Cape (HWC) and an advisor on palaeontological conservation and management issues for the Palaeontological Society of South Africa (PSSA), HWC and SAHRA. He is currently compiling technical reports on the provincial palaeontological heritage of Western, Northern and Eastern Cape for SAHRA and HWC. Dr Almond is an accredited member of PSSA and APHP (Association of Professional Heritage Assessment Practitioners – Western Cape).

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 4 2 INTRODUCTION

2.1 Background

Eskom are proposing to complete construction of a partially built 132 kV transmission line of approximately 80 km length between the existing Ruigtevallei Substation, situated about 40 km east-northeast of Colesberg, and the existing Dreunberg Substation located some 10 km northwest of Burgersdorp, Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. Three transmission line route options, known as Routes 1 to 3, were initially considered during the Basic Assessment process. All of these routes run to the south of the Gariep Dam (previously known as the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam) and approximately parallel to the R58 tar road between Colesberg and Burgersdorp via Venterstad, by-passing Venterstad to the south.

A desktop assessment of palaeontological heritage within the broader transmission line study area between Ruigtevallei and Dreunberg was undertaken by the author as part of the Basic Assessment for this project in 20111. The following recommendations regarding palaeontological heritage were made in that initial report:

A realistic palaeontological heritage impact assessment for this project, with recommendations for any mitigation necessary, is only possible once the transmission line corridors have been surveyed in the field by a professional palaeontologist. It is recommended that such a field survey be carried out at the earliest opportunity so that any significant palaeontological heritage issues may be addressed in the project design. It should be noted that the most likely outcome of such a field study is that most sectors of the alternative transmission line corridors prove to be insensitive in practice because of a thick superficial sediment cover, high degree or near-surface weathering, or sparse fossil content. However, short sectors of high palaeontological sensitivity, with a concentration of near-surface fossil material, might also be identified and mapped. These sectors may require mitigation.

The recommended palaeontological field survey should focus on areas of good bedrock exposure along or close to the three transmission line route options. The focus of the study should be on:

 Identifying those sectors of the three route options (if any) that are recorded as, or inferred to be, of high palaeontological sensitivity;

 Comparing the three route options in terms of overall palaeontological impact significance;

 Making detailed recommendations regarding mitigation of impacts within route sectors of high palaeontological sensitivity (if any) during the pre-construction or construction phases. These mitigation recommendations should be incorporated into the EMP for the transmission line development.

Environmental authorisation for the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line project was issued by the DEA in November 2012. However, authorisation was granted for Route Alternative 3 rather than for Eskom’s preferred route which had been Route Alternative 1. Eskom erroneously commenced with construction of Route Alternative 1 for which they did not have an environmental authorisation. The

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 5 environmental control officer stopped work on the line but only after a substantial portion of the unauthorised section had been built.

GIBB, as the independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner for the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line project, is currently undertaking a section 24G application to apply for authorisation for a slightly modified version of Route Alternative 1. To reduce the environmental impacts of Route Alternative 1 GIBB and Eskom have proposed some deviations to the original powerline route. The new preferred route, incorporating the proposed deviations, is known as Route Alternative 4. Since the deviations were not assessed as part of the original Basic Assessment Process, specialist studies needed to be undertaken for these sections. Furthermore, it was necessary to commission the present palaeontological field assessment for the entire transmission line project, following the recommendations in the original desktop Basic Assessment report by Almond (2011).

The following generic outline for the 132 kV transmission line development has been provided by GIBB:

For the proposed overhead power lines, an area with a strip width of 6 m will be cleared along the entire route. Holes will be drilled or blasting may be employed for the support poles [monopoles]. A blast area of 1.5 x 1.5 x 2.5 m will be required for each supporting pole. Small amounts of concrete are mixed for the site stabilizing towers (± 0.5 cubes per strain tower / 1 every 1.5 km). The internal towers will generally be placed on pre-cast foundation (± 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 m). An 8-ton crane truck is usually used to erect the structures. No access routes are required where the proposed powerline follows an existing road, or is alongside an existing powerline, as access routes are already available.

Based on similar transmission line projects, excavations for the 132 kV transmission pylons may be up to 2-3 m deep, depending on substrate conditions.

The approximate outline of the broader study area for palaeontological heritage assessment purposes is depicted in Figures 1 and 2 below. The routes for Options 1 to 4 are approximately shown in Figures 3 and 6.

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 6

Figure 1: Extract from 1: 250 000 topographical map 3024 Colesberg (Courtesy of the Chief Directorate of Surveys & Mapping, Mowbray). The outline of the broader study area south of the Gariep Dam for the proposed 132 kV transmission line between Ruigtevallei and Dreunberg Substations, Eastern Cape Province, is shown by the dark blue lines (See also following figure for eastern extension). The four transmission line route options are shown in more detail in Figure 3.

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 7

Figure 2: Extract from 1: 250 000 topographical map 3026 Aliwal North (Courtesy of the Chief Directorate of Surveys & Mapping, Mowbray). The outline of the broader study area southeast of the Gariep Dam for the proposed 132 kV transmission line between Ruigtevallei and Dreunberg Substations, Eastern Cape Province, is shown by the dark blue lines (See also preceding figure for western extension). Burgersdorp lies near the southern edge of the map. The four transmission line route options are shown in Figure 3.

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 8

Suurbergspruit

Palmietspruit Broekspoortspruit Brakspruit Brandspruit

Figure 3: Alternative route options for the proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV overhead powerline: Route 1: Blue solid line (as assessed in BA); Route 2: Pink (as assessed in BA); Route 3: Green (as assessed in BA, the approved route); Route 4: Purple line (Eskom’s preferred route, currently under construction) (Image kindly provided by GIBB).

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 9

2.2 Legislative and Policy Context

The proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line study area in the Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, is underlain by potentially fossil-rich sedimentary rocks of Permo-Triassic, Quaternary and younger age (Section 3.1). The construction phase of the powerline will entail numerous excavations into the superficial sediment cover, and locally into the underlying bedrock as well, for the pylon footings as well as disturbance of the ground surface along any new gravel access roads. These developments may adversely affect fossil heritage within the study area by damaging, destroying, disturbing or permanently sealing-in fossils preserved at or beneath the surface of the ground that are then no longer available for scientific research or other public good. The decommissioning phase of the existing or new transmission line is unlikely to involve further adverse impacts on local palaeontological heritage, however.

2.2.1 Legislative requirements

The present combined desktop and field-based palaeontological heritage report falls under Sections 35 and 38 (Heritage Resources Management) of the South African Heritage Resources Act (Act No. 25 of 1999), and it will also inform the Environmental Management Plan for this project.

The various categories of heritage resources recognised as part of the National Estate in Section 3 of the National Heritage Resources Act include, among others:

 geological sites of scientific or cultural importance;  palaeontological sites;  palaeontological objects and material, meteorites and rare geological specimens.

According to Section 35 of the National Heritage Resources Act, dealing with archaeology, palaeontology and meteorites:

(1) The protection of archaeological and palaeontological sites and material and meteorites is the responsibility of a provincial heritage resources authority. (2) All archaeological objects, palaeontological material and meteorites are the property of the State. (3) Any person who discovers archaeological or palaeontological objects or material or a meteorite in the course of development or agricultural activity must immediately report the find to the responsible heritage resources authority, or to the nearest local authority offices or museum, which must immediately notify such heritage resources authority. (4) No person may, without a permit issued by the responsible heritage resources authority— (a) destroy, damage, excavate, alter, deface or otherwise disturb any archaeological or palaeontological site or any meteorite; (b) destroy, damage, excavate, remove from its original position, collect or own any archaeological or palaeontological material or object or any meteorite; (c) trade in, sell for private gain, export or attempt to export from the Republic any category of archaeological or palaeontological material or object, or any meteorite; or

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 10 (d) bring onto or use at an archaeological or palaeontological site any excavation equipment or any equipment which assist in the detection or recovery of metals or archaeological and palaeontological material or objects, or use such equipment for the recovery of meteorites. (5) When the responsible heritage resources authority has reasonable cause to believe that any activity or development which will destroy, damage or alter any archaeological or palaeontological site is under way, and where no application for a permit has been submitted and no heritage resources management procedure in terms of section 38 has been followed, it may— (a) serve on the owner or occupier of the site or on the person undertaking such development an order for the development to cease immediately for such period as is specified in the order; (b) carry out an investigation for the purpose of obtaining information on whether or not an archaeological or palaeontological site exists and whether mitigation is necessary; (c) if mitigation is deemed by the heritage resources authority to be necessary, assist the person on whom the order has been served under paragraph (a) to apply for a permit as required in subsection (4); and (d) recover the costs of such investigation from the owner or occupier of the land on which it is believed an archaeological or palaeontological site is located or from the person proposing to undertake the development if no application for a permit is received within two weeks of the order being served.

2.2.2 Policy Requirements

All palaeontological specialist work during the assessment and mitigation phases should conform to international best practice for palaeontological fieldwork and the studies involved (e.g. data recording, fossil collection and curation, final report) should adhere as far as possible to the minimum standards for Phase 2 palaeontological studies recently developed by SAHRA2.

2.2.3 Permit requirements

Palaeontologists concerned with any mitigation work will need a valid fossil collection permit from SAHRA3 and any material collected would have to be curated in an approved depository (e.g. museum or university collection). Written permission from the relevant landowners as well as an undertaking from an approved depository to accept the fossil material are prerequisites for granting the fossil permit. The proposed mitigation programme would have to be approved beforehand by SAHRA, to whom a final report would be submitted after completion of the work.

2.3 Scope and limitations

The scope of work for the present palaeontological heritage assessment, as defined by GIBB, comprises a field-based specialist palaeontological study of the proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line, as recently amended, to revise the previous desktop basic assessment for the project by the author4. The final report is to include:

 A comprehensive comparison of all route alternatives (4 in total – the three original routes and the amended route 1).

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 11  An assessment of alternatives to an equal degree. Impact rating tables are to be provided to ensure that DEA is able to clearly see how impact significance between the options varies.  An indication if any of the routes are fatally flawed. (Note that choosing a route other than that which has already been partially built will mean impacts will be associated with deconstructing the partially built line. These impacts must be considered).  A closing statement indicating which route is preferred, and the implications of building each of the alternatives.

2.4 Assessment Methodology

The approach to this palaeontological heritage study is briefly as follows. Fossil bearing rock units occurring within the broader study area are determined from geological maps and satellite images. Known fossil heritage in each rock unit is inventoried from scientific literature, previous palaeontological assessments of the broader study region, and the author’s field experience and palaeontological database. Based on this data as well as field examination of representative exposures of all major sedimentary rock units represented within the study area, the sensitivity of the area and the impact significance of the proposed development are assessed, with recommendations for any further studies or mitigation.

In preparing a palaeontological desktop study the potentially fossiliferous rock units (groups, formations etc) represented within the study area are determined from geological maps and satellite images. The known fossil heritage within each rock unit is inventoried from the published scientific literature, previous palaeontological impact studies in the same region, and the author’s field experience (consultation with professional colleagues as well as examination of institutional fossil collections may play a role here, or later following field assessment during the compilation of the final report). This data is then used to assess the palaeontological sensitivity of each rock unit to development (provisional tabulations of palaeontological sensitivity of all formations in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape have already been compiled by J. Almond and colleagues; e.g. Almond et al. 2008). The likely impact of the proposed development on local fossil heritage is then determined on the basis of (1) the palaeontological sensitivity of the rock units concerned and (2) the nature and scale of the development itself, most significantly the extent of fresh bedrock excavation envisaged. When rock units of moderate to high palaeontological sensitivity are present within the development footprint, a Phase 1 field assessment study by a professional palaeontologist is usually warranted to identify any palaeontological hotspots and make specific recommendations for any mitigation required before or during the construction phase of the development.

On the basis of the desktop and Phase 1 field assessment studies, the likely impact of the proposed development on local fossil heritage and any need for specialist mitigation are then determined. Adverse palaeontological impacts normally occur during the construction rather than the operational or decommissioning phase. Phase 2 mitigation by a professional palaeontologist – normally involving the recording and sampling of fossil material and associated geological information (e.g. sedimentological data) may be required (a) in the pre-construction phase where important fossils are already exposed at or near the land surface and / or (b) during the construction phase when fresh fossiliferous bedrock has been exposed by excavations. To carry out mitigation, the palaeontologist involved will need to apply

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 12 for a palaeontological collection permit from SAHRA. It should be emphasized that, providing appropriate mitigation is carried out, the majority of developments involving bedrock excavation can make a positive contribution to our understanding of local palaeontological heritage.

The focus of the Phase 1 palaeontological field assessment work is not simply to survey the development footprint or even the development area as a whole (e.g. farms or other parcels of land concerned in the development). Rather, the palaeontologist seeks to assess the diversity, density and distribution of fossils within and beneath the study area, as well as their heritage conservation and scientific interest. This is primarily achieved through a careful field examination of one or more representative exposures of all the sedimentary rock units present (N.B. Metamorphic and igneous rocks rarely contain fossils). The best rock exposures are generally those that are easily accessible, extensive, fresh (i.e. unweathered) and include a large fraction of the stratigraphic unit concerned (e.g. formation). These exposures may be natural or artificial and include, for example, rocky outcrops in stream or river banks, cliffs, quarries, dams, dongas, open building excavations or road and railway cuttings. Unconsolidated or consolidated superficial deposits, such as alluvium, scree, calcrete or wind-blown sands, may occasionally contain fossils and should also be included in the field assessment study where they are well-represented in the study area. The careful study of aerial photographs and satellite images of the broader study region is very useful for identification of potentially informative rock exposures before fieldwork commences. It is normal practice for heritage impact palaeontologists to collect representative, well-localized (e.g. GPS and stratigraphic data) samples of fossil material during field assessment studies. To do so, the palaeontologist concerned will require a valid fossil collection permit from SAHRA, and all fossil material collected must be properly curated within an approved repository (usually a museum or university collection).

Note that while fossil localities recorded during field assessment work within the study area and development footprint themselves are obviously highly relevant, most fossil heritage here is normally embedded within rocks beneath the land surface or obscured by surface deposits (soil, alluvium etc) and by vegetation cover. In many cases where levels of fresh (i.e. unweathered) bedrock exposure are low, the hidden fossil resources have to be inferred from palaeontological observations made from better exposures of the same formations elsewhere in the region but outside the immediate study area. Therefore in many cases a palaeontologist might reasonably spend far more time examining road cuts and borrow pits close to, but outside, the study area than within the study area itself. Field data from localities even further afield (e.g. an adjacent province) may also be adduced to build up a realistic picture of the likely fossil heritage within the study area.

2.5 Description of any Assumptions Made, Uncertainties or Gaps in Knowledge

The accuracy and reliability of palaeontological specialist studies as components of heritage impact assessments are generally limited by the following constraints:

1. Inadequate database for fossil heritage for much of the RSA, given the large size of the country and the small number of professional palaeontologists carrying out fieldwork here. Most development study areas have never been surveyed by a palaeontologist.

2. Variable accuracy of geological maps which underpin these desktop studies. For large areas of terrain these maps are largely based on aerial photographs

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 13 alone, without ground-truthing. The maps generally depict only significant (―mappable‖) bedrock units as well as major areas of superficial ―drift‖ deposits (alluvium, colluvium) but for most regions give little or no idea of the level of bedrock outcrop, depth of superficial cover (soil etc), degree of bedrock weathering or levels of small-scale tectonic deformation, such as cleavage. All of these factors may have a major influence on the impact significance of a given development on fossil heritage and can only be reliably assessed in the field.

3. Inadequate sheet explanations for geological maps, with little or no attention paid to palaeontological issues in many cases, including poor locality information.

4. The extensive relevant palaeontological ―grey literature‖ - in the form of unpublished university theses, impact studies and other reports (e.g. of commercial mining companies) - that is not readily available for desktop studies.

5. Absence of a comprehensive computerized database of fossil collections in major RSA institutions which can be consulted for impact studies. A Karoo fossil vertebrate database is now accessible for impact study work.

In the case of palaeontological desktop studies without supporting Phase 1 field assessments these limitations may variously lead to either: (a) underestimation of the palaeontological significance of a given study area due to ignorance of significant recorded or unrecorded fossils preserved there, or (b) overestimation of the palaeontological sensitivity of a study area, for example when originally rich fossil assemblages inferred from geological maps have in fact been destroyed by tectonism or weathering, or are buried beneath a thick mantle of unfossiliferous ―drift‖ (soil, alluvium etc).

Since most areas of the RSA have not been studied palaeontologically, a palaeontological desktop study usually entails inferring the presence of buried fossil heritage within the study area from relevant fossil data collected from similar or the same rock units elsewhere, sometimes at localities far away. Where substantial exposures of bedrocks or potentially fossiliferous superficial sediments are present in the study area, the reliability of a palaeontological impact assessment may be significantly enhanced through field assessment by a professional palaeontologist. In the present case, site visits to the various loop and borrow pit study areas in some cases considerably modified our understanding of the rock units (and hence potential fossil heritage) represented there.

In the case of the present study area in the Gariep Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape exposure of potentially fossiliferous bedrocks is mainly limited to river and stream banks, erosion gullies and steep hill slopes, as well as artificial excavations such as road cuttings, quarries and borrow pits, due to extensive cover by superficial sediments (e.g. soil, alluvium, colluvium) and vegetation (especially grass).

Given time constraints as well as difficulties with accessing many sectors of the transmission line routes within a study area some 90 km in length (e.g. locked gates, absent landowners), this study cannot be equated with a full walk-down of all the alternative routes. However, it proved possible to examine representative exposures of most potentially fossiliferous rock units present within the study area, with the notable exception of the poorly-exposed Burgersdorp Formation in the eastern sector

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 14 of the study area. Confidence levels in the conclusions presented here are therefore moderately good.

Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV Powerline June 2014 {Palaeontological Heritage Assessment} 15

3 DESCRIPTION OF AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT

The Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area is situated on the northern margins of the Eastern Cape Province, just south of the Orange River and the Gariep Dam, between the towns of Colesberg and Burgersdorp (Figures 1 & 2). Most of this hilly, semi-arid region lies at elevations between 1250 and 1450 m amsl and is extensively dissected by episodically flowing, south bank tributaries of the Orange River drainage system, such as the Suurbergspruit, Brakspruit and Broekpoortspruit, that are associated with substantial alluvial deposits. The greater part of the study area is underlain by recessive-weathering sedimentary rocks of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup) while more resistant-weathering dolerite intrusions build koppies and ridges, many of which stand out as dark brown areas on satellite images (Figure 6). In flatter, lower-lying areas between the elevated, rocky ridges and koppies the Beaufort Group sediments are largely mantled by a pervasive blanket of superficial deposits such as alluvium, colluvium (scree), surface gravels and soils, so levels of bedrock exposure here are very low (Figures 4 & 5).

GPS data for numbered localities mentioned in the text below are given in Appendix 1 at the end of the report.

Figure 4: View south-eastwards along the newly constructed 132 kV transmission line and existing 66 kV line seen from the R58, c. 9 km SE of Ruigtevallei Substation (Loc. 289). Note the lack of Lower Beaufort Group bedrock exposure and pervasive grassy cover in low-lying areas.

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Figure 5: View eastwards along the existing 66 kV transmission line c. 15 km SE of Venterstad. Early Triassic bedrocks in the low-lying areas are mantled in soil, surface gravels and alluvium.

3.1 Geology of the study area

The main geological units represented within the broader Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg study area between Colesberg and Burgersdorp are briefly described here, based on a preliminary desktop study as well as the recent field assessment. Special attention is paid to those formations that are of palaeontological heritage significance. It should be noted that unusually good exposures of bedrocks along hill slopes (e.g. north- facing escarpment on Farm 255) as well as in road cuttings (e.g. along the R58) are of geoheritage significance and are also protected by the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999.

3.1.1 Outline of geological setting

The geology of the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg study area is shown on the 1: 250 000 geology sheets 3024 Colesberg and 3026 Aliwal North published by the Council for Geoscience, Pretoria (Le Roux 1993, Bruce et al. 1983) (Figures 7 and 8). The Aliwal North sheet is currently out of print and is only available as a poor digitized copy. The detailed sheet explanation for the Middelburg area to the south of the present study area by Cole et al. (2004) provides a useful additional resource.

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Figure 6: Google earth© satellite image of the study area to the south of the Gariep Dam, Eastern Cape, showing the typical Karoo terrain with scattered koppies (many capped by dark dolerite) and intervening vlaktes of low relief. Route 1: Blue (as assessed in BA); Route 2: Pink (as assessed in BA); Route 3: Green (as assessed in BA, the approved route); Route 4: Blue line with diversions shown in purple (Eskom’s preferred route, currently under construction).

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Figure 7: Extract from 1: 250 000 geology sheet 3024 Colesberg (Council for Geoscience, Pretoria) showing approximate routes of the four transmission line route options (N.B. Option 1 combined with short deviations shown in purple now constitutes the preferred Option 4. Please see Figure 3 for clarification).

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Figure 8: Extract from 1: 250 000 geology sheet 3026 Aliwal North (Council for Geoscience, Pretoria) showing approximate routes of the four transmission line route options. (N.B. Option 1 combined with short deviations shown in purple now constitutes the preferred Option 4. Please see Figure 3 for clarification).

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(a) Beaufort Group

The continental (mainly fluvial and lacustrine) sediments of the Beaufort Group range in age from Late Permian to Early Triassic, generally decreasing in age across the study area as one moves from the west towards the east. Hardly any bedding dips are indicated on the Colesberg and Aliwal North sheets, reflecting the fact that the Beaufort Group succession here is largely flat-lying and undeformed. A useful overview of this internationally famous rock succession has been given by Johnson et al. (2006) (See also stratigraphic column in Figure 9).

Figure 9: Chart showing the lithostratigraphic (rock-based) and biostratigraphic (fossil-based) subdivisions of the Beaufort Group with rock units and fossil assemblage zones relevant to the present study outlined in red (Modified from Rubidge 1995). Note that these include subdivisions of the Adelaide and Tarkastad Subgroups and range in age from Late Permian to Middle Triassic.

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 Balfour Formation

The oldest rocks, in the north-western sector of the study area to the south and southeast of Ruigtevallei substation, comprise Late Permian fluvial sediments of the Lower Beaufort Group (Adelaide Subgroup; Pa in geological map Figure 7). Due to the absence of unambiguous sandstone marker horizons, the Adelaide Subgroup is not subdivided into individual formations on the Colesberg sheet (Le Roux 1993). It is apparent from biostratigraphic (i.e. fossil-based) mapping, however, that only the upper, Late Permian to Early Triassic, portion of the Adelaide Subgroup is present within the study area, corresponding to the Cistecephalus, Dicynodon and lowermost Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zones (Rubidge 2005, Van der Walt in press; see also Figure 9 and Section 3.2 below). The succession here is therefore broadly equivalent to the Balfour Formation that is recognised at the top of the Adelaide Subgroup succession further south within the Main Karoo Basin to the east of 24º East (Rubidge 2005). Recent field work by palaeontologists from Wits University, Johannesburg, has established that several Late Permian subunits or members of the Balfour Formation can be recognised within the study area (e.g. Baberskrans, Elandsberg and Palingkloof Members; P. Viglietti & M. Day, pers. comm. June 2014) but these are not detailed in the present study.

Geological and palaeoenvironmental analyses of the Lower Beaufort Group sediments in the Great Karoo region have been conducted by a number of workers. Key references within an extensive scientific literature include various papers by Roger Smith (e.g. Smith 1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993a, 1993b) and Stear (1978, 1980), as well as several informative field guides (e.g. Smith et al. 2002, Cole & Smith 2008). In brief, these thick successions of clastic sediments were laid down by a series of large, meandering rivers within a subsiding basin over a period of some ten or more million years within the Late Permian Period (c. 265-251 Ma). Sinuous sandstone bodies of lenticular cross-section represent ancient channel infills, while thin (<1.5 m), laterally-extensive sandstone beds were deposited by crevasse splays during occasional overbank floods. The bulk of the Beaufort sediments are greyish-green to reddish-brown or purplish mudrocks (―mudstones‖ = fine-grained claystones and slightly coarser siltstones) that were deposited over the floodplains during major floods. Thin-bedded, fine-grained playa lake deposits also accumulated locally where water ponded-up in floodplain depressions and are associated with distinctive fossil assemblages (e.g. fish, amphibians, coprolites or fossil droppings, arthropod, vertebrate and other trace fossils).

Frequent development of fine-grained pedogenic (soil) limestone or calcrete as nodules and more continuous banks indicates that semi-arid, highly seasonal climates prevailed in the Late Permian Karoo. This is also indicated by the frequent occurrence of sand-infilled mudcracks and silicified gypsum ―desert roses‖, especially in the western outcrop area (Smith 1980, 1990, 1993a, 1993b). Highly continental climates can be expected from the palaeogeographic setting of the Karoo Basin at the time – embedded deep within the interior of the Supercontinent Pangaea and in the rainshadow of the developing Gondwanide Mountain Belt. Fluctuating water tables and redox processes in the alluvial plain soil and subsoil are indicated by interbedded mudrock horizons of contrasting colours. Reddish-brown to purplish mudrocks probably developed during drier, more oxidising conditions associated with lowered water tables, while greenish-grey mudrocks reflect reducing conditions in waterlogged soils during periods of raised water tables. However, diagenetic (post-burial) processes also greatly influence predominant mudrock colour (Smith 1990).

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Fluvial sandstones and mudrocks of the Adelaide Subgroup in the western portion of the Ruegtevallei – Dreunberg study area are assigned to the upper part of the Balfour Formation. A small number of exposures occur just north of the Gariep Dam wall (Loc. 341, Figure 10) and along the R58, mainly to the west of the Suurbergspruit. Good exposures of Balfour channel sandstones and grey-green mudrocks occur on the slopes of an isolated koppie near Dundee farmstead on Knypfontein 89, 1.4 km SW of the R58 (c. 7.3 km S of Gariep Dam) (Loc. 320, Figure 11). Excellent road cuttings, hill slope and gulley exposures are seen along and to the south of the R58 on Farm 255 (Schalkwykskraal, Locs. 321-324, Figures 13 to 16) where the upper Balfour Formation is capped by the sandstone cliffs of the basal Katberg Formation along an extensive, north-facing escarpment. This last area is of considerable geological importance since the fossiliferous exposures here cross the Permo- Triassic boundary. Upper Balfour Formation rocks are seen in R58 road cuttings further to the east (Figure 17).

Figure 10: Channel sandstones and purple-brown overbank mudrocks of the Balfour Formation (probably Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone) just north of the Gariep Dam wall (Loc. 341).

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Figure 11. Good hillslope exposures of the Balfour Formation (probably Dicynodon Assemblage Zone) near Dundee farmstead, Knypfontein 89, seen from the east (Loc. 320).

Figure 12: Large scale cross-bedding within Balfour Formation channel sandstones, stream exposure on Farm 64 (Loc. 351).

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Figure 13: Highly fossiliferous upper Balfour Formation exposures on Farm 255, just south of the R58 (Loc. 321). Several specimens of Lystrosaurus maccaigi as well as large Dicynodon have recently been collected from these latest Permian beds on Farm 255 by palaeontologists from Wits University.

Figure 14: Gulley exposure of the Palingkloof Member beds shown in the previous illustration (Loc. 321). The abundance of pedogenic ferruginous carbonate concretions (rusty brown), sometime associated with vertebrate fossils, is typical for these latest Permian successions.

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Figure 15: In situ ferruginous calcrete concretions marking an ancient soil horizon within the Palingkloof Member, Farm 255 (Loc. 321) (Hammer = 30 cm).

Figure 16: Steep, north-facing section through the Permo-Triassic boundary beds, escarpment on Farm 255 (Loc. 321). The succession is capped by a thick package of sandstones at the base of the Katberg Formation.

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Figure 17: Several meter thick package of purple-brown laminated mudrocks overlying cross-bedded grey-green sandstones of the Palingkloof Member, R58 road cutting (Loc. 301).

Most of the proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line routes, from c. 20 km west of Venterstad eastwards, are underlain by Early Triassic continental sediments of the Tarkastad Subgroup (= Upper Beaufort Group; Trt). Although this thick unit is not subdivided on the 1: 250 000 geological maps, there are in fact two successive ―red bed‖ formations represented here. A stratigraphically lower, sandstone-dominated Katberg Formation is overlain towards the east by a younger, mudrock-dominated Burgersdorp Formation (Figure 9). Detailed mapping is required to establish the contact between these two formations which lies outside the scope of the present study. Early Triassic fossil remains observed during recent fieldwork have been provisionally assigned to one or other formation for the most part, based in part on the Karoo biozonation map shown in Figure 49, but these assignations are subject to revision in future.

 Katberg Formation

Useful geological descriptions of the Katberg Formation are given by Johnson (1976), Hancox (2000), Johnson et al. (2006), Smith et al. (2002) and for the Middelburg sheet area in particular by Cole et al. (2004). The more detailed sedimentological accounts by Stavrakis (1980), Hiller and Stavrakis (1980, 1984), Haycock et al. (1994), Groenewald (1996) and Neveling (1998) are also relevant. The Katberg Formation forms the regionally extensive, sandstone-rich lower portion of the Tarkastad Subgroup (Upper Beaufort Group) that can be traced throughout large areas of the Main Karoo Basin. In the Middelburg sheet area it reaches a maximum thickness of some 400 m, but close to Noupoort thicknesses of 240-260 m are more usual. The predominant sediments are (a) prominent-weathering, pale buff to greyish,

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tabular or ribbon-shaped sandstone packages up to 60 m thick that are interbedded with (b) recessive-weathering, reddish or occasionally green-grey mudrocks. Up to four discrete sandstone packages can be identified within the Katberg succession. In the Noupoort area the overall sandstone:mudrock ratio is close to 1:1. Katberg channel sandstones are typically rich in feldspar and lithic grains (i.e. lithofeldspathic). They build laterally extensive, multistorey units with an erosional base that is often marked by intraformational conglomerates up to one meter thick consisting of mudrock pebbles, reworked calcrete nodules and occasional rolled fragments of bone and petrified wood. The basal Katberg succession is often marked by a major cliff- forming sandstone unit. Internally the moderately well-sorted sandstones are variously massive, horizontally-laminated or cross-bedded and heavy mineral laminae occur frequently. Sphaeroidal carbonate concretions up to 10 cm across are common. The predominantly reddish Katberg mudrocks are typically massive with horizons of pedocrete nodules (calcretes), and mudcracks. Mudrock exposure within the study area is limited by extensive mantling of these recessive-weathering rocks by superficial sediments.

Sandstone deposition in the Katberg Formation was mainly due to intermittently flooding, low-sinuosity braided river systems flowing northwards from the rising Cape Fold Belt mountains in the south into the subsiding Main Karoo Basin (Figure 18). Mudrocks were largely laid down by suspension settling within overbank areas following episodic inundation events, while other fine-grained sediments are associated with lakes and temporary playas in lower-lying areas on the arid floodplain, especially in the northern Katberg outcrop area and its lateral correlatives in the Burgersdorp Formation. Palaeoclimates inferred for the Early Triassic Period in the Main Karoo Basin were arid with highly seasonal rainfall and extensive periods of drought. This is suggested by the abundant oxidised (―rusty red‖) mudrocks, desiccation cracks, and palaeosols associated with well-developed calcretes. Arid settings are also supported by taphonomic and behavioural evidence such as pervasive carbonate encrustation of fossil bones, mummification of postcrania, bone- bed death assemblages associated with water holes and the frequency of burrowing habits among tetrapods, including large dicynodonts like Lystrosaurus (Groenewald 1991, Smith & Botha 2005).

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Figure 18: Reconstruction of the south-eastern part of the Main Karoo Basin in Early Triassic times showing the deposition of the sandy Katberg Formation near the mountainous source area in the south. The mudrock-dominated Burgersdorp Formation was deposited on the distal floodplain where numerous playa lakes are also found (From Hiller & Stavrakis 1984).

From the Suurbergspruit eastwards to the Roodepoort – Janspoort area, c. 24 km NW of Burgersdorp, the alternative transmission line routes are largely underlain by earliest Triassic fluvial sediments of the Katberg Formation (Tarkastad Subgroup). Bedrock exposure of this unit is usually very poor as far as the subordinate, potentially fossiliferous mudrock intervals are concerned, but several good exposures of the thick, more resistant-weathering sandstone packages are seen in road cuttings along the R58. Good sections through the basal Katberg sandstones are seen in the north-facing cliffs on Farm 255, c. 12 km WNW of Venterstad (Figures 16 & 19; see comments above). Informative road cuttings along the R58 are found at Loc. 303 (4.7 km west of Venterstad, Wildebeeste Valley 59, just south of Alternative 1; Figures 20 & 21) and Loc. 311, just southwest of Murray’s Kop (Figure 24) as well as on the slopes of Murray’s Kop itself (Loc. 334a, Farm 112, just south of the Alternative 1 route and c. 14. 7 km ESE of Venterstad; Figures 23 and 25). At Loc. 311 near Murray’s Kop a lower package of greyish tabular sandstone beds resembling braided fluvial deposits is directly overlain by an upper, brownish-weathering package of sandstones and thin, grey-green mudrocks (Figure 24). The latter show evidence of lateral accretion that is typical of meandering river systems such as normally associated with the Burgersdorp Formation (see below).

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Figure 19: Impressive sandstone krans forming the base of the Katberg Formation on Farm 255, as seen from the R58 to the north (Loc. 299).

Figure 20: R58 road cutting through a sandstone package within the Katberg Formation, c. 4.7 km west of Venterstad (Loc. 303). The beds here contain oblique invertebrate burrows of the ichnogenus Katbergia (See Figure 67).

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Figure 21: Detail of the same exposure seen in the previous figure showing an erosive-based channel infilled with climbing ripple laminated sandstone within a heterolithic, thin-bedded succession of Katberg sediments (Hammer = 30 cm).

Figure 22: Katberg Formation at Tolkop, c. 10 km SE of Venterstad (Loc. 327).

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Figure 23: Katberg Formation succession on the northern face of Murray’s Kop (Farm 112), c. 14.7 km east of Venterstad (Loc. 334a).

Figure 24: Contrasting channel sandstone facies within the Katberg Formation, R58 road cutting just southwest of Murray’s Kop (Loc. 311). The lower greyish tabular beds resemble braided fluvial deposits whereas the upper, brownish beds show evidence of lateral accretion typical of meandering rivers.

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Figure 25: Bright orange-brown overbank mudrocks within the Katberg Formation, gulley exposure on the northern flanks of Murray’s Kop (Loc. 334a).

Figure 26: Stepped hill slopes of Tarkastad Subgroup bedrocks to the west of Ezelshoek Dam (Ezels Hoek 65), provisionally assigned to the Katberg Formation.

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 Burgersdorp Formation

The Burgersdorp Formation is the youngest subunit of the Permo-Triassic Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup, Tarkastad Subgroup) and is paraconformably overlain by the Molteno and Elliot Formations of the Stormberg Group. It is a mudrock-rich succession of Early to Middle Triassic age with a total thickness of some 900-1000 m in its southern outcrop area near Queenstown (Johnson et al. 2006). Kitching (1995) quotes a thickness of 600 m in the type area for this formation between Queenstown and Lady Frere, well to the southeast of the present study area. Brief geological descriptions of the Burgersdorp Formation are given by Karpeta and Johnson (1979), Dingle et al. (1983), Johnson (1976, 1984), Hiller & Stavrakis (1984), Johnson & Hiller (1990), Kitching (1995) and Hancox (2000; see also extensive references therein).

The Burgersdorp rocks were laid down within the Main Karoo Basin by northwestwards-flowing meandering rivers during a warm, arid to semi-arid climatic interval (Figure 18). They comprise isolated, lenticular, feldspathic channel sandstones, abundant crevasse splay sandstones, and typically greyish-red to dusky red overbank mudrocks, forming upwards-fining cycles of a few meters to tens of meters in thickness. Intraformational mudflake breccio-conglomerates are common at the base of the sandstone units. The mudrocks are generally massive (unbedded) but occasionally display sand-infilled mudcracks and clastic dykes. Well-laminated reddish mudrocks with pedocrete horizons are interpreted as playa lake deposits. Lacustrine palaeoenvironments predominated in the northern part of the Karoo Basin at this time and these lake deposits have recently received considerable palaeontological attention (e.g. Free State; Welman et al. 1991, Hancox et al. 2010 and references therein).

The Burgersdorp Formation that stratigraphically overlies the Katberg sandstones underlies the easternmost portion of the Ruegtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area, to the east of the Roodepoort / Janspoort area, c. 25 km NW of Burgersdorp town (Figure 27) (N.B. The position of the Katberg / Burgsredorp boundary was not determined during the present field study, and is in part inferred from the biozonation map in Figure 49). The Burgersdorp Formation outcrop area shows generally low relief with very poor exposure of potentially fossiliferous mudrock intervals (Figure 30). Ridges and koppies in the landscape east of Janspoort and around Dreunberg Substation reflect prominent-weathering channel sandstones (Figures 28, 29 & 31) as well as dolerite intrusions.

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Figure 27: West-facing escarpment of the Burgersdorp Formation, north of Winnaarsbaken and 24 km NW of Burgersdorp, seen from the R58.

Figure 28: Detail of the Burgersdorp Formation escarpment seen in the previous figure, just to the south of Janspoort, showing pylons of the recently constructed 132 kV transmission line. Note the minor impact on the scree- mantled slopes here.

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Figure 29: R58 road cutting through buff channel sandstones of the Burgersdorp Formation c. 2 km ESE of Janspoort (Loc.319).

Figure 30: View ENE from the R58 along the recently constructed sector of the 132 kV transmission line from just east of Janspoort towards Dreunberg Substation. Note the absence of bedrock exposure and grassy cover here.

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Figure 31: Koppies of Burgersdorp Formation intruded by dolerite, c. 3.75 km SE of Dreunberg Substation. Note paucity of mudrock as opposed to sandstone exposure here.

(b) Karoo Dolerite Suite

The Permo-Triassic Beaufort Group sediments across the study area are extensively intruded and thermally metamorphosed (baked) by subhorizontal sills and steeply inclined dykes of the Karoo Dolerite Suite (Jd). These Early Jurassic (c. 183 Ma) basic intrusions were emplaced during crustal doming and stretching that preceded the break-up of Gondwana (Duncan and Marsh 2006). The hot dolerite magma baked adjacent Beaufort Group mudrocks and sandstones to form splintery hornfels and quartzites respectively. Blocky colluvium and corestones released by weathering and erosion of the dolerites blanket many mountain slopes, often obscuring the underlying fossiliferous Beaufort Group sediments.

Both the Adelaide and Tarkastad Subgroups of the Beaufort Group within the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg study area are extensively intruded by Early Jurassic dolerite sills and dykes of the Karoo Dolerite Suite. Excellent sections through major dolerite intrusions are seen close to the Orange River in the Gariep Dam area. Good examples of small scale dolerite intrusions are seen in numerous road cuttings along the R58 (e.g. Locs. 288, 296, 300, 305, 306, 307, 311, 318) (Figures 32, 34 & 35). Columnar-jointed dolerite is exposed on the eastern outskirts of Venterstad (Figure 36). The sedimentary bedrocks adjacent to dolerite intrusions are usually baked to dark, flinty hornfels and pale quartzite (Locs. 291, 305, 314; Figure 33) which dominate local colluvial gravels. Deep chemical weathering of larger dolerite bodies has produced considerable thicknesses (several meters) of friable saprolite, often termed sabunga in the Eastern Cape, which is well-exposed in quarries developed for road material (Locs. 302, 308; Figure 37). Sizeable dolerite-capped koppies are seen

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along the R58 c. 7 km ESE of Venterstad, near Janspoort as well as to the south of Dreunberg Substation. The hilly landscapes just to the west of the Suurbergspruit and adjacent to the Oviston Nature Reserve (Farm 264) are of geoheritage conservation interest for the spectacular ―ruined cityscapes‖ of weathered, well-jointed dolerite seen here (Loc. 347a, Figure 38).

Figure 32: Grey-green beds of the upper Balfour Formation cut by a small vertical dolerite dyke, R58 road cutting (Loc. 300) (Hammer = 30 cm).

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Figure 33: Baked, tabular-bedded overbank sediments of the upper Balfour Formation in the vicinity of a dolerite dyke, R58 road cutting (Loc. 291) (Hammer = 30 cm).

Figure 34: Tabular-bedded sandstones and mudrocks of the Katberg Formation intruded by a steeply-dipping dolerite dyke, R58 road cutting near Murray’s Kop (Loc. 311).

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Figure 35: Pale, baked Katberg channel sandstones cut by a dark dolerite intrusion, R58 road cutting c. 3.7 km ESE of Venterstad (Loc. 306).

Figure 36: Columnar joining in a dolerite sill on the eastern outskirts of Venterstad.

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Figure 37: Deeply weathered dolerite saprolite (sabunga) exposed in a roadside quarry c. 2.45 km ESE of Venterstad (Loc. 308).

Figure 38: Scenically attractive “ruiniform” blocky weathering of a dolerite sill on Farm 264, c. 17.5 km west of Venterstad (Loc. 347a).

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(c) Late Caenozoic superficial deposits

Various types of superficial deposits (―drift‖) of Late Caenozoic (largely Quaternary to Recent) age occur widely throughout the Karoo region, including in the study area. They include pedocretes (e.g. calcretes or soil limestones), colluvial slope deposits (sandstone and dolerite scree, downwasted gravels etc), sheet wash, river channel alluvium and terrace gravels, as well as spring and pan sediments (Johnson & Keyser 1979, Le Roux & Keyser 1988, Cole et al., 2004, Partridge et al. 2006). Only the larger tracts of Quaternary to Recent alluvium overlying the Beaufort Group bedrock that are associated with the larger drainage courses feeding into the Orange River system to the north are shown on the 1: 250 000 geological maps. Recent fieldwork confirms that the levels of potentially fossiliferous bedrock outcrop versus superficial sediment cover within the study area are generally very low.

Several meter-thick successions of silty to gravelly alluvium of inferred Quaternary to Holocene age are well exposed by donga erosion within the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area. Good examples are seen along the Brakspruit to the south of Venterstad, near Tolkop and just north of the Alternative 3 route some 10 km to the SE of Venterstad (Farm 61, Locs. 326-332; Figures 39 to 42), on Farm 66 (Loc. 309; Figure 42), as well as along the Broekpoortspruit (Farm 108), c. 32 km NW of Burgersdorp (Locs. 312-313, 317; Figure 43). A thick nodular calcretised has developed within the superficial sediments in some areas and is exposed in occasional borrow pits, for example just south of the R58 and 400 m north of Alternative 1 on Groenefontein 87 (Loc. 290, Figure 44). Extensive, thin downwasted surface gravels are observed in flatter-lying areas. Colluvial rubble on steeper slopes is predominantly composed of angular clasts of sandstone, quartzite, hornfels or dolerite (Figures 46 & 47).

Figure 39: Extensive exposures of pale, calcretised older alluvium capped by younger, darker silty alluvium, donga area to the southwest of Tolkop, c. 10 km

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southeast of Venterstad (Loc. 327).

Figure 40: Thick deposits of semi-consolidated alluvium along a largely defunct watercourse to the southwest of Tolkop (Loc. 329).

Figure 41: Downwasted gravels within the donga area just southwest of Tolkop. The gravels include subfossil or mineralised bones and teeth associated with

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rich MSA and LSA stone artefact assemblages (Loc. 329).

Figure 42: Weathered Tarkastad Subgroup bedrocks (greyish, in foreground) overlain by alluvial gravels and then younger silty alluvium, donga eroded area on Uitzicht 66 (Loc. 309) (Hammer = 30 cm).

Figure 43: Extensive exposures of nodular calcretised older alluvium (foreground) overlain by less well-consolidated, darker younger silty alluvium

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(background) along the western banks of the Broekpoortspruit (Farm 106).

Figure 44: Silty alluvial soils secondarily cemented by nodular calcrete, borrow pit exposure on Groenefontein 87 (Loc. 290).

Figure 45: Gulley exposure through thick younger alluvium just SW of Keerom farmstead, Farm 264 (Loc. 326) (Hammer = 30 cm).

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Figure 46: Hill slopes of Tarkastad Subgroup rocks capped by dolerite and mantled by doleritic colluvium, just west of Ezelshoek Dam (Loc. 334).

Figure 47: Hill slopes mantled by colluvial gravels of hornfels (many anthropogenically flaked), Farm 64 just south of the R58 (Loc. 351).

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3.2 Palaeontology of the Study Area

A brief review of the fossil assemblages recorded from the various major geological formations that are represented within the broader Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area is given here, together with palaeontological data collected during the recent field assessment. A recent plot of Beaufort Group fossil sites recorded within the Main Karoo Basin by Nicolas (2007) shows a concentration of localities along the border between the Eastern Cape and the Free State (Figure 48 herein). This pattern probably reflects, at least in part, the higher levels of landscape denudation by river incision either side of the ancient Orange River. As a result, potentially fossiliferous bedrocks are often better exposed here.

Figure 48: Plot of known Beaufort Group fossil localities within the broader study area (red rectangle) along the northern margins of the Eastern Cape between Colesberg, Burgersdorp and Aliwal North (Modified from Nicolas 2007). A concentration of sites close to the Orange River in part reflects higher levels of bedrock exposure in this region due to protracted landscape denudation by stream erosion. Fossil taxa recorded from many of these sites are listed by Kitching (1977).

It is notable for the purposes of the present palaeontological impact study that since the late nineteenth century numerous scientifically important rock sections and Karoo vertebrate fossil localities from a number of Late Permian to Middle Triassic formations have been recognised either side of the Orange River between Colesberg, Burgersdorp and Aliwal North. These include, for example, one of the most informative fossiliferous sections across the Permo-Triassic mass extinction boundary in the Bethulie region, just north of the Gariep Dam (upper Adelaide Subgroup; e.g. Ward et al. 2000, Retallack et al. 2003, 2006, Smith & Botha 2005, Botha & Smith 2006, 2007, Gastaldo et al. 2009, and refs therein), several key fossil sites in the

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Katberg Formation between Aliwal North and the Gariep Dam (Neveling et al. 1999), and the rich Triassic vertebrate faunas of the Winnarsbaken and Burgersdorp areas (Burgersdorp Formation; Smith et al. 2002 and references therein). Many, but not the more recent, of these fossil localities are listed according to their assemblage zone by Kitching (1977). Among them are numerous sites within the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone near Oviston, Venterstad, Bethulie and Burgersdorp, as well as Cynognathus Assemblage Zone fossils near Aliwal North, Burgersdorp and Rouxville.

3.2.1 Fossils within the Adelaide Subgroup

The overall palaeontological sensitivity of the Beaufort Group sediments is high to very high (Almond et al. 2008). These continental sediments have yielded one of the richest fossil records of land-dwelling plants and animals of Permo-Triassic age anywhere in the world (MacRae 1999, Rubidge 2005, McCarthy & Rubidge 2005). Bones and teeth of Late Permian tetrapods have been collected in the Great Karoo region since at least the 1820s and this region remains a major focus of palaeontological research in South Africa.

Middle Permian to earliest Triassic vertebrate fossil assemblages of the lower Beaufort Group are dominated by a variety of small to large true reptiles and – more especially – by a wide range of therapsids. This last group of animals are also commonly, but misleadingly, known as ―mammal-like reptiles‖ or protomammals (e.g. Cluver 1978, Rubidge 1995, MacRae 1999). By far the most abundant group among the Late Permian therapsids are the dicynodonts, an extinct group of two-tusked herbivorous therapsids. Other important therapsid subgroups are the dinocephalians, gorgonopsians, therocephalians and cynodonts. Aquatic animals include large, crocodile-like temnospondyl amphibians and various primitive bony fish (palaeoniscoids).

A high proportion of the tetrapod (i.e. four-limbed, terrestrial vertebrate) fossils from the Beaufort Group are found within the overbank mudrocks. They are very commonly encased within calcrete or pedogenic limestone that often obscures their anatomy and makes such fossils difficult to recognise in the field, even for experienced palaeontologists (Smith 1993a, 1993b). Rarer fossil specimens preserved within the Beaufort Group sandstones are usually disarticulated and fragmentary due to extensive, pre-burial transport. Occasionally vertebrate fossils are found embedded within baked (thermally metamorphosed) mudrocks or hornfels in the vicinity of dolerite intrusions. However, such fossils are extremely difficult to prepare out in the laboratory and so are generally of limited scientific value.

Key studies on the taphonomy (pre-burial history) of Late Permian vertebrate remains in the Great Karoo have been carried out in the Beaufort West area and have yielded a wealth of fascinating data on Late Permian terrestrial wildlife and palaeoenvironments (e.g. Smith 1980, 1993a). Therapsid fossils are most abundant and best preserved (well-articulated) within muddy and silty overbank sediments deposited on the proximal floodplain (i.e. close to the river channel). Here they are often associated with scoured surfaces and mature palaeosols (ancient soils), these last indicated by abundant calcrete nodules. In the distal floodplain sediments, far from water courses, fossils are rarer and mostly disarticulated. Channel bank sediments usually contain few fossils, mostly disarticulated, but occasionally rich concentrations of calcrete-encrusted remains, some well-articulated, are found. These dense bone assemblages may have accumulated in swale fills or chute channels which served as persistent water holes after floods (Smith 1993a). Such detailed interdisciplinary field studies re-emphasise how essential it is that fossil

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collecting be undertaken by experienced professionals with a good grasp of relevant sedimentology as well as palaeontology, lest invaluable scientific data be lost in the process.

Plant fossils in the lower Beaufort Group are poorly represented and often very fragmentary (cf. Anderson & Anderson 1985, dealing primarily with material from the eastern Karoo Basin, Gastaldo et al. 2005, dealing with Permo-Triassic boundary floras in the Main Karoo Basin). They belong to the Glossopteris Flora that is typical of Permian Gondwana and include reedy sphenophytes or ―horsetails‖ (Arthrophyta, now recognised as a fern subgroup) and distinctive tongue-shaped leaves of the primitive, tree-sized gymnosperm Glossopteris. Well-preserved petrified wood (―Dadoxylon‖) occurs widely and may prove of biostratigraphic and palaeoecological value in future (e.g. Bamford 1999, 2004) Elongate plant root casts or rhizoliths are frequently found associated with calcrete nodule horizons. Transported plant debris preserved within channel sandstones is often associated with secondary iron (―koffieklip‖) and uranium mineralization (Cole & Smith 2008 and refs. therein).

Mid to Late Permian invertebrate fossils from the western Karoo Basin comprise almost exclusively relatively featureless, thin-shelled freshwater bivalves, while fairly low diversity insect faunas are recorded from plant-rich horizons further east. The most prominent vertebrate trace fossils in the Lower Beaufort Group are well- preserved tetrapod trackways attributed to various groups of reptiles and therapsids (Smith 1993a), as well as substantial, inclined to helical scratch burrows that were probably constructed by smaller therapsids as an adaptation to the highly seasonal, and occasionally extreme, continental climates at high palaeolatitudes of 60-70º S. (Smith 1987). Invertebrate trace fossils from the Karoo National Park at Beaufort West include the locally abundant scratch burrows of the ichnogenus Scoyenia that are generally attributed to infaunal arthropods such as insects or even earthworms. Diverse freshwater ichnofaunas (trace fossil assemblages) with trails, burrows and trackways generated by fish, snails, arthropods, worms and other animals have been recorded by Smith (1993a, Smith & Almond 1998).

A chronological series of mappable fossil biozones or assemblage zones (AZ), defined mainly on their characteristic tetrapod faunas, has been established for the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa (Rubidge 1995, 2005) (Figure 9). Maps showing the distribution of the Beaufort assemblage zones within the Main Karoo Basin have been provided by Kitching (1977), Keyser and Smith (1977-78) and Rubidge (1995, 2005). An updated version based on a comprehensive GIS fossil database has recently been published (Nicolas 2007, Van der Walt et al. 2010).

Three successive Late Permian to Early Triassic assemblage zones are represented within the Adelaide Subgroup outcrop area within the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area. These are the Cistecephalus, Dicynodon and Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zones. The last of these plays a more important role in the lowermost Tarkastad Subgroup (Katberg Formation) and is therefore treated in Section 3.2.2 below. According the most recent Karoo Supergroup biozone map (Van der Walt et al. 2010), only a small portion of the study region - at Ruigtevallei and immediately to the south - is assigned to the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone. The outcrop area of the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone is also very narrow on the southwestern side of the Gariep Dam, while palaeontologically important exposures are found just north of the Orange River around Bethulie (Figure 49).

As a consequence of their proximity to large dolerite intrusions, the Beaufort Group sediments have often been thermally metamorphosed or ―baked‖ (ie. recrystallised, impregnated with secondary minerals). Embedded fossil material of phosphatic

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composition, such as bones and teeth, is frequently altered by baking and may be very difficult to extract from the hard matrix by mechanical preparation (Smith & Keyser, p. 23 in Rubidge 1995). Thermal metamorphism by dolerite intrusions therefore tends to reduce the palaeontological heritage potential of Beaufort Group sediments.

Figure 49: Extract from the latest fossil biozonation map for the Main Karoo Basin (Van der Walt et al. 2010) showing the approximate location of the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg transmission line study area (red rectangle). The biozones represented here include the Cistecephalus (purple), Dicynodon (blue), Lystrosaurus (pale green) and Cynognathus (dark green) Assemblage Zones. Current biostratigraphical research will modify the assemblage zone boundaries in detail.

(a) The Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone

The following major fossil groups have been recorded within the Late Permian (Lopingian / Wuchiapingian) Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of the Main Karoo Basin (Keyser & Smith 1977-78, Anderson & Anderson 1985, Hill 1993, Smith & Keyser 1995b, MacRae 1999, Cole et al., 2004, Almond et al. 2008, Nicolas & Rubidge 2010):  isolated petrified bones as well as rare articulated skeletons of terrestrial vertebrates such as true reptiles (notably the large herbivorous Pareiasaurus and small insectivorous owenettids) and therapsids or ―mammal-like reptiles‖ (e.g. diverse herbivorous dicynodonts such as Cistecephalus, Diictodon and Oudenodon, rare flesh-eating gorgonopsians like Gorgonops and Prorubidgea, and insectivorous therocephalians such as Ictidosuchoides) (Figure 50)  aquatic vertebrates such as large temnospondyl amphibians (Rhinesuchus, usually disarticulated), and palaeoniscoid bony fish (Atherstonia, Namaichthys, often represented by scattered scales rather than intact fish)  freshwater bivalves (Palaeomutela)  trace fossils such as worm, arthropod and tetrapod burrows and trackways, coprolites (fossil droppings)

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 vascular plant remains including leaves, twigs, roots and petrified woods (―Dadoxylon‖) of the Glossopteris Flora (usually sparse, fragmentary), especially glossopterid trees and arthrophytes (horsetails).

This biota is very well represented in fossil collections in South Africa. Many of the fossil specimens have been found along the Great Escarpment Zone (Nicolas & Rubidge 2009). The best preserved tetrapod fossils are usually found within overbank mudrocks, whereas fossils preserved within channel sandstones tend to be fragmentary and water-worn (Smith & Keyser 1995b). Many fossils are preserved within calcrete nodules in association with ancient soils (palaeosol horizons). The small burrowing dicynodont Cistecephalus occurs in great abundance towards the top of the biozone in the southern Karoo.

No fossils were seen in extensive road cuttings through Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone sediments in the vicinity of the Gariep Dam (Loc. 341; Figure 10).

Figure 50: Skulls of characteristic fossil vertebrates from the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone (From Keyser & Smith 1977-78). Pareiasaurus, a large herbivore, and Owenetta, a small insectivore, are true reptiles. The remainder are therapsids or “mammal-like reptiles”. Of these, Gorgonops and Dinogorgon are large flesh-eating gorgonopsians, Ictidosuchoides is an insectivorous therocephalian, while the remainder are small – to large-bodied herbivorous dicynodonts.

(b) The Dicynodon Assemblage Zone

A narrow zone of Lower Beaufort sediments close to the Katberg sandstone contact to the southwest of the Gariep Dam can be assigned to the Balfour Formation, the greater part of is characterised by Late Permian fossil biotas of the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone. This biozone has been assigned to the Changhsingian Stage (= Late Tartarian) right at the end of the Permian Period, with an approximate age range of 253.8-251.4 million years (Rubidge 1995, 2005). Good accounts, with detailed faunal lists, of the fossil biotas of the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone have been given

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by Kitching (in Rubidge 1995) and by Cole et al. (2004). See also the reviews by Cluver (1978), MacRae (1999), McCarthy & Rubidge (2005) and Almond et al. (2008) as well as recent papers on Permo-Triassic boundary tetrapod faunas of the Main Karoo Basin by Smith and Botha (2005) as well as Botha and Smith (2006, 2007). In general, the following broad categories of fossils might be expected within the Balfour Formation near the Gariep Dam:

 isolated petrified bones as well as articulated skeletons of terrestrial vertebrates such as true reptiles (notably large pareiasaurs, small millerettids) and therapsids (diverse dicynodonts such as Dicynodon and the much smaller Diictodon, gorgonopsians, therocephalians such as Theriognathus, primitive cynodonts like Procynosuchus, and biarmosuchians) (See Figure 51 herein);  aquatic vertebrates such as large temnospondyl amphibians like Rhinesuchus (usually disarticulated), and palaeoniscoid bony fish (Atherstonia, Namaichthys);  freshwater bivalves;  trace fossils such as worm, arthropod and tetrapod burrows and trackways, coprolites;  vascular plant remains including leaves, twigs, roots and petrified woods (―Dadoxylon‖) of the Glossopteris Flora (usually sparse, fragmentary), especially glossopterids and arthrophytes (horsetails).

From a palaeontological viewpoint, these diverse Dicynodon Assemblage Zone biotas are of extraordinary interest in that they provide some of the best available evidence for the last flowering of ecologically-complex terrestrial ecosystems immediately preceding the catastrophic end-Permian mass extinction (e.g. Smith & Ward, 2001, Rubidge 2005, Retallack et al., 2006, Smith & Botha 2005, Botha & Smith 2006, 2007).

As far as the biostratigraphically important tetrapod remains are concerned, the best fossil material is generally found within overbank mudrocks, whereas fossils preserved within channel sandstones tend to be fragmentary and water-worn (Rubidge 1995, Smith 1993). Many fossils are found in association with ancient soils (palaeosol horizons) that can usually be recognised by bedding-parallel concentrations of calcrete nodules. The abundance and variety of fossils within the Dicynodon Assemblage Zone decreases towards the top of the succession (Cole et al., 2004).

Good hill slope exposures of probable Dicynodon Assemblage Zone rocks were examined on Farm Knypfontein 89, 2.5 km west of the Alternative 1 line (Loc. 320, Figure 11), but no vertebrate fossil were observed here. A sizeable dicynodont skull was recorded within a small borrow pit c. 120 m SW of the Alternative 3 line and just south of the Suurbergspruit (upper Balfour Formation, Farm Keerom 55) (Loc. 344, Figure 52). Thin sandstone beds (possibly crevasse splays) contain narrow horizontal burrows of the Scoyenia ichnofacies that is normally associated with intermittently damp substrates along the banks of water bodies such as playa lakes and rivers (Loc. 342, Figure 54).

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Figure 51: Skulls of key therapsids (“mammal-like reptiles”) from the Late Permian Dicynodon Assemblage Zone: the dicynodont Dicynodon and the therocephalian Theriognathus (From Kitching in Rubidge 1995).

Farm 255 on the southern side of the Gariep Dam, c. 20 km SE of the dam wall, is traversed by the Alternative 1 line and is of high geological as well as palaeontological sensitivity. The area between the R58 are the sandstone plateau to the south is highly fossiliferous, with abundant vertebrate remains assigned to the Dicynodon and Lystrosaurus Assemblage zones (Baberkrans to Palingkloof Members of the Balfour Formation). Most of the fossil remains observed are from surface float, weathered and associated with ferruginous calcrete nodules. The excellent gulley, hill slope and escarpment bedrock exposures here are of considerable scientific research interest since they preserve an important record of geological and palaeobiological events across the Permo-Triassic boundary (c. 251.4 million years ago) when the Earth’s biota experienced a catastrophic mass extinction. These rocks and fossils, assigned to the Elandsberg and Palingkloof Members of the Balfour Formation as well as to the overlying Katberg Formation, are the subject of an ongoing research project based at Wits University, Johannesburg. Skulls of latest Permian therapsids (large Dicynodon plus Lystrosaurus maccaigi) as well as earliest Triassic L. declivis have recently been recorded here from the Elandsberg Member (upper Balfour Formation) and Katberg Formation respectively (Ms Pia Viglietti & Dr Mike Day, pers. comm., May 2014) (cf Botha & Smith 2007). Disarticulated postcranial fossil bone material and isolated tusks are locally abundant (Figures 55 & 56), with rarer fossil skulls (Figure 57). The Alternative 4 southern diversion from the Alternative 1 transmission line route here is therefore much preferred on paleontological heritage grounds (Figure 81).

A several meter – thick zone of hackly-weathering, laminated, purple-brown mudrocks with occasional thin sandstone interbeds exposed in a road cutting, just NW of Gelykfontein farmstead (Loc. 301, Figure 17) may belong to the upper Balfour

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Formation (possibly the Palingkloof Member) or alternatively represent a mudrock interval within the Katberg Formation. The cross-bedded pale greenish-grey sandstones beneath contain vertical burrows of c. 1 cm diameter, including possible oblique Katbergia (Figure 58), as well as much thinner, closely-spaced tubular strructures with a parallel, vertical orientation (Figure 59).

Figure 52: Inverted skull of a medium-sized dicynodont showing an articulated lower jaw and two large canine tusks, borrow pit within Balfour Formation near Suurbergspruit on Farm Keerom 55 (Loc. 344) (Scale in mm and cm).

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Figure 53: Balfour Formation channel breccia containing sparse clasts of rolled fossil bone, boundary between Keerom 55 and Toekoms 65 (Loc. 346) (Scale in cm).

Figure 54: Thin-bedded sandstones of the Balfour Formation with cylindrical burrows of the ichnogenus Scoyenia, Keerom Farm 55 (Loc. 342) (Scale in cm).

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Figure 55: Disarticulated, fragmentary postcranial bones collected as float from the Palingkloof Member (Balfour Formation), Farm 255 (Loc. 323b) (Scale in cm).

Figure 56: Isolated large dicynodont tusk, surface float on Palingkloof Member (Balfour Formation), Farm 255 (Loc. 323a) (Specimen is c. 5 cm long).

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Figure 57: Incomplete skull roof and snout of Lystrosaurus viewed from the right side and preserved within a ferruginous carbonate concretion, Palingkloof Member, Farm 255 (Loc. 324) (Scale in cm).

Figure 58: Oblique subcylindrical burrows (possibly Katbergia) from a channel sandstone within the Palingkloof Member (or possibly the Katberg Formation), R58 road cutting (Loc. 301) (Scale in cm and mm).

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Figure 59: Closely-spaced, fine tubular structures permeating a sandstone bed of the Palingkloof Member (or possibly the Katberg Formation), R58 road cutting (Loc. 301) (Scale in cm).

3.2.2 Fossils within the Tarkastad Subgroup

Both the Katberg and Burgersdorp Formations of the Main Karoo Basin have yielded important Triassic continental fossil assemblages, including a range of vertebrates, plants and trace fossils. These biotas are of special palaeontological significance in that they document the recovery phase of terrestrial ecosystems on Gondwana following the catastrophic end-Permian Mass Extinction of 251.4 million years ago (e.g. Benton 2003, Smith & Botha 2005, Botha & Smith 2007 and refs. therein). They also provide interesting insights into the adaptations and taphonomy of terrestrial animals and plants during a particularly stressful, arid phase of Earth history in the Early Triassic.

The biostratigraphy of the Early–Mid Triassic sediments of the Karoo Supergroup (Tarkastad Subgroup) has been the focus of considerable palaeontological research in recent years, and the subdivision of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone into three subunits has been proposed by several authors (See Hancox et al., 1995, Hancox 2000, Neveling et al., 2005, Rubidge 2005, Abdala et al. 2005, and refs therein). Recent research has also emphasized the rapidity of faunal turnover during the transition between the sandstone-dominated Katberg Formation (Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone) and the overlying mudrock-dominated Burgersdorp Formation (Neveling et al., 1999, 2005). In the proximal (southern) part of the basin the abrupt faunal turnover occurs in the uppermost sandstones of the Katberg Formation and the lowermost sandstones of the Burgersdorp Formation (ibid., p.83 and Neveling 2004). This recent work shows that the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone correlates with the entire Burgersdorp Formation; previous authors had proposed that the lowermost

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Burgersdorp beds belonged to the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (e.g. Keyser & Smith 1977-78, Johnson & Hiller 1990, Kitching 1995).

(a) Fossils in the Katberg Formation

The Katberg Formation is known to host a low-diversity but palaeontologically important terrestrial fossil biota of Early Triassic (Scythian / Induan - Early Olenekian) age, i.e. around 250 million years old (Groenewald & Kitching 1995, Rubidge 2005). Useful illustrated accounts of Katberg fossils are given by Kitching (1977), Keyser and Smith (1977-1978), Groenewald and Kitching (1995), MacRae (1999), Hancox (2000), Smith et al. (2002), Cole et al. (2004), Rubidge (2005 plus refs therein) and Damiani et al. (2003a), Botha and Smith (2005, 2007) as well as Smith and Botha (2005), among others.

The biota is dominated by a small range of therapsids (―mammal-like reptiles‖), amphibians and other tetrapods, with rare vascular plants and trace fossils, and has been assigned to the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (LAZ). This impoverished fossil assemblage characterizes Early Triassic successions of the upper part of the Palingkloof Member (Adelaide Subgroup, Balfour Formation) as well as the Katberg Formation and - according to some earlier authors – the lowermost Burgersdorp Formations of the Tarkstad Subgroup. It should also be noted that the dicynodont Lystrosaurus has now been recorded from the uppermost beds of the Latest Permian Dicynodon Assemblage Zone but only becomes super-abundant in Early Triassic times (e.g. Smith & Botha 2005, Botha & Smith 2007 and refs. therein).

Key tetrapods in the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone biota are various species of the medium-sized, shovel-snouted dicynodont Lystrosaurus, which constitute by far the commonest fossil forms in this biozone, contributing up to 95% of fossils found, the small captorhinid parareptile Procolophon, the crocodile-like early archosaur Proterosuchus, and a wide range of small to large armour-plated ―labyrinthodont‖ amphibians such as Lydekkerina (Figure 60). Grine et al. (2006) have differentiated the various Lystrosaurus species present while Botha and Smith (2007) have charted the ranges of several discrete Lystrosaurus species either side of the Permo-Triassic boundary. Also present in the LAZ are several genera of small-bodied true reptiles (e.g. owenettids), therocephalians, and early cynodonts (e.g. Galesaurus, Thrinaxodon). Animal burrows are attributable to various aquatic and land-living invertebrates, including arthropods (e.g. Scoyenia scratch burrows), as well as several subgroups of fossorial tetrapods such as cynodonts, procolophonids and even Lystrosaurus itself (e.g. Groenewald 1991, Damiani et al. 2003b, Abdala et al. 2006, Modesto & Brink 2010, Bordy et al. 2009, 2011). Vascular plant fossils are generally rare and include petrified wood (―Dadoxylon‖) as well as leaves of glossopterid progymnosperms and arthrophyte ferns (Schizoneura, Phyllotheca). An important, albeit poorly-preserved, basal Katberg palaeoflora has recently been documented from the Noupoort area (Carlton Heights) by Gastaldo et al. (2005). Plant taxa here include sphenopsid axes, dispersed fern pinnules and possible peltasperm (seed fern) reproductive structures. Pebbles of reworked silicified wood of possible post-Devonian age occur within the Katberg sandstones (Hiller & Stavrakis 1980). Between typical fossil assemblages of the Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus Assemblage Zones lies a possible Procolophon Acme Zone characterized by abundant material of procolophonids and of the amphibian Kestrosaurus but lacking both Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus (Hancox 2000 and refs. therein).

Most Katberg vertebrate fossils are found in the mudrock facies rather than channel sandstones. Articulated skeletons enclosed by calcareous pedogenic nodules are

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locally common, while intact procolophonids, dicynodonts and cynodonts have been recorded from burrow infills (Groenewald and Kitching, 1995). Fragmentary rolled bone is found in the intraformational conglomerates at the base of some the channel sandstones.

Figure 60: Skulls of two key tetrapod genera from the Early Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of the Main Karoo Basin: the pig-sized dicynodont Lystrosaurus (A) and the small primitive reptile Procolophon (B) (From Groenewald and Kitching, 1995).

The Katberg sandstones in the study area contain low diversity trace fossils such as locally common, oblique invertebrate burrows (Katbergia) of possible crustacean origin (Gastaldo & Rolerson 2008, Bordy et al. 2011) (e.g. Loc. 303, Figure 67). Float blocks of thin-bedded sandstones contain low diversity Scoyenia burrows of probable insect origin (Farm Uitzicht 66, Loc. 309, Figure 68). Concentrations of reworked possible bony scutes / scales and bone fragments occur within thin channel breccias (Loc. 303, Figure 66).

Several skulls as well as associated articulated postcranial remains of the medium- sized dicynodont Lystrosaurus were recorded within or outside large vertebrate burrows in thermally altered riverbank exposures of the Katberg Formation along the eastern banks of the Broekpoortspruit (Farm 108), c. 32 km NW of Burgersdorp and some 350 m north of the Alternative 1 route (Locs. 315-316; Figures 61 to 65). Some of the individuals are quite small, and may therefore represent juveniles. Some of the burrows are infilled with angular intraclasts of sandstone, presumably stabilised by early diagenetic carbonate cement. The Katberg succession here shows extensive development of pedogenic calcrete and desiccation cracks, suggesting an arid depositional environment. Articulated remains of burrowing Lystrosaurus within large scratch burrows have been previously reported by Groenewald (1991) and Retallack et al. (2003) from the Katberg Formation and are discussed further by Bordy et al.

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(2011). Indistinct horizontal epichnial burrows are also seen at the Broekpoortspruit locality.

Probable tetrapod trackways - most likely made by therapsids, perhaps Lystrosaurus itself - were recorded in a small streambed exposure of the Katberg Formation on an east bank tributary of the Brakspruit, c. 6 km south of Venterstad (Wildebeeste Valley 59) (Loc. 339; Figures 69 & 70). The tracks are of a small-bodied animal and more than one individual was probably responsible, walking along the crest of an emergent sand bar within a river channel.

Figure 61: Large burrow structure containing the semi-articulated skeletons of at least two small lystrosaurids, exposure of baked Katberg Formation on the east bank of the Broekpoortspruit, Farm 108 (Loc. 315) (Hammer = 30 cm).

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Figure 62: Detail of articulated Lystrosaurus skull and postcrania seen at the left hand end of the burrow infill in the previous figure (Scale in cm).

Figure 63: Detail of skull (dorsal view) of Lystrosaurus seen at the right hand end of the burrow infill in the Figure 61 (Scale in cm and mm).

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Figure 64: Skull of Lystrosaurus in dorsal view, not obviously associated with a burrow infill, Katberg Formation, Farm 108 (Loc. 316)(Scale in cm).

Figure 65: Probable large vertebrate burrow infilled with angular intraclasts of laminated sandstone (possibly calcretised before transport), Katberg Formation, Farm 108 (Loc. 314) (Hammer = 30 cm).

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Figure 66: Channel lag infill from the Katberg Formation containing comminuted bone, possible scutes, R58 road cutting 4.7 km west of Venterstad (Loc. 303) (Lenticle above hammer in Figure 21).

Figure 67: Oblique invertebrate burrows of the ichnogenus Katbergia, R58 road cutting 4.7 km west of Venterstad (Loc. 303). The burrows are c. 1 cm wide.

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Figure 68: Float blocks from the Katberg Formation showing Scoyenia ichnofacies trace fossils (Loc. 309) (Scale in cm).

Figure 69: Probable tetrapod trackway along the crest of an emergent sand bar, Katberg Fm, stream bed on Wildebeeste Valley 59, c. 6 km south of Venterstad (Loc. 339).

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Figure 70: Detail of the trackway shown in the previous figure, possibly made by Lystrosaurus (Hammer = 30 cm).

(b) Fossils in the Burgersdorp Formation

The Burgersdorp Formation is characterized by a diverse continental fossil biota of Early to Middle Triassic (Olenekian to Anisian) age, some 249 to 237 milllion years old (Kitching 1995, Rubidge 2005, Neveling et al. 2005). The Burgersdorp fauna is dominated by a wide variety of tetrapod taxa, notably a range of amphibians, reptiles and therapsids (―mammal-like reptiles‖). This distinctive biota is referred to the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (= Kannemeyeria – Diademodon Assemblage Zone of earlier authors; see Keyser & Smith 1977-78, Kitching 1995). Comparable Triassic faunas have been described from various parts of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, including Russia, China, India, Argentina, Australia and Antarctica.

Useful accounts of the palaeontological heritage of this stratigraphic unit – which has recently being recognised as one of the richest Early-Mid Triassic biotas worldwide – are given by Kitching (1977, 1995), Keyser and Smith (1977-78), MacRae (1999), Hancox (2000; see also many references therein), Cole et al. (2004) and Rubidge (2005). The Burgersdorp biotas include a rich freshwater vertebrate fauna, with a range of fish groups (e.g. sharks, lungfish, coelacanths, ray-finned bony fish such as palaeoniscoids) as well as large capitosaurid and trematosuchid amphibians. The latter are of considerable important for long-range biostratigraphic correlation. The interesting reptile fauna includes lizard-like sphenodontids, beaked rhynchosaurs, and various primitive archosaurs (distant relatives of the dinosaurs) such as the crocodile- like erythrosuchids, some of which reached body lengths of 5m, as well as the more gracile Euparkeria (Figure 71). The therapsid fauna contains large herbivorous dicynodonts like Kannemeyeria (Figure 72), which may have lived in herds, plus several small to medium-sized carnivorous or herbivorous therocephalians (e.g.

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Bauria) and advanced cynodonts. The most famous cynodont here is probably the powerful-jawed genus Cynognathus (Figure 72), but remains of the omnivorous Diademodon are much commoner. Tetrapods are also represented by several fossil trackways while large Cruziana–like burrow systems with coarsely scratched ventral walls are attributed to burrowing vertebrates (cf Shone 1978). Locally abundant vertebrate burrows have been attributed to small procolophonid reptiles (Groenewald et al. 2001). Important new studies on lacustrine biotas in the northern Burgersdorp outcrop area have yielded rich microvertebrate faunas as well as vertebrate coprolites; sites such as Driefontein in the Free State are now among the best- documented non-marine occurrences of Early Triassic age anywhere in the world (Bender & Hancox 2003, 2004, Hancox et al. 2010, Ortiz et al. 2010 and refs. therein).

Figure 71: Reconstruction of the small (c. 0.5m long) bipedal reptile Euparkeria, a primitive member of the archosaur group from which dinosaurs evolved later in the Triassic Period.

Contemporary invertebrate faunas are still very poorly known. Freshwater unionoid molluscs are rare, while the chitinous exoskeletons of the once-abundant terrestrial arthropods do not preserve well in the highly oxidising arid-climate sediments found here; arthropod trace fossils are known but so far no fossil insects. Likewise fossil plants of the characteristic Triassic Dicroidium Flora are poorly represented and low in diversity. They include lycophytes (club mosses), ferns (including horsetails such as Schizoneura), ―seed ferns‖ (e.g. Dicroidium) and several gymnospermous groups (conifers, ginkgos, cycads etc) (Anderson & Anderson, 1985, Bamford 2004). A small range of silicified gymnospermous fossil woods are also present including Agathoxylon, Podocarpoxylon and Mesembrioxylon (Bamford 1999, 2004).

According to Kitching (1963, 1995) isolated, dispersed fossil bones, as well as some well-articulated skeletons, are associated with ―thin localised lenses of silty sandstone‖ within the Burgersdorp Formation. Pedogenic, brown-weathering calcrete concretions occasionally contain complete fossil skeletons, while transported ―rolled‖ bone is associated with intraformational conglomeratic facies at the base of channel sandstones. Fossil diversity decreases upwards through the succession. Complete tetrapod specimens are commoner lower down and amphibian remains higher up (Kitching 1995).

No fossil remains were observed within the Burgersdorp Formation during the present Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg field assessment. It was not possible to gain access to the Winnaarsbaken area to the south of the R58 (locked gates) for comparative purposes. This area - which is known for vertebrate fossils such as the therapsids Kannemeyeria, Cynognathus, Bauria from the Early Triassic Cynognathus

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Assemblage Zone (Kitching 1977, p. 106 and refs. therein) - lies well to the south of the transmission line study area, however.

Figure 72. Reconstruction of typical therapsids of the Early Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone - the large tusked herbivorous dicynodont Kannemeyeria and the predatory, bear-sized cynodont Cynognathus. The inset shows the heavily-built skull of Cynognathus (c. 30cm long) in lateral view.

(c) Fossils in the Karoo Dolerite Suite

Dolerite outcrops within the study area are in themselves of no palaeontological significance since these are high temperature igneous rocks emplaced at depth within the Earth’s crust. However, as a consequence of their proximity to large dolerite intrusions in the Great Escarpment zone the adjacent Lower Beaufort Group sediments have often been thermally metamorphosed or ―baked‖ (i.e. recrystallised, impregnated with secondary minerals) (Figure 33). Embedded fossil material of phosphatic composition, such as bones and teeth, was frequently altered by baking. Bones may become blackened and they can be very difficult to extract from the hard matrix by mechanical preparation (Smith & Keyser 1995b). Thermal metamorphism by dolerite intrusions therefore tends to reduce the palaeontological heritage potential of adjacent Beaufort Group sediments.

(d) Fossils in Late Caenozoic superficial sediments

The Karoo ―drift‖ deposits have been comparatively neglected in palaeontological terms for the most part. However, they may occasionally contain important fossil biotas, notably the bones, teeth and horn cores of mammals (e.g. Pleistocene mammal faunas at Florisbad, Cornelia and Erfkroon, Free State and elsewhere; Wells & Cooke 1942, Cooke 1974, Skead 1980, Klein 1984, Brink, J.S. 1987, Bousman et

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al. 1988, Bender & Brink 1992, Brink et al. 1995, MacRae 1999, Churchill et al. 2000 Partridge & Scott 2000) including skeletal remains of early humans (Grine et al. 2007). Other late Caenozoic fossil biotas from these superficial deposits include non- marine molluscs (bivalves, gastropods), ostrich egg shells, trace fossils (e.g. calcretised termitaria, coprolites), and plant remains such as palynomorphs in organic-rich alluvial horizons (Scott 2000) and diatoms in pan sediments.

Thick, calcretised older alluvium present along the major drainage courses (some largely defunct) contains sporadic fossil or subfossil teeth and bones of (so far unidentified) mammals, variously weathered or mineralised, in association with rich Middle and Later Stone Age stone artefacts. Potentially identifiable and scientifically interesting mammalian remains were seen, for example, on Uitzicht 66 (Loc. 309; Figure 77), along the Broekpoortspruit (Farm 106, Locs. 312-313, 317; Figures 73, 74 & 76) as well as near Tolkop (Farm 61; Figure 75). The younger, unconsolidated silty alluvium also contains mammal skeletal remains, but in many cases it is unclear whether or not these are of Recent provenance. Calcretised plant roots (rhizoliths) and various invertebrate burrows are locally abundant within the older calcretised alluvium (e.g. Loc. 329; Figures 78 & 79). Surface gravels and colluvial rubble are usually of low palaeontological sensitivity, although they may contain downwasted and reworked fossil bones, teeth and petrified woods, and no fossil remains within these contexts were recorded during the present field study.

Figure 73: Unidentified, mineralised mammalian teeth embedded in partially calcretised older alluvium (possibly Quaternary) along the Broekpoortspruit, Farm 106, c. 32 km NW of Burgersdorp (Loc. 313). The larger specimen is c. 4 cm across.

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Figure 74: Mineralised mammalian bone fragments weathered out from older semi-calcretised alluvium at the same locality as the previous figure (Loc. 313).

Figure 75: Unidentified mammalian tooth weathering out from older alluvial deposits near Tolkop, c. 10 km to the SE of Venterstad (Farm 61) (Loc. 330) (Scale in cm and mm).

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Figure 76: Mammalian skull remains (possibly subfossil) weathering out of younger silty alluvium, eastern bank of Broekpoortspruit (Loc. 317) (Scale in cm).

Figure 77: Unmineralised, porous mammalian bone fragments exposed on surface of older calcretised alluvium, Uitzicht 66 (Loc. 309) (Scale in cm).

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Figure 78: Calcretised rhizoliths and / or invertebrate burrows weathering out from older alluvial deposits near Tolkop, c. 10 km to the SE of Venterstad (Farm 61) (Loc. 329) (Scale in cm).

Figure 79: Calcretised small invertebrate burrows weathering out from older alluvial deposits near Tolkop, c. 10 km to the SE of Venterstad (Farm 61) (Loc. 330) (Scale in cm and mm).

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4 IMPACTS IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT

4.1 Introduction

Anticipated impacts on palaeontological heritage resources for each of the four transmission line alternative routes are assessed and compared here according to the system developed by GIBB.

4.2 Identification of Impacts

The proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line study area in the Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, is underlain by sedimentary bedrocks of Permo-Triassic age that have yielded scientifically important fossil remains - notably of terrestrial vertebrates and trace fossils – both in the past as well as during the present field study. In most areas the bedrocks are mantled by much younger sediments (alluvium, scree, calcrete, soils etc) of Quaternary and younger age that are for the most part sparsely fossiliferous but which may contain important fossil heritage locally (Section 3.2). Fossil heritage preserved in the bedrock and superficial sediments is vulnerable to damage or destruction when the ground surface is disturbed or when excavations are made into the subsurface.

4.2.1 Construction phase

The construction phase of the proposed 132 kV powerline entails (a) numerous small excavations into the superficial sediment cover, and locally into the underlying bedrock as well, for the pylon footings (Figure 80) as well as (b) disturbance of the ground surface along any new gravel access roads. These developments may adversely affect potential fossil heritage within the study area by damaging, destroying, disturbing or permanently sealing-in fossils preserved at or beneath the surface of the ground that are then no longer available for scientific research or other public good.

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Figure 80: One of the newly-constructed electrical pylons for the 132 kV transmission line project (here near Janspoort) showing the small footprint of the pylon footing. In the case of most pylon positions within the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg study area it is anticipated that the excavated material will mainly comprise palaeontologically insensitive superficial deposits (e.g. soil, alluvium).

4.2.2 Operational phase

The operational phase of the new 132 kV transmission line is unlikely to involve significant adverse impacts on local palaeontological heritage.

4.2.3 Decommissioning phase

The decommissioning phase of the new 132 kV transmission line is unlikely to involve significant adverse impacts on local palaeontological heritage.

4.2.4 Cumulative Impacts

In the absence of data on other existing or proposed powerline developments, as well as other possible infrastructure developments, in the Ruigtevallei - Dreunberg study area it is not possible to comment on cumulative impacts for these projects.

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It is noted that a Phase 1 Archaeological and Heritage Impact Assessment by Cobus Dreyer (March 2014) has recently been submitted to SAHRA for the Skatek Solar PTY (Ltd) PV solar project on Portion 6 of the farm Nooitgedacht 129 which is currently under construction adjacent to Dreunberg substation. No information is available to the author as to whether the Phase 1 HIA report covers potential impacts on local palaeotological heritage within the Burgersdorp Formation and superficial sediments.

4.3 Potential Mitigation Measures

Specialist palaeontological mitigation normally involves recording and judicious sampling of fossil remains at or near-surface, within or close to the development footprint, by a suitably qualified professional palaeontologist during the pre- construction and / or construction phases. Relevant contextual information including stratigraphic, sedimentological and taphonomic data are also recorded. Recommendations are made concerning any necessary monitoring or mitigation measures for the construction phase of the development.

Where specialist palaeontological monitoring is recommended, this would normally focus on a representative sample of the more substantial excavations made into potentially fossiliferous bedrock and / or superficial sediments during the construction phase (e.g. excavations for pylon footings, new access roads). New fossil finds would be protected, recorded (together with relevant geological and palaeobiological data) and sampled. Where appropriate, further specific protective measures (e.g. definition of no-go areas or buffer zones around fossil sites) would be recommended on the basis of this work.

The palaeontologist concerned with mitigation work would need a valid fossil collection permit from SAHRA and to arrange for an accredited palaeontological repository (e.g. museum, university) to accept and curate the fossil material collected. All work would have to conform to international best practice for palaeontological fieldwork and the study (e.g. data recording fossil collection and curation, final report) should adhere to the minimum standards for Phase 2 palaeontological studies published by SAHRA (2013).

Where potentially fossiliferous rocks are present within the development area, the Environmental Control Officer (ECO) responsible for the powerline project should be made aware of the possibility of important fossils being present or unearthed on site, as illustrated in this report, and should regularly monitor all substantial excavations into superficial sediments as well as fresh (i.e. unweathered) sedimentary bedrock for fossil remains.

In the case of any significant fossil finds made by the ECO or by others during construction, these should be

 safeguarded - preferably in situ - by stopping work in the immediate vicinity and fencing off the area with tape to prevent further access; and

 reported by the ECO as soon as possible to the relevant heritage management authority, ECPHRA i.e. The Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (Contact details: Mr Sello Mokhanya, 74 Alexander

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Road, King Williams Town 5600; [email protected]) so that appropriate mitigation by a palaeontological specialist can be considered.  A qualified palaeontological specialist should be appointed to inspect, record and (if warranted) sample or collect the fossil remains, at the developer’s expense.  Any further mitigation measures proposed by the palaeontologist should be implemented.  Work should be allowed to resume only once clearance is given in writing by the relevant authorities.

4.4 Impact Assessment Methodology

The key impact anticipated as a consequence of the proposed powerline development is the disturbance, damage, destruction or sealing-in of fossil remains (e.g. vertebrate bones, teeth, trace fossils, petrified wood or other plant material) that are exposed at the ground surface or buried beneath it.

The anticipated impacts on fossil heritage related to the 132 kV transmission line project can be evaluated in general terms as follows (See also the table in Section 4.5.1. below for evaluation of impacts associated with each transmission line route alternative):

Nature: Most impacts on fossil heritage as a result of development are negative. However, they may be offset by positive impacts such as increased understanding of local geology and palaeontology due to the creation of new exposures of fresh, unweathered bedrock (e.g. road cuttings) or a result of specialist palaeontological mitigation (recording and collection of fossil remains).

Extent: Impacts on fossil heritage are usually confined to the development footprint (site-specific), i.e. they are of low extent.

Duration: Impacts on fossil heritage are generally permanent, i.e. of high duration.

Intensity: In the present case, impacts within the Dreunberg – Ruigtevallei study are generally rated as of low intensity because (1) fossil remains are usually sparse within the bedrocks as well as the superficial sediment cover, and (2) the scale of excavations (pylon footings, access roads) is small related to the size of the area and the volume of potentially fossiliferous sediment available subsurface (Figure 80). Local impact intensity is rated as medium in the case of a few, relatively small palaeontologically sensitive areas such as the escarpment slopes on Farm 255 and water courses with extensive exposure of calcretised older alluvium (e.g. Broekpoortspruit).

Degree of reversibility: Impacts on fossil heritage are generally irreversible (high).

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Potential for impact on irreplaceable resources: Given the large outcrop areas of the fossiliferous rock units (formations etc) represented within the study area, the fossil heritage here is generally not considered to be irreplaceable. However, highly informative fossil sites such as those present on Farm 255 and along the Broekpoortspruit are rare and difficult to replicate. It is concluded that for most of the study area the fossil resources that may be impacted can usually be replaced (low potential), but in a few cases, such as the example given above, they can only be replaced with effort (medium potential).

Consequence: This is generally rated as medium.

Probability: Impacts on fossil heritage within the study area are inevitable (high probability), given the number of excavations for pylon footings entailed with this project.

Significance: The overall impact significance of the present project is rated as medium, especially should rare, sensitive fossil sites be degraded.

4.5 Impact Assessment – Proposed Development

Anticipated impacts on fossil heritage for each of the four transmission line route alternatives are assessed below in tabular form for both ―pre‖ and ―post‖ mitigation.

Only impacts during the construction phase are assessed here, since significant additional impacts on fossil heritage resources during the operational and decommissioning phases are not anticipated.

Note that the impact significance for all four transmission line route alternatives is rated as similar (medium) during the construction phase. However, this significance rating is probably inflated because impacts on fossil heritage, however modest, are of permanent duration and high probability.

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4.5.1 Construction Phase: assessment of impacts on palaeontological heritage

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4.5.2 Construction Phase Impacts and Mitigation Measures

The key impact anticipated as a consequence of the proposed powerline development is the disturbance, damage, destruction or sealing-in of fossil remains (e.g. vertebrate bones, teeth, trace fossils, petrified wood or other plant material) that are exposed at the ground surface or buried beneath it.

Impacts on fossil heritage preserved within bedrocks and fossil heritage preserved within superficial sediments (principally ancient alluvium) are treated separately in the table presented in Section 4.5.1 because they tend to occur in different portions of the study area. In both cases, the mitigation measures required are the same.

Pending the discovery of significant new fossil remains during the construction phase, specialist palaeontological mitigation is not considered necessary in the case of route alternatives 2, 3 and 4.

Should route alternative 1 be approved, however, pre-construction mitigation by a suitably qualified professional palaeontologist as already outlined in Section 4.3 above would be necessary within the palaeontologically sensitive area of Farm 225 outlined in red in Figure 81 below.

Mitigation measures to be undertaken by the ECO in the absence of a palaeontological specialist are also outlined in Section 4.3. These measures apply to any chance finds of fossil material during the construction phase.

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4.6 Impact Assessment - Alternatives

The anticipated impacts on local fossil heritage associated with each of the following transmission line development options are very briefly compared here.

4.6.1 No Go Option

The No Go Option would have a neutral impact on palaeontological heritage.

4.6.2 Alternative Powerline Routings

To recap, the following four alternative routings are currently being assessed for the 132 kV Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg powerline, as shown on the satellite map in Figure 6:

 Route alternative 1:

This was Eskom’s original preferred route, as assessed in the basic assessment. It is shown on Figure 6 as a solid blue line and is c. 80 km long. Substantial sections of route alternative 1 have already been constructed.

 Route alternative 2:

This was assessed during the basic assessment. It is c. 81.5 km long and is shown in Figure 6 as a pink line.

 Route alternative 3

This was the formally approved route, running alongside the existing 66 kV transmission line, with minor deviations. It is c. 85 km long and is shown in Figure 6 as a green line.

 Route alternative 4

This is Eskom’s currently preferred route. It follows the alternative 1 route for most of its length but entails important diversions that are shown in purple on Figure 6.

As anticipated in the original desktop palaeontological heritage assessment for this powerline project (Almond 2011), there are almost no substantial differences in impact significance between the four transmission line route options (Section 4.5.1). This is because all routes traverse very similar geology in terms of both the bedrocks and the superficial sediments concerned.

On Farm 225, located some 13 km WNW of Venterstad, route alternative 1 traverses bedrocks of high geological and palaeontological significance, spanning the Permo- Triassic boundary (Figure 81). Highly fossiliferous bedrock exposures occur here on both sides of the R58, and especially on the southern side of the road. Any further disturbance of this sensitive area related to powerline construction may have significant negative impacts on both geoheritage and fossil heritage (principally bones and teeth of fossil mammal-like reptiles). There is therefore a marked preference on

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palaeontological grounds for following a more southerly route in this area, as proposed on other grounds for route alternative 4.

There is no preference on palaeontological heritage grounds for the proposed southern diversion (route alternative 4) just to the west of Venterstad over the more northerly route taken by alternative 1 here.

A small area of baked Katberg Formation bedrocks exposed along the eastern banks of the Broekspoortspruit is of high palaeontological sensitivity due to the vertebrate fossils preserved here within large burrows (Figure 82). This area is highly sensitive but should not be directly impacted by development along either route options 3 or 4 that run well to the north and south respectively.

All four alternative routes cross several active or largely defunct water courses that are associated with thick but narrow deposits of semi-consolidated older alluvium of probable Quaternary age. The main examples are the Suurbergspruit, Brakspruit, Brandspruit, Broekpoortspruit and Palmietspruit (These are indicated on Figure 3). Where exposed by donga (gulley) erosion these deposits often show up as pale patches on satellite images because they are cemented by pedogenic limestone (calcrete). These deposits contain sparse but valuable fossil heritage, including mammalian bones and teeth, and are therefore palaeontologically sensitive. Route alternative 4 avoids a potentially sensitive zone of alluvium on Farm 225 that is crossed by route alternative 1 (Figure 81). Route alternative 4 is likely to have a slightly larger impact on older alluvium along the Broekspoortspruit than alternative 2 that skirts the most sensitive area to the north (Figure 82). Route alternative 3 crosses a larger number of significant water courses than the various more northerly route alternatives (See Figure 3) and therefore has a greater potential impact on fossiliferous alluvial deposits. However, the number of pylon positions situated directly over older alluvium is likely to be minimal in the case of all route options, and significant impacts are not expected here.

There remains a small overall preference on palaeontological grounds for route alternative 3, despite its slightly greater length and slightly higher potential impact on older alluvial deposits. This is because it avoids the most palaeontologically sensitive areas identified during this field study (i.e. Farm 225 and Broekpoortspruit close to the R58) and, furthermore, fewer new access roads would be required here.

None of the four route alternatives are fatally flawed in terms of potential impacts on fossil heritage. Significant additional impacts associated with deconstructing the partially built sectors of route alternative 1 are not expected since these areas are already disturbed.

Levels of confidence for this palaeontological assessment are moderate, given the generally low levels of bedrock exposure within the study area.

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Figure 81: Google earth© satellite image of the Farm 225 area c. 13 km WNW of Venterstad. The red dotted area is of high geoheritage and palaeontological heritage sensitivity (Permo-Triassic boundary fossil biotas). The yellow dotted area is underlain by potentially sensitive alluvium. Transmission line route options are colour coded as in Figure 6.

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Figure 82: Google earth© satellite image of the Broekpoortspruit area, c. 16.3 km WSW of Dreunberg. The yellow dotted area is underlain by palaeontologically sensitive older alluvium (pale due to secondary calcrete development). The small red dotted area emphasises the small outcrop area of baked Katberg Formation rocks containing important fossil vertebrate burrows. Transmission line route options are colour coded as in Figure 6.

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5 MONITORING PROGRAMME

No specialist palaeontological monitoring is considered necessary for this transmission line project. Where potentially fossiliferous rocks are present within the development area, the Environmental Control Officer (ECO) responsible for the powerline project should be made aware of the possibility of important fossils being present or unearthed on site, as illustrated in this report, and should regularly monitor all substantial excavations into superficial sediments as well as fresh (i.e. unweathered) sedimentary bedrock for fossil remains.

In the case of any significant fossil finds made by the ECO or by others during construction, these should be

 safeguarded - preferably in situ - by stopping work in the immediate vicinity and fencing off the area with tape to prevent further access; and  reported by the ECO as soon as possible to the relevant heritage management authority, ECPHRA i.e. The Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (Contact details: Mr Sello Mokhanya, 74 Alexander Road, King Williams Town 5600; [email protected]) so that appropriate mitigation by a palaeontological specialist can be considered.  A qualified palaeontological specialist should be appointed to inspect, record and (if warranted) sample or collect the fossil remains, at the developer’s expense.  Any further mitigation measures proposed by the palaeontologist should be implemented.  Work should be allowed to resume only once clearance is given in writing by the relevant authorities.

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6 CONCLUSIONS

None of the four route alternatives are fatally flawed in terms of potential impacts on fossil heritage. Significant additional impacts associated with deconstructing the partially built sectors of route alternative 1 are not expected since these areas are already disturbed.

There are almost no substantial differences in impact significance between the four transmission line route options. This is because all routes traverse very similar geology in terms of both the bedrocks and the superficial sediments concerned. The palaeontological impact significance for all four transmission line route alternatives is rated as medium during the construction phase. However, this significance rating is probably inflated because impacts on fossil heritage, however modest, are of permanent duration and high probability. It is noted that the footprint of the individual transmission line pylons is small. No significant additional impacts are anticipated during the operational or decommissioning phases of the powerline development.

Pending the discovery of significant new fossil remains during the construction phase, specialist palaeontological mitigation is not considered necessary in the case of route alternatives 2, 3 and 4. Should route alternative 1 be approved, however, pre-construction mitigation by a suitably qualified professional palaeontologist, as outlined in Section 4.3 of this report, would be necessary within the palaeontologically sensitive area of Farm 225 outlined in red in Figure 81 herein. The palaeontologist concerned with mitigation work will need a valid fossil collection permit from SAHRA and to arrange for an accredited palaeontological repository (e.g. museum, university) to accept and curate the fossil material collected. All work would have to conform to international best practice for palaeontological fieldwork and the study (e.g. data recording fossil collection and curation, final report) should adhere to the minimum standards for Phase 2 palaeontological studies published by SAHRA (2013).

There is a small overall preference on palaeontological heritage grounds for route alternative 3, despite its slightly greater length and slightly higher potential impact on older alluvial deposits. This is because it avoids the most palaeontologically sensitive areas identified during this field study (i.e. Farm 225 and Broekpoortspruit close to the R58) and fewer new access roads would be required here.

Levels of confidence for this palaeontological assessment are moderate, given the generally low levels of bedrock exposure within the study area.

No specialist palaeontological monitoring is considered necessary for this transmission line project. Where potentially fossiliferous rocks are present within the development area, the Environmental Control Officer (ECO) should regularly monitor all substantial excavations into superficial sediments as well as fresh (i.e. unweathered) sedimentary bedrock for fossil remains. In the case of any significant fossil finds made by the ECO or by others during construction, these should be

• safeguarded - preferably in situ - by stopping work in the immediate vicinity and fencing off the area with tape to prevent further access; and

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• reported by the ECO as soon as possible to the relevant heritage management authority, ECPHRA i.e. The Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority (Contact details: Mr Sello Mokhanya, 74 Alexander Road, King Williams Town 5600; [email protected]) so that appropriate mitigation by a palaeontological specialist can be considered. • A qualified palaeontological specialist should be appointed to inspect, record and (if warranted) sample or collect the fossil remains, at the developer’s expense. • Any further mitigation measures proposed by the palaeontologist should be implemented. • Work should be allowed to resume only once clearance is given in writing by the relevant authorities.

These recommendations should be incorporated into the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg powerline project.

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7 REFERENCES

ABDALA, F., HANCOX, P.J. & NEVELING, J. 2005. Cynodonts from the uppermost Burgersdorp Formation, South Africa, and their bearing on the biostratigraphy and correlation of the Triassic Cynognathus Assemblage Zone. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25, 192-199.

ABDALA, F., CISNEROS, J.C. & SMITH, R.M.H. 2006. Faunal aggregation in the Early Triassic Karoo Basin: earliest evidence of shelter-sharing behaviour among tetrapods. Palaios 21, 507-512.

ALMOND, J.E. 2011. Proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line, Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape. Palaeontological specialist study: desktop assessment, 34 pp. Natura Viva cc, Cape Town.

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1 Almond, J.E. 2011. Proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line, Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Palaeontological Specialist Study: Desktop Assessment, 34 pp. Natura Viva cc, Cape Town. 2 SAHRA 2013. Minimum standards: palaeontological component of heritage impact assessment reports, 15 pp. South African Heritage Resources Agency, Cape Town. 3 Contact details for SAHRA: Mrs Colette Scheermeyer, P.O. Box 4637, Cape Town 8000. Tel: 021 462 4502. Email: [email protected]) 4 Almond, J.E. 2011. Proposed Ruigtevallei – Dreunberg 132 kV transmission line, Gariep Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Palaeontological Specialist Study: Desktop Assessment, 34 pp. Natura Viva cc, Cape Town.

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APPENDIX 1: RUIGTEVALLEI - DREUNBERG LOCALITY DATA

All GPS readings were taken in the field using a hand-held Garmin GPSmap 62sc instrument. The datum used is WGS 84. Only those localities mentioned by number in the text are listed here (Data collected 14 to 18 May 2014)

Locality South Comments number 287 S30 41 46.4 E25 31 57.3 Viewpoint along existing transmission line HN of R58 from near Dundee farmstead 288 E25 32 25.1 E25 32 25.1 Dolerite road cutting along R58 289 S30 42 52.9 E25 33 00.1 Viewpoint along existing transmission line to south of R58 290 S30 44 32.1 E25 34 54.4 Calcrete borrow pit just south of the R58 and 400 m north of Alternative 1 on Groenefontein 87 291 S30 44 49.9 E25 36 32.9 Baked Balfour Fm hornfels and quartzite, R58 road cutting. Surface gravels in area rich in hornfels (some flaked) 292 S30 44 49.1 E25 36 42.3 Channel sandstones and overbank mudrocks of Balfour Fm, R58 road cutting 293 S30 44 34.9 E25 38 24.9 Distant views of Permo-Triassic boundary beds on Farm 255 from the west. Calcretised alluvium in road cuttings. 294 S30 44 31.0 E25 38 44.7 Purple-brown and grey-green overbank mudrocks with ferruginous calcrete nodules of Balfour Fm, cut by dolerite dyke, Farm 255. 295 S30 44 27.4 E25 39 08.3 Viewpoint south towards Katberg escarpment and Balfour Fm in foothills on Farm 255 296 S30 44 23.4 E25 39 30.5 Balfour Fm cut by vertical dolerite dyke, Farm 255 297 S30 44 16.6 E25 40 05.8 Viewpoint south towards Katberg escarpment and Balfour Fm in foothills on Farm 255 298 S30 44 10.8 E25 40 43.0 Viewpoint south towards Katberg escarpment and Balfour Fm in foothills on Farm 255 299 S30 44 13.4 E25 41 02.6 Prominent krans (1397 m) on Katberg escarpment, Farm 255 300 S30 45 12.6 E25 42 36.3 Balfour Fm cut be vertical dyke, R58 road cutting. Doleritic colluvial gravels.Katberg sandstone and dolerites build koppies to the south. 301 S30 45 16.5 E25 42 44.3 Upper Balfour Fm (possibly Palingkloof Member) purple-brown mudrocks, R58 road cutting. Associated cross-bedded sandstones with low diversity trace fossil assemblages, including possible Katbergia and narrow vertical tubules. 302 S30 46 38.7 E25 44 28.4 Weathered dolerite on Wildebeest Valley 59, close to Keerom turnoff from R58 303 S30 46 35.2 E25 44 59.2 Informative road cutting along R58 through Katberg Fm sandstones and grey-green overbank mudrocks. Oblique trace fossils Katbergia. Breccia lenticle with bone fragments / scutes. 4.7 km west of Venterstad, farm Wildebeeste Valley 304 S30 46 43.2 E25 48 16.4 Dolerite sill on eastern edge of Venterstad showing columnar jointing 305 S30 48 06.2 E25 51 53.1 Dolerite dyke and adjacent baked Katberg country rocks, R58 road cutting, Karee Fountain 50. Good sections through thick Katberg channel sandstones. 306 S30 47 13.4 E25 50 12.5 Clear intrusive contact between Karoo dolerite and Katberg Fm, excellent exposures for Katberg sedimentology in R58 road cuttings. 307 S30 37 40.0 E25 30 22.3 Sections through major dolerite intrusive bodies at the Gariep Dam lower viewpoint. 308 S30 47 05.6 E25 49 28.4 Quarry into deeply-weathered dolerite (sabunga), 2.45 km ESE of Venterstad

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309 S30 48 26.3 E25 53 28.9 Donga erosion into older alluvium south of R58, Uitzicht 66, c. 94 km ESE of Venterstad. Sparse subfossil mammalian bones at surface plus float blcks of sandstone with Scoyenia trace fossils. 310 S30 48 33.7 E25 55 13.0 Viewpoint to SE from R58 showing probable Burgersdorp Fm succession (interbedded sandstones and reddish mudrocks) capped by dolerite on Ezels Hoek 65 311 S30 48 45.5 E25 56 37.3 Katberg Fm sandstones intruded by dolerite, road R58 cutting just southwest of Murray’s Kop, Farm 112. 312 S30 51 08.0 E26 01 53.0 Extensive donga exposures of alluvium along the Broekpoortspruit, N of R58, Farm 106. 313 S30 50 59.3 E26 01 49.7 Sparse mammalian bones and teeth embedded in calcretised older alluvium (Quaternary?) and silty younger alluvium (Holocene?), Broekpoortspruit, N of R58, Farm 106, c. 32 km NW of Burgersdorp. 314 S30 51 04.0 E26 01 53.2 Good exposures of baked Upper Beaufort Group (Katberg) sediments along eastern bank of Broekpoortspruit, N of R58, Farm 108, c. 32 km NW of Burgersdorp. 315 S30 51 06.5 E26 01 54.3 Large vertebrate burrows within Katberg Fm, Broekpoortspruit, containing Lystrosaurus skulls and postcrania. 316 S30 51 07.3 E26 01 54.6 Lystrosaurus skull and isolated postcrania, Broekpoortspruit. 317 S30 51 08.0 E26 01 54.9 Subfossil mammalian remains (jawbone teeth etc) within younger silty alluvium, Broekpoortspruit. 318 S30 52 10.7 E26 07 40.8 Dolerite road cutting, Janspoort. 319 S30 52 36.5 E26 08 29.1 R58 road cutting through channel sandstone of the Burgersdorp Fm c. 2 km ESE east of Janspoort. 320 S30 41 22.4 E25 30 34.8 Good hillslope exposures of Balfour Fm sandstones and mudrocks SW of Dundee farmstead on Knypfontein 89, 1.4 km SW of R58 (c. 7.3 km S of Gariep Dam). Sparse trace fossils (possible Scoyenia) on wave rippled sandstone bed tops. 321 S30 44 39.1 E25 39 22.3 Excellent hillslope exposures of upper Balfour Fm sediments on Farm 255 (Schalkwykskraal), south of the R58, c. 20 km SE of the Gariep Dam wall. Isolated fragments of postcranial bones of medium-sized tetrapods in float, often weathered and associated with ferruginous calcrete nodules. 322 S30 44 42.4 E25 39 25.1 Isolated postcranial bones in float, upper Balfour Fm, Farm 255. 323a S30 44 45,1 E25 39 24.85 Isolated large dicynodont tusk in float, upper Balfour Fm, Farm 255. 323b S30 44 46.4 E25 39 24.8 Collection of weathered therapsid postcrania on hill crest made by previous palaeontologist. Large dicynodont tusk. Upper Balfour Fm, Farm 255. 324 S30 44 47.5 E25 39 28.0 Snout of Lystrosaurus skull within ferruginous nodule. Upper Balfour Fm, Farm 255. 325 S30 48 03.7 E25 41 51.3 Gulley exposure through thick younger alluvium SW of Keerom farmstead, Farm 264. 326 S30 49 50.6 E25 50 14.9 Donga exposures of older alluvium near Tweekoppies farmstead, c. 7 km SE of Venterstad. 327 S30 51 21.3 E25 51 01.7 Excellent, extensive exposures of calcretised older alluvium as well as younger silty alluvium and alluvial gravels in stream bed to SW of Tolkop, c. 10 km to the SE of Venterstad (Farm 61). Calcretised rhizoliths and invertebrate burrows, downwasted Quaternary or younger mammal bones and teeth associated with rich concentrations of MSA and LSA artefacts (mainly hornfels). 328 S30 51 18.7 E25 50 55.3 Reddish-brown semi-consolidated alluvium with calcrete veins, capped by coarse younger alluvial gravels, donga area near Tolkop, Farm 61.

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329 S30 51 16.6 E25 50 52.6 Donga exposures near Tolkop, Farm 61. Calcretised rhizoliths and invertebrate burrows, downwasted Quaternary or younger mammal bones and teeth associated with rich concentrations of MSA and LSA artefacts (mainly hornfels). 330 S30 51 16.1 E25 50 52.7 Mammalian tooth within calcretised alluvium, associated with MSA hornfels artefacts, calcretised invertebrate burrows, donga exposures near Tolkop, Farm 61. 332 S30 51 19.5 E25 50 59.9 Subfossil, sun-cracked mammalian bone within younger alluvium, near buildings at Tolkop, Farm 61. 333 S30 51 59.3 E25 53 41.9 KatbergFm outcrop area, west of Ezelshoek Dam, Ezels Hoek 65. Silty alluvium and dolerite surface gravels in vlaktes. 334 S30 51 42.5 E25 54 28.4 Hillslopes on Katberg Fm mantled with doleritic colluvium. Small exposures of sandstones and reddish mudrocks. Views down existing transmission line to the west. 334a S30 48 21.06 E25 56 56.31 Excellent hill slope exposures of Katberg Fm beds on N slopes of Murray’s Kop, Farm 112, c. 14. 7 km ESE of Venterstad . 335 S30 50 53.8 E26 02 45.4 Views eastwards (from minor road from R58 to Wasbank) towards low koppie of ? Katberg or Burgersdorp Fm, 2.65 km west of Roodepoort farmstead. 336 S30 50 48.0 E26 05 46.0 Low stepped koppies of ? Burgersdorp Fm, mantled in colluvium, Farm 274, c. 1.75 km NE of Roodepoort farmstead. 337 S30 49 50.0 E25 47 22.6 Streambed exposure of the Katberg Formation, east bank tributary of the Brakspruit, c. 6 km south of Venterstad (Wildebeeste Valley 59). 339 S30 49 49.1 E25 47 20.1 Probable tetrapod trackway along crest of sand bar, Katberg Fm, stream bed on Wildebeeste Valley 59. 340 S30 49 48.5 E25 47 20.0 Large sphaeroidal concretions of ferruginous carbonate, Katberg Fm, stream bed on Wildebeeste Valley 59. 341 S30 36 29.3 E25 30 02.6 Road cuttings through Balfour Fm (Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone) near Gariep Dam wall. 342 S30 49 35.1 E25 36 52.6 Exposures of Balfour Fm bedrocks along farm track, c. 1 km SSW of Keerom farmstead, Farm 55, c. 18.4 km SW of Venterstad. Scoyenia ichnofacies trace fossil assemblages. 343 S30 49 37.4 E25 36 52.7 Small borrow pit exposure of grey-green Balfour Formation mudrocks and thin sandstones. 344 S30 49 37.3 E25 36 53.1 Isolated skull of medium-sized dicynodont. Inverted with articulated L. jaw. 345 S30 47 52.9 E25 37 29.0 Balfour Fm sandstone hill slope exposures, Keerom 55. 346 S30 47 49.8 E25 37 54.8 Shallow stream bed exposure of Balfour Formation channel breccias with reworked clasts of fossil bone, along boundary fence between Keerom 55 and Toekoms 65. 347 S30 48 04.2 E25 37 40.9 Stream gulley and hill slope exposure of Balfour Fm mudrocks, sandstones, plus colluvial gravels, Keerom 55, c. 2 km NE of old farmstead. 347a S30 45 13.71 E25 13.83 Spectacular and scenic weathering of dolerite intrusion (―ruined city‖), Farm 264, 17.5 km west of Venterstad and c. 0.5 km east of large farm dam. 348 S30 46 30.5 E25 36 54.6 Good hill slope exposure of Balfour Formation near weir across the Suurbergspruit, Farm 264. Rare post-cranial bone fragments. 349 S30 46 49.88 E25 38 22.50 Gullied colluvial deposits overlying Balfour Fm bedrocks, Farm 264. 350 S30 46 28.1 E25 38 49.1 Pale grey, baked Balfour Fm sandstones near dolerite intrusion, Farm 64. 351 S30 45 09.6 E25 36 55.3 Stream bed exposure of Balfour Fm showing large-scale tabular foresets , overlain by hornfels colluvial gravels, 0.7 km south of R58, Farm 64.

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