In 1928 the Upper Campus was built on the Groote Schuur Estate bequeathed by Cecil John Rhodes. Constructed from local Table Mountain sandstone, the original buildings situated on University Avenue and Residence Road are now proclaimed national monuments, administered by the Rhodes Trust. Geology originally occupied the southern most building on the uphill side of the Avenue. New additions to the Upper Campus from 1960 have tended to depart somewhat from the original design and materials with the Louis Ahrens Wing next to Geology forming a 6-storey high rise, providing much needed laboratory space and research facilities for the Department of Geochemistry. Additional buildings extended the campus south along the Avenue, so that the area around Geology is now entirely built up. In 1993 the Department of Geological Sciences came into being via the merger of the Department of Mineralogy and Geology and the Department of Geochemistry.

The Department offers a broad range of courses including BSc, MSc and PhD programs in geological sciences. It has 10 academic staff members with typical postgraduate student numbers being 12-15 BSc(Hons) students, 20 MSc students and 15 PhD students.

The Headship of the Department is rotational and the current Head of Department is Associate Professor Steve Richardson.

Postal Address: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa

Physical (Courier) Address: Geological Sciences Building, 13 University Avenue, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa

Telephone: +27 21 650 2931

Fax: +27 21 650 3783

Email: sci-geology@uct.ac.za