Cape Peninsula Geology 2002


Three Anchor Bay, between Green Point and Sea Point on the Cape Town Atlantic coast. Malmesbury Group metasediments (interbedded greywacke sandstone and shale)	Malmesbury Group metasediments consisting of turbititic greywacke sandstones and shales	Lion's Head, overlooking Sea Point. Basal strata of the Cape Supergroup unconformably overlying Cape Granite	Sea Point Contact. Cape Granite (left) intrudes and mixes with the Malmesbury Group metasediments (right)

Sea Point Contact. Mixed contact zone (migmatites) between the Cape Granite and the Malmesbury Group metasediments	Chapman's Peak from Hout Bay. The Cape Granite is uncomformably overlain by the Cape Supergroup (Graafwater Formation)	Chapman's Peak unconformity from Hout Bay. Cape Granite forms the basement to the Cape Supergroup	Chapman's Peak unconformity from Hout Bay. Cape Granite overlain by basal strata of the Cape Supregroup and cut by a dolerite dyke

Approaching Seal Island and its reef of granite extending out into Hout Bay from below the Sentinel cliffs	View across Hout Bay of the Chapman's Peak unconformity with Seal Island in the foreground	Dolerite dyke cutting the Cape Granite at Froggy Pond, False Bay coast	Contact between the chilled dolerite dyke and the Cape Granite, Froggy Pond, False Bay coast

Inspection of a xenolith-rich zone in the Cape Granite, Froggy Pond, False Bay coast	Quartzitic metasedimentary xenolith within the Cape Granite, Froggy Pond, False Bay coast	View from the top of the Wolfgat Cliffs along the False Bay coastline towards Strand	Shell-rich sandy limestone of the estuarine Veldrif Formation, overlying a dark buried soil horizon, Swartklip, False Bay


View across Table Bay from Blouberg Strand towards Table Mountain	Tightly folded greywacke sandstone and shale strata of the Malmesbury Group, Blouberg Strand	Inspection of the Yzerfontein Gabbro	Phase layering in the Yzerfontein gabbro, caused by variation in plagioclase and pyroxene

Melanocratic gabbro rich in dark pyroxene and lesser plagioclase	Leucocratic gabbro, Yzerfontein	Pegmatitic patch of feldspar and amphibole within the melanocratic gabbro, Yzerfontein	Porphyritic pyroxene diorite, Yzerfontein

Pink granite vein cutting the Yzerfontein diorite, Die Eiland	Pink granite vein containing numerous gabbro and diorite xenoliths, Die Eiland, Yzerfontein	Large scale dune bedding exposed in Kraal Bay, Langebaan lagoon	Class photo at the Preekstoel, a detached stack built of partly consolidated dune sand, Kraal Bay, Langebaan Lagoon

Download a high resolution group photo (note: 7.5Mb!!!)	Climbing exercise on the Preekstoel, Kraal Bay, Langebaan Lagoon	Climbing exercise on the Preekstoel, Kraal Bay, Langebaan Lagoon	View of the upper reaches of the Langebaan Lagoon from the summit of Seeberg

View from Hoedjies Punt across Saldanha Bay to the Saldanha Steel Works	Dark outcrops of the Saldanha Quartz Porphyry at Hoedjies Punt	Quartz and feldspar phenocrysts typify the Saldanha Quartz Porphyry	Assembled ranks in the Bomgat, a sea cave eroded into the contact between the basement granites and Pleistocene cover [High Res Image: 8Mb]

Contact between Vredenburg Granite (G3) and the Cape Columbine Granite (G4)	Assembly beneath a granite tor at Cape Columbine	Mafic dyke cutting the Cape Columbine granite	Langebaan Fossil Park. Excavated pavement of Pliocene mammalian fossils

Seive tables enable the isolation of the fossil remains of small animals. Langebaan Fossil Park	Careful attention to sifted remains of small mammalian and amphibian fossils	Interrupted during an under the table encounter. Langebaan Fossil Park	Tiny fossil leg bone of a Pliocene frog, Langebaan Fossil park

Fossil remains of small amphibians and mammals. Langebaan Fossil Park	Sheer cliffs of Nardouw sandstone overlook the Pakhuis Pass	Large scale glacial grooves developed in soft sediment at the base of the Pakhuis Tillite Formation, Pakhuis Pass	Finely laminated shales littered with drop stones overly the glacial grooved pavement, Pakhuis Pass

Smaller scale glacial striations developed on grooved pavements at the base of the Pakhuis Tillite Formation, Pakhuis Pass	Impromptu cricket on the road to Wuppertal	Typical mesa topography developed in the Bokkeveld Group, Doringbos Valley	Drop stones protrude above the surface in outcrops of the Dwyka Tillite Formation, Nieuwoudtville

Closely spaced glacial grooves developed in soft sediment underlying the base of the Dwyka Tillite Formation, Oorlogskloof	Bulldozed structure in soft sediment formed by glacial grooving at the base of the Dwyka Tillite Formation, Oorlogskloof	View from the Gydo Pass across the Ceres basin to Michell's Peak and Waaihoek	Avid attention to the fossiliferous outcrops of Bokkeveld shale at Gydo Pass

Careful splitting of the Bokkeveld shale to reveal the fossils hidden within, Gydo Pass	Success in revealing a fossil within the fragments of Bokkeveld shale, Gydo Pass	Near prefect preservation of a Trilobite fossil in the Bokkeveld shale, Gydo Pass	Complete shell structure of a Brachiopod is displayed on this surface of Bokkeveld shale, Gydo Pass

Complete shell structure of a Brachiopod is displayed on this surface of Bokkeveld shale, Gydo Pass	Bedding plane exposure of numerous Brachiopod shells and Crinoid stems	Bedding plane exposure of numerous Brachiopod shells and Crinoid stems	Phyllitic metasediments of the Malmesbury Group exposed below the rotated unconformity at Cogmans Kloof Pass

Rotated unconformity between the base of the Cape Supergroup (left) and phyllitic metasediments of the Malmesbury Group, Cogmans Kloof	Class of 2002 assembled in the base of the Cape Supergroup immediately above the unconformity with the Malmesbury Group, Cogmans Kloof [High Res Image: 5.9Mb]	High Res Image of Class 1 (5.2Mb)	High Res Image of Class 2 (7.5Mb)