V. Mapuranga, A. Kijko, I. Saunders, A. Singh, M. Singh, S. Zulu
On the 6th of February 2016 at 11:00 hours local time (0900 UTC), KwaZulu-Natal was struck by an earthquake of local magnitude ML=3.8. The epicentre of the earthquake was located offshore in the Durban Basin. The earthquake shaking was widely felt within the province as well as in East London in the Eastern Cape province and was reported by various national media outlets. Minor structural damage was reported. A macroseismic survey using questionnaires was conducted by the Council for Geoscience (CGS) in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) which yielded 41 intensity data points. Additional intensity data points were obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Did You Feel It? programme. An attempt was made to define a local intensity attenuation model. Generally, the earthquake was more strongly felt in low-cost housing neighbourhoods than in more affluent suburbs.
{"title":"Macroseismic survey of the 6 February 2016 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa earthquake","authors":"V. Mapuranga, A. Kijko, I. Saunders, A. Singh, M. Singh, S. Zulu","doi":"10.25131/sajg.125.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.125.0004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 On the 6th of February 2016 at 11:00 hours local time (0900 UTC), KwaZulu-Natal was struck by an earthquake of local magnitude ML=3.8. The epicentre of the earthquake was located offshore in the Durban Basin. The earthquake shaking was widely felt within the province as well as in East London in the Eastern Cape province and was reported by various national media outlets. Minor structural damage was reported. A macroseismic survey using questionnaires was conducted by the Council for Geoscience (CGS) in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) which yielded 41 intensity data points. Additional intensity data points were obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Did You Feel It? programme. An attempt was made to define a local intensity attenuation model. Generally, the earthquake was more strongly felt in low-cost housing neighbourhoods than in more affluent suburbs.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48442519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
High-resolution mapping, sampling and analysis of upper Quaternary southern African continental margin sediments recovered from beyond the Last Glacial Maximum shoreline (>130 m water depth) have expanded our understanding of how marine and terrestrial records are linked over glacial-interglacial climatic cycles. This paper synthesises data currently available from the deep seafloor around southern Africa and, specifically, core sites that demonstrate terrestrial sedimentological connectivity. Several proxies and case studies reveal the evolution of depositional systems, palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate over the last 191 kyr. Hydroacoustic mapping and investigations of submarine canyons have been carried out primarily on the eastern and southwestern margins, while palaeoceanographic productivity and microfossil assemblages have been applied most extensively on the western marine and southern Agulhas Bank. Studies on the western margin indicate that enhanced productivity, less oxygenated bottom waters and reduced marine faunal diversity in the transition to glacial periods, while glacial terminations are associated with reduced productivity and more oxygenated bottom waters. These changes, linked to palaeoceanography and late Quaternary sea-level fluctuations, influence the sedimentary record and sedimentation rates. On the eastern margin, sediment fluxes applied as proxies for rainfall offshore of the Great Kei, Umzimvubu, Limpopo and Zambezi rivers indicate that the southern African climate responds to changes in orbitally-modulated insolation and in particular, to the ~23 kyr precessional cycle, where the proxy records keep pace with this and then diverge at ~80 to 70 kyr. Since the penultimate glacial (Marine Isotope Stage/MIS 6), more humid conditions observed in southern Africa, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of rapid cooling, were potentially driven by a combination of warming in the Agulhas Current and shifts of the subtropical anticyclones. Broadly, the sedimentary records reviewed suggest fluctuations in climate and oceanographic circulation that are strongly correlated with the global benthic δ18O record, suggesting sensitivity to high-latitude forcing, and a strong influence of late Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles despite these marine sites being far-removed from terrestrial environments.
{"title":"Late Quaternary deep marine sediment records off southern Africa","authors":"H. Cawthra, E. Bergh, E. Wiles, J. Compton","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0059","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 High-resolution mapping, sampling and analysis of upper Quaternary southern African continental margin sediments recovered from beyond the Last Glacial Maximum shoreline (>130 m water depth) have expanded our understanding of how marine and terrestrial records are linked over glacial-interglacial climatic cycles. This paper synthesises data currently available from the deep seafloor around southern Africa and, specifically, core sites that demonstrate terrestrial sedimentological connectivity. Several proxies and case studies reveal the evolution of depositional systems, palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate over the last 191 kyr. Hydroacoustic mapping and investigations of submarine canyons have been carried out primarily on the eastern and southwestern margins, while palaeoceanographic productivity and microfossil assemblages have been applied most extensively on the western marine and southern Agulhas Bank. Studies on the western margin indicate that enhanced productivity, less oxygenated bottom waters and reduced marine faunal diversity in the transition to glacial periods, while glacial terminations are associated with reduced productivity and more oxygenated bottom waters. These changes, linked to palaeoceanography and late Quaternary sea-level fluctuations, influence the sedimentary record and sedimentation rates. On the eastern margin, sediment fluxes applied as proxies for rainfall offshore of the Great Kei, Umzimvubu, Limpopo and Zambezi rivers indicate that the southern African climate responds to changes in orbitally-modulated insolation and in particular, to the ~23 kyr precessional cycle, where the proxy records keep pace with this and then diverge at ~80 to 70 kyr. Since the penultimate glacial (Marine Isotope Stage/MIS 6), more humid conditions observed in southern Africa, as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of rapid cooling, were potentially driven by a combination of warming in the Agulhas Current and shifts of the subtropical anticyclones. Broadly, the sedimentary records reviewed suggest fluctuations in climate and oceanographic circulation that are strongly correlated with the global benthic δ18O record, suggesting sensitivity to high-latitude forcing, and a strong influence of late Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles despite these marine sites being far-removed from terrestrial environments.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43569765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although the lack of Late Quaternary pollen, phytolith and charcoal records for southern Africa has been bemoaned by many, there are a surprising number of publications by a relatively small group of researchers. Previous comprehensive reviews covered the research up to 2016 and 2018 so this paper only considers a selection of more recent studies, with a focus on the three types of botanical remains (pollen, phytoliths, micro- and macro-charcoal). The newer works use the traditional approaches of identification of vegetation and the use of modern analogues to reconstruct past climate and relate the results to other works and proxies. Sibudu Cave, with its long record and multi-proxy record is presented as a case study because the vegetation, climate and human behaviour are well integrated together. A more recent and general trend to provide emphasis on identifying climate driving forces and re-interpretation of data have a tendency to obscure the original sound research.
{"title":"Pollen, charcoal and phytolith records from the Late Quaternary of southern Africa: vegetation and climate interpretations","authors":"M. Bamford","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0060","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Although the lack of Late Quaternary pollen, phytolith and charcoal records for southern Africa has been bemoaned by many, there are a surprising number of publications by a relatively small group of researchers. Previous comprehensive reviews covered the research up to 2016 and 2018 so this paper only considers a selection of more recent studies, with a focus on the three types of botanical remains (pollen, phytoliths, micro- and macro-charcoal). The newer works use the traditional approaches of identification of vegetation and the use of modern analogues to reconstruct past climate and relate the results to other works and proxies. Sibudu Cave, with its long record and multi-proxy record is presented as a case study because the vegetation, climate and human behaviour are well integrated together. A more recent and general trend to provide emphasis on identifying climate driving forces and re-interpretation of data have a tendency to obscure the original sound research.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47133911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
South African river floodplains and their alluvial deposits reflect a diversity of geological and geographical drivers. We use a genetic geomorphic classification system originally developed for dryland wetlands to characterise geomorphic processes and potential successions of sedimentary fill for South African floodplains. Using case studies from the literature, we consider differences between alluvial rivers and mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers in the context of macro-scale geomorphic setting, and evaluate the impact of the setting on floodplain persistence and potential as a palaeo-environmental archive. Sedimentary facies associations represented in South African floodplains, including lateral and oblique accretion, channel, channel infill, levee vertical accretion, floodplain vertical accretion and debris flow deposits, are also evaluated. Floodplains of South Africa’s interior are typically mixed bedrock-alluvial as channel beds are set upon or close to bedrock and sediment thickness is limited. By contrast some floodplains in tectonic basin settings have sediment deposits exceeding 30 m in thickness. The resulting rivers are alluvial, and thus able to adjust their width, depth and slope to accommodate changes in discharge and sediment supply. Similarly, coastal floodplain rivers are alluvial due to downcutting during the last glacial maximum and subsequent sedimentary infilling as sea levels rose. When considering the potential of floodplains as palaeoarchives of environmental change, two considerations emerge. First, floodplain stratigraphy is not a response to a single variable due to complex process-form feedbacks. Rather, floodplain stratigraphy is an outcome of both autogenic and allogenic processes. Second, most South African floodplains are zones of sediment recycling, and as such, preservation potential is typically low. Thus, although floodplain settings of the interior may be a few million years old, the sediment within them may be only thousands to tens of thousands of years old. Our review indicates that research has historically focused on meandering river and mixed bedrock-alluvial anabranching river floodplains, while understanding of other floodplain sub-types remains limited.
{"title":"Characterising the late Quaternary facies stratigraphy of floodplains in South Africa","authors":"S. Grenfell, M. Grenfell","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0056","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 South African river floodplains and their alluvial deposits reflect a diversity of geological and geographical drivers. We use a genetic geomorphic classification system originally developed for dryland wetlands to characterise geomorphic processes and potential successions of sedimentary fill for South African floodplains. Using case studies from the literature, we consider differences between alluvial rivers and mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers in the context of macro-scale geomorphic setting, and evaluate the impact of the setting on floodplain persistence and potential as a palaeo-environmental archive. Sedimentary facies associations represented in South African floodplains, including lateral and oblique accretion, channel, channel infill, levee vertical accretion, floodplain vertical accretion and debris flow deposits, are also evaluated.\u0000 Floodplains of South Africa’s interior are typically mixed bedrock-alluvial as channel beds are set upon or close to bedrock and sediment thickness is limited. By contrast some floodplains in tectonic basin settings have sediment deposits exceeding 30 m in thickness. The resulting rivers are alluvial, and thus able to adjust their width, depth and slope to accommodate changes in discharge and sediment supply. Similarly, coastal floodplain rivers are alluvial due to downcutting during the last glacial maximum and subsequent sedimentary infilling as sea levels rose.\u0000 When considering the potential of floodplains as palaeoarchives of environmental change, two considerations emerge. First, floodplain stratigraphy is not a response to a single variable due to complex process-form feedbacks. Rather, floodplain stratigraphy is an outcome of both autogenic and allogenic processes. Second, most South African floodplains are zones of sediment recycling, and as such, preservation potential is typically low. Thus, although floodplain settings of the interior may be a few million years old, the sediment within them may be only thousands to tens of thousands of years old. Our review indicates that research has historically focused on meandering river and mixed bedrock-alluvial anabranching river floodplains, while understanding of other floodplain sub-types remains limited.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46634287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Analyses of faunal remains are a key means of inferring palaeoenvironmental change. In this paper, the use of faunal remains as a proxy for environmental conditions from Marine Isotope Stage 6 to the Holocene in southern Africa is reviewed. The focus of this review is on large herbivore abundance and how these fluctuate temporally and regionally in accordance with palaeo-climatic shifts. Here, southern Africa is divided into four eco-regions loosely based on climatic, biotic and zoogeographic traits: the Cape Floristic Region, the arid and semi-arid region, the savanna and grassland region, and the wetter eastern region. The relative abundance of large herbivores within these regions are noted, and temporal trends are inferred. On the whole, most eco-regions maintain similar herbivore compositions over time showing the regional ecological resilience of these taxa to local-scale environmental change. Yet some changes in faunal frequencies are apparent. The Cape Floristic Region shows evidence of significant faunal turnover from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. Here, grazers are significantly more abundant during glacial periods, probably linked to the terrestrial expansion of the palaeo-Agulhas coastal plain. Shifts in ungulate abundance in the currently xeric central interior, also indicate wetter periods in the Pleistocene. Holocene faunas are generally similar to historic distributions but shifts between xeric and mesic periods are also evident.
{"title":"Paradise lost: large mammal remains as a proxy for environmental change from MIS 6 to the Holocene in southern Africa","authors":"J. Reynard","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0057","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Analyses of faunal remains are a key means of inferring palaeoenvironmental change. In this paper, the use of faunal remains as a proxy for environmental conditions from Marine Isotope Stage 6 to the Holocene in southern Africa is reviewed. The focus of this review is on large herbivore abundance and how these fluctuate temporally and regionally in accordance with palaeo-climatic shifts. Here, southern Africa is divided into four eco-regions loosely based on climatic, biotic and zoogeographic traits: the Cape Floristic Region, the arid and semi-arid region, the savanna and grassland region, and the wetter eastern region. The relative abundance of large herbivores within these regions are noted, and temporal trends are inferred. On the whole, most eco-regions maintain similar herbivore compositions over time showing the regional ecological resilience of these taxa to local-scale environmental change. Yet some changes in faunal frequencies are apparent. The Cape Floristic Region shows evidence of significant faunal turnover from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. Here, grazers are significantly more abundant during glacial periods, probably linked to the terrestrial expansion of the palaeo-Agulhas coastal plain. Shifts in ungulate abundance in the currently xeric central interior, also indicate wetter periods in the Pleistocene. Holocene faunas are generally similar to historic distributions but shifts between xeric and mesic periods are also evident.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48294489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Namib Desert and the Kalahari constitute the drylands of southern Africa, with the current relatively humid portions of the latter having experienced periodically drier conditions during the Late Quaternary. This study explores the range of dryland archives and proxies available for the past ~190 ka. These include classic dryland geomorphological proxies, such as sand dunes, as well as water-lain sediments within former lakes and ephemeral fluvial systems, lake shorelines, sand ramps, water-lain calcrete and tufa sediments at the interface of surface hydrological and hydrogeological, speleothems and groundwater hydrogeological records, and hyrax middens. Palaeoenvironmental evidence can also be contained within geoarchaeological archives in caves, overhangs and rockshelters. This integration of records is undertaken with the aim of identifying a (or a number of) terrestrial regional chronostratigraphic framework(s) for this time period within southern Africa, because this is missing from the Quaternary stratigraphy lexicon. Owing to a lack of long, near-continuous terrestrial sequences in these drylands, the correspondence between nearby terrestrial records are explored as a basis for parasequences to build this chronostratigraphy. Recognising the modern climatological diversity across the subcontinent, four broad spatial subdivisions are used to explore potential sub-regional parasequences, which capture current climatic gradients, including the hyper-arid west coast and the decrease in aridity from the southwest Kalahari toward the north and east. These are the Namib Desert, the northern Kalahari, the southern Kalahari and the eastern fringes of the southern Kalahari. Terrestrial chronostratigraphies must start from premise that climate-driven environmental shifts may have occurred independently to those in other terrestrial locations and may be diachronous compared to the marine oxygen isotope stratigraphy (MIS), which serves as a global-scale master climatostratigraphy relating to global ice volume. The fragmented nature of preserved evidence means that we are still some way from producing unambiguous parasequences. There is however, a rich record to consider, compile and compare, within which seven broad wetter intervals are identified, with breaks between these inferred to be relatively drier, and some also have proxy evidence for drying. The onset and cessation of these wetter intervals does not align with MIS: they occur with greater frequency, but not with regular periodicity. Precession-paced insolation forcing is often invoked as a key control on southern African climate, but this does not explain the pacing of all of the identified events. Overall, the pattern is complex with some corresponding wetter intervals across space and others with opposing west-east trends. The evidence for drying over the past 10 ka is pronounced in the west (Namib Desert), with ephemerally wet conditions in the south (southern Kalahari). The patterns
{"title":"Dryland dunes and other dryland environmental archives as proxies for Late Quaternary stratigraphy and environmental and climate change in southern Africa","authors":"A. Stone","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0055","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Namib Desert and the Kalahari constitute the drylands of southern Africa, with the current relatively humid portions of the latter having experienced periodically drier conditions during the Late Quaternary. This study explores the range of dryland archives and proxies available for the past ~190 ka. These include classic dryland geomorphological proxies, such as sand dunes, as well as water-lain sediments within former lakes and ephemeral fluvial systems, lake shorelines, sand ramps, water-lain calcrete and tufa sediments at the interface of surface hydrological and hydrogeological, speleothems and groundwater hydrogeological records, and hyrax middens. Palaeoenvironmental evidence can also be contained within geoarchaeological archives in caves, overhangs and rockshelters. This integration of records is undertaken with the aim of identifying a (or a number of) terrestrial regional chronostratigraphic framework(s) for this time period within southern Africa, because this is missing from the Quaternary stratigraphy lexicon. Owing to a lack of long, near-continuous terrestrial sequences in these drylands, the correspondence between nearby terrestrial records are explored as a basis for parasequences to build this chronostratigraphy. Recognising the modern climatological diversity across the subcontinent, four broad spatial subdivisions are used to explore potential sub-regional parasequences, which capture current climatic gradients, including the hyper-arid west coast and the decrease in aridity from the southwest Kalahari toward the north and east. These are the Namib Desert, the northern Kalahari, the southern Kalahari and the eastern fringes of the southern Kalahari. Terrestrial chronostratigraphies must start from premise that climate-driven environmental shifts may have occurred independently to those in other terrestrial locations and may be diachronous compared to the marine oxygen isotope stratigraphy (MIS), which serves as a global-scale master climatostratigraphy relating to global ice volume. The fragmented nature of preserved evidence means that we are still some way from producing unambiguous parasequences. There is however, a rich record to consider, compile and compare, within which seven broad wetter intervals are identified, with breaks between these inferred to be relatively drier, and some also have proxy evidence for drying. The onset and cessation of these wetter intervals does not align with MIS: they occur with greater frequency, but not with regular periodicity. Precession-paced insolation forcing is often invoked as a key control on southern African climate, but this does not explain the pacing of all of the identified events. Overall, the pattern is complex with some corresponding wetter intervals across space and others with opposing west-east trends. The evidence for drying over the past 10 ka is pronounced in the west (Namib Desert), with ephemerally wet conditions in the south (southern Kalahari). The patterns ","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43363039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
One of the conventional ways to construct Late Quaternary chronostratigraphic frameworks for archaeology in southern Africa is through archaeological technocomplexes. This practice is more developed in South Africa and Lesotho than in the northern areas of the region. The Still Bay, Howiesons Poort, Robberg, Oakhurst, and Wilton technocomplexes are widely recognized, whereas more ambiguity is associated with the Bambata, Tshangula, Pietersburg, Mossel Bay, Sibudu, Sibudan and early Later Stone Age. Technocomplexes are frequently defined in relation to generalized, typological attributes from lithic assemblages excavated over several decades at different sites with various levels of resolution. This might lead to coarse-level data that do not necessarily relate to changes in culture, cognition, climate or the environment. Here the relationship between lithic technology and the palaeoenvironment is explored from a constrained chronostratigraphic context in two technocomplexes from the southern Cape coast, the Mossel Bay from Klasies River Main site, and the Oakhurst from Klipdrift Cave. Significant changes in the shore habitat are not reflected at technocomplex level, but lithic densities and dimensions of the products vary more closely with environmental shifts. Although a close relationship between Marine Isotope Stages and technocomplexes cannot be unambiguously demonstrated, some aspects of lithic technology seem to be sensitive to palaeoenvironmental change. Technocomplexes have heuristic value to identify cultural patterns through time and space and they are useful in determining where gaps in evidence occur. Ordering stone tool assemblages using technocomplexes remains one of the main ways to construct archaeological chronologies, especially when refined dating results are not available, and for exploring archaeological cultural developments against the backdrop of paleoclimate fluctuations, especially between MIS 6 and 1.
在非洲南部建立晚第四纪年代地层框架的传统方法之一是通过考古技术综合体。这种做法在南非和莱索托比在该区域的北部地区更为发达。斯蒂尔湾、豪威森斯港、罗布伯格、奥克赫斯特和威尔顿的科技综合体被广泛认可，而与班巴塔、茨古拉、彼得堡、莫塞尔湾、西布杜、西布丹和石器时代早期的联系则更为模糊。技术复合体通常被定义为与几十年来在不同地点以不同分辨率挖掘的岩石组合的广义类型属性有关。这可能导致粗略的数据，不一定与文化、认知、气候或环境的变化有关。在这里，从一个有限的年代地层背景下，从两个技术综合体中探索了石器技术与古环境之间的关系，这两个技术综合体分别来自南开普海岸的Klasies River Main遗址的Mossel湾和Klipdrift洞穴的Oakhurst。海岸生境的显著变化并不反映在技术综合体水平上，但产品的岩石密度和尺寸随着环境的变化而变化更密切。虽然海洋同位素阶段和技术复合体之间的密切关系不能明确地证明，但岩石技术的某些方面似乎对古环境变化很敏感。技术综合体具有启发式价值，可以通过时间和空间来识别文化模式，它们在确定证据出现差距的地方很有用。使用技术复合物对石器组合进行排序仍然是构建考古年表的主要方法之一，特别是在没有精确测年结果的情况下，以及在古气候波动的背景下探索考古文化发展，特别是在MIS 6和1之间。
{"title":"Technocomplexes and chronostratigraphy for MIS 6-1 in southern Africa","authors":"S. Wurz","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0058","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 One of the conventional ways to construct Late Quaternary chronostratigraphic frameworks for archaeology in southern Africa is through archaeological technocomplexes. This practice is more developed in South Africa and Lesotho than in the northern areas of the region. The Still Bay, Howiesons Poort, Robberg, Oakhurst, and Wilton technocomplexes are widely recognized, whereas more ambiguity is associated with the Bambata, Tshangula, Pietersburg, Mossel Bay, Sibudu, Sibudan and early Later Stone Age. Technocomplexes are frequently defined in relation to generalized, typological attributes from lithic assemblages excavated over several decades at different sites with various levels of resolution. This might lead to coarse-level data that do not necessarily relate to changes in culture, cognition, climate or the environment. Here the relationship between lithic technology and the palaeoenvironment is explored from a constrained chronostratigraphic context in two technocomplexes from the southern Cape coast, the Mossel Bay from Klasies River Main site, and the Oakhurst from Klipdrift Cave. Significant changes in the shore habitat are not reflected at technocomplex level, but lithic densities and dimensions of the products vary more closely with environmental shifts. Although a close relationship between Marine Isotope Stages and technocomplexes cannot be unambiguously demonstrated, some aspects of lithic technology seem to be sensitive to palaeoenvironmental change. Technocomplexes have heuristic value to identify cultural patterns through time and space and they are useful in determining where gaps in evidence occur. Ordering stone tool assemblages using technocomplexes remains one of the main ways to construct archaeological chronologies, especially when refined dating results are not available, and for exploring archaeological cultural developments against the backdrop of paleoclimate fluctuations, especially between MIS 6 and 1.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42234480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Cenozoic stratigraphy of South Africa has developed over the past 166 years since geological mapping of the region was initiated. The current status of lithostratigraphy and the global chronostratigraphic framework is discussed in the context of the diverse Cenozoic regolith across the region. Geological mapping here utilizes lithostratigraphy to organise the Cenozoic deposits, although some extensive units are characterised informally using lithological descriptors. Although there are no formal biostratigraphic units, the allied use of “Land Mammal Ages” compiled from fossil type sites is described. An analogous archaeological cultural-historical “technocomplex” stratigraphy is outlined to subdivide stone age cultural material commonly associated with Quaternary deposits and has often been used as a relative dating framework. A summary table of Cenozoic regolith is presented, differentiating deposits into their terrain morphologically defined Geomorphic Province context as a means of correlating similar deposits across the subcontinent. For mapping units based on lithological characteristics, the use of lithodemic nomenclature to characterise units in each geomorphic province is proposed as a temporary measure to enhance inter-regional correlation and encourage further research that could lead to formal lithostratigraphic descriptions.
{"title":"Cenozoic stratigraphy of South Africa: current challenges and future possibilities","authors":"G. Botha","doi":"10.25131/sajg.124.0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.124.0054","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Cenozoic stratigraphy of South Africa has developed over the past 166 years since geological mapping of the region was initiated. The current status of lithostratigraphy and the global chronostratigraphic framework is discussed in the context of the diverse Cenozoic regolith across the region. Geological mapping here utilizes lithostratigraphy to organise the Cenozoic deposits, although some extensive units are characterised informally using lithological descriptors. Although there are no formal biostratigraphic units, the allied use of “Land Mammal Ages” compiled from fossil type sites is described. An analogous archaeological cultural-historical “technocomplex” stratigraphy is outlined to subdivide stone age cultural material commonly associated with Quaternary deposits and has often been used as a relative dating framework. A summary table of Cenozoic regolith is presented, differentiating deposits into their terrain morphologically defined Geomorphic Province context as a means of correlating similar deposits across the subcontinent. For mapping units based on lithological characteristics, the use of lithodemic nomenclature to characterise units in each geomorphic province is proposed as a temporary measure to enhance inter-regional correlation and encourage further research that could lead to formal lithostratigraphic descriptions.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46476867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An extensive suite of sills occurring in the eastern and western Transvaal Supergroup has been termed the Marico Diabase Suite. As a result of their overall geographic proximity to the Bushveld Complex and occurrence in the Transvaal Supergroup they have been assumed to be related to the Bushveld Complex. Previous studies have identified two different types of rocks within this suite, namely the Maruleng and Lydenburg types, based on geochemical and metamorphic characteristics. The Maruleng type has mineralogical (orthopyroxene-bearing) and geochemical affinities with the mafic rocks of the Bushveld Complex, and rocks belonging to this type are much more closely spatially related to the Bushveld Complex. The Lydenburg type, on the other hand, is much more extensive spatially and was emplaced at variable depths within the Transvaal Supergroup. The latter type of rock is variably metamorphosed, far beyond the likely thermal effects arising from emplacement of the Bushveld Complex. Using LA-SF-ICPMS and LA-MC-ICMS for U-Pb-Hf isotope ratio and REE+Ti concentration analysis, we demonstrate that zircon grains from this latter type were subjected to hydrothermal alteration, which caused the introduction of common lead. Despite compositional and isotopic overprinting, an age of 2 083 ± 18 Ma (MSWD = 12, n = 16) is obtained, suggesting a pre-Bushveld in age. We suggest that the original term Marico Diabase Suite encompasses two different events. The Maruleng Suite should be grouped as part of the Bushveld Complex, whereas the Lydenburg Suite should be given a status that is independent from the Bushveld event.
出现在德兰士瓦超群东部和西部的一套广泛的技能被称为Marico辉绿岩套件。由于它们在地理上接近Bushveld杂岩，并且出现在德兰士瓦超群中，因此它们被认为与Bushveld杂岩有关。先前的研究已经根据地球化学和变质特征确定了该套体内的两种不同类型的岩石，即Maruleng和Lydenburg类型。Maruleng型与Bushveld杂岩的基性岩具有矿物学(含正辉石岩)和地球化学上的亲缘关系，属于该类型的岩石与Bushveld杂岩的空间关系更为密切。另一方面，Lydenburg型在空间上更为广泛，位于德兰士瓦超群的不同深度。后一种类型的岩石是可变的变质，远远超出了布什维尔德复合体就位后可能产生的热效应。利用LA-SF-ICPMS和LA-MC-ICMS对U-Pb-Hf同位素比值和REE+Ti浓度进行了分析，表明后一类型的锆石颗粒经历了热液蚀变，导致了普通铅的引入。尽管进行了成分和同位素套印，得到的年龄为2 083±18 Ma (MSWD = 12, n = 16)，表明其年龄为前bushveld。我们建议最初的术语Marico Diabase Suite包含两个不同的事件。马鲁伦套房应该被归类为布什维尔德建筑群的一部分，而莱登堡套房应该被赋予独立于布什维尔德活动的地位。
{"title":"Zircon geochronology and geochemistry of pre-Bushveld sills in the eastern Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa","authors":"R. Bolhar, R. G. Cawthorn","doi":"10.25131/sajg.125.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.125.0002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 An extensive suite of sills occurring in the eastern and western Transvaal Supergroup has been termed the Marico Diabase Suite. As a result of their overall geographic proximity to the Bushveld Complex and occurrence in the Transvaal Supergroup they have been assumed to be related to the Bushveld Complex. Previous studies have identified two different types of rocks within this suite, namely the Maruleng and Lydenburg types, based on geochemical and metamorphic characteristics. The Maruleng type has mineralogical (orthopyroxene-bearing) and geochemical affinities with the mafic rocks of the Bushveld Complex, and rocks belonging to this type are much more closely spatially related to the Bushveld Complex. The Lydenburg type, on the other hand, is much more extensive spatially and was emplaced at variable depths within the Transvaal Supergroup. The latter type of rock is variably metamorphosed, far beyond the likely thermal effects arising from emplacement of the Bushveld Complex. Using LA-SF-ICPMS and LA-MC-ICMS for U-Pb-Hf isotope ratio and REE+Ti concentration analysis, we demonstrate that zircon grains from this latter type were subjected to hydrothermal alteration, which caused the introduction of common lead. Despite compositional and isotopic overprinting, an age of 2 083 ± 18 Ma (MSWD = 12, n = 16) is obtained, suggesting a pre-Bushveld in age.\u0000 We suggest that the original term Marico Diabase Suite encompasses two different events. The Maruleng Suite should be grouped as part of the Bushveld Complex, whereas the Lydenburg Suite should be given a status that is independent from the Bushveld event.","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43506009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Humbert, A. Hofmann, M. D. Kock, A. Agangi, Y. Chou, P. W. Mambane
{"title":"A geochemical study of the Crown Formation and Bird Member lavas of the Mesoarchaean Witwatersrand Supergroup, South Africa","authors":"F. Humbert, A. Hofmann, M. D. Kock, A. Agangi, Y. Chou, P. W. Mambane","doi":"10.25131/SAJG.124.0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25131/SAJG.124.0022","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49494,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Geology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49121392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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