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Initial results from wide-angle seismic refraction lines in the southern Cape

GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 14473, Potsdam, Germany. e-mail: jacek{at}gfz-potsdam.de; trond{at}gfz-potsdam.de; robert{at}gfz-potsdam.de
GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 14473, Potsdam, Germany. AEON – Africa Earth Observatory Network, and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.

A. Lindeque

Council for Geoscience, Western Cape, PO Box 572, Bellville 7535, South Africa. e-mail: ansali{at}gfz-potsdam.de or alindeque{at}geoscience.org.za

M.H. Weber

GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 14473, Potsdam, Germany. Universität Potsdam, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Karl Liebknecht Strasse 24, 14476, Potsdam, Germany. e-mail: mhw{at}gfz-potsdam.de

M.J. de Wit

GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 14473, Potsdam, Germany. AEON – Africa Earth Observatory Network, and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. e-mail: maarten.dewit{at}uct.ac.za.

One of the projects within the framework of Inkaba yeAfrica, an earth system science initiative between German and South African research communities, is the Agulhas-Karoo transect. This 800 km north-south off-onshore transect runs from the offshore Agulhas Plateau onto the South African coast, across the Cape Fold Belt, Beattie Magnetic Anomaly, the Karoo Basin, the Great Escarpment and into the Kaapvaal Craton.

Among the number of geophysical measurements taken along the transect are two wide-angle on-shore seismic lines collected in April and May 2005. The lines run roughly parallel to each other approximately 200 km apart, starting at Mossel Bay and St. Francis, and running about 200 km north to Fraserburg and Graaf Reinet, respectively. At each line 48 seismic receivers were used to record data from 13 shots.

The profiles cross a wide variety of geological terrains, such as the siliciclastic sequences of the Paleozoic – Mesozoic Karoo and Oudtshoorn basins, the lower Paleozoic Cape Fold Belt, and the Eocambrian Kango and Kaaimans inliers. They also cross the Beattie Magnetic Anomaly, a large east-west orientated crustal feature within the upper crust, and more than 1000 km long, first reported almost a century ago, but still not fully understood.

The overall quality of seismic data is very good. First (P-wave) arrivals were manually picked on the available traces, and tomographic inversion was done using these travel times. The ray coverage made it possible to create the P-wave velocity model to depths of up to 25 km. We find excellent correlation of the shallow features with surface rock type. Deeper down we can identify both stratigraphic and tectonic contacts between geological groups. These include an inferred possible blind Paleozoic thrust fault, and the unconformity between the Cape Supergroup and the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Complex. The normal listric geometry of the Kango and Gamtoos Faults is clearly seen to a minimum depth of 15 km. We also observe a high velocity anomaly within the NNMC at ~10 km depth that we relate to the source of the Beattie Magnetic Anomaly.

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				E. J. Milani and M. J. De Wit Correlations between the classic Parana and Cape-Karoo sequences of South America and southern Africa and their basin infills flanking the Gondwanides: du Toit revisited Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2008; 294(1): 319 - 342. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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