http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu South Africa is the world’s top producer of platinum, used in everything from jewelry to catalytic converters. Most of it comes from a geological formation the size of West Virginia, called the Bushveld igneous complex, created two billion years ago as molten lava from Earth’s mantle bubbled to the surface and cooled. Lamont-Doherty graduate student Jill VanTongeren is traveling through the Bushveld collecting rocks to learn more about how this unique and mineral-rich region formed. Read about her work here. Fri, 24 May 2013 19:28:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/28/pricker-bushes-south-african-barbeque-and-new-friends/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/28/pricker-bushes-south-african-barbeque-and-new-friends/#comments Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:44:38 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=6033 On Friday, we decided to revisit an area we had already been to.  This section covers the contact between the Bushveld rocks (green, colors as seen on the map) and the leptite (purple), granophyre (yellow) and granite (pink) rocks that we are interested in.  What the map doesn’t show is topography.  Pink granite can be very resistant, meaning it [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/28/pricker-bushes-south-african-barbeque-and-new-friends/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/25/rock-hunting-before-river-submerges-them/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/25/rock-hunting-before-river-submerges-them/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:05:31 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=6019 On Tuesday we drove to the Steelpoort River Valley, about a hundred kilometers away. Work on a new dam and road has begun since we were here last, in 2006 and 2007. Once it’s finished, the dam will flood much of our field area, submerging some of the rocks we are studying. It’s a good thing [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/25/rock-hunting-before-river-submerges-them/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/23/geology-with-a-taste-of-safari/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/23/geology-with-a-taste-of-safari/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:59:36 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5897 We started the morning with breakfast and shopping for lunch provisions. We bought a large bag of oranges grown in the groves that surround this region for the equivalent of $1.50, along with cheese and, of course, biltong. The butcher offered many kinds of biltong, from the shaved, proscuitto-like variety to the serious cowboy jerky [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/23/geology-with-a-taste-of-safari/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/21/rock-collecting-while-watching-for-crocodiles-leopards/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/21/rock-collecting-while-watching-for-crocodiles-leopards/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:05:35 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5888 On Saturday morning, Ed and I left Pretoria for the next phase of our trip: field work near the Loskop Dam in Mpumalanga Province where a large volcano once existed about two billion years ago. No one has been able to find where this ancient volcano stood but lava flows in the area suggest there [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/21/rock-collecting-while-watching-for-crocodiles-leopards/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/20/singing-clapping-smiling/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/20/singing-clapping-smiling/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:04:11 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5875 After a morning lecture about the Bushveld Complex and the processes of concentrating ores in magma bodies, Ed and I had to go to the University of Pretoria for Thursday afternoon. I was invited to give a lecture and we were able to have some very interesting conversations about Bushveld research with the people who [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/20/singing-clapping-smiling/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/diamond-mine-field-trip-on-despite-government-strike/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/diamond-mine-field-trip-on-despite-government-strike/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:11:26 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5857  We woke up Wednesday morning to find out that all unionized government workers, including public school teachers, were on strike. All schools were shuttered and we worried that no one would show up for our workshop. But we arrived at class to find all of our teachers present. They told us this was a once [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/diamond-mine-field-trip-on-despite-government-strike/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/getting-underneath-south-africas-mineral-wealth/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/getting-underneath-south-africas-mineral-wealth/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:54:38 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5844 Our teaching workshop continued Tuesday with a lecture about mineral resources and their economic importance. South Africa has abundant platinum and gold but also lesser-known elements like vanadium, chromium, and manganese. Vanadium and chromium, important to the steel industry, are found predominantly in the Bushveld Complex where our research is focused. Chromium gives steel much [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/19/getting-underneath-south-africas-mineral-wealth/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/18/new-york-city-rocks-spark-cultural-exchange/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/18/new-york-city-rocks-spark-cultural-exchange/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:30:12 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5756 The workshop that we are here leading is designed to help South Africa high school teachers make geology come alive for their students. We want to share basic concepts, such as how rocks and minerals form, but also provide activities and materials that can make the concepts more accessible. In planning the workshop, we outlined [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/18/new-york-city-rocks-spark-cultural-exchange/feed/ 2 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/17/discovering-biltong-brooklyn-on-south-africa%e2%80%99s-streets/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/17/discovering-biltong-brooklyn-on-south-africa%e2%80%99s-streets/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:54:53 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5747 We arrived in the city of Tshwane (formerly named Pretoria) on Sunday after a day-long journey from New York. Tshwane is the executive capitol of South Africa and according to several locals we met while walking through the city, home to the most national embassies after Washington D.C. More importantly, Tshwane is where the U.S. [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/17/discovering-biltong-brooklyn-on-south-africa%e2%80%99s-streets/feed/ 1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/12/south-africa-bound-with-sand-from-coney-island/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/12/south-africa-bound-with-sand-from-coney-island/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:21:45 +0000 Jill A. VanTongeren http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=5569 I’m flying to Johannesburg on Friday in what will be my third expedition to South Africa. In the past I’ve traveled here to study the Bushveld Complex, a huge lava formation that provides over 70 percent of the world’s platinum as well as other valuable ores, such as vanadium and chromium, both used to make [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/08/12/south-africa-bound-with-sand-from-coney-island/feed/ 0