UJ Geology

25/03/2026

23/03/2026

We are looking for a metamorphic petrologist to join our team at the Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg. For more details see: https://tinyurl.com/3t5peudt

Join Our Team: Lecturer (Faculty of Science: Department of Geology) Opportunity at University of Johannesburg Looking for a rewarding career? Explore our Lecturer (Faculty of Science: Department of Geology) position at University of Johannesburg. Apply now and be part of an innovative team, driving....

05/03/2026

Join us for the first PPM Talk of the Year!
To watch online, or to be added to the PPM mailing list, contact [email protected].

09/02/2026

The UJ Geology Team are safely back at the SANAE base after two weeks conducting fieldwork near the Straumsvola Nunatak. It was an epic, more than 24-hour non-stop overland journey to get there, and a similarly hair-raising trip back, with storms on their tail. They battled extreme weather (including several days holed up in the tents in a complete whiteout), dodged crevasse fields and giant windscoops, scaled debris-covered nunatak slopes and dealt with multiple stuck snowmobiles (one unrecoverable). All in the name of geology!

The Team is now recovering from exhaustion and frostbite, and preparing for their departure to the ice shelf on Wednesday (hopefully).

25/01/2026

For the next few weeks the UJ Geology Team will be conducting fieldwork from their base near the Straumsvola Nunatak. Watch the video for a tour of the field camp and overview of what is required to work in such extreme conditions.

If you've missed any of Dr Herman van Niekerk's weekly radio updates on RSG, you can also catch them here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1VMqxFFo2Pel8ppo2dSnUf?si=f4mJI8utTBqRH5R3qWHBkg

23/01/2026

The Antarctic fieldwork begins in earnest! After a long wait for the extreme storm conditions to abate, and much packing and preparation, the UJ Geology Team took the opportunity of a brief window in the weather to leave the SANAE base yesterday and travel about 170 km by snowmobile, navigating dangerous crevasse territory, to their first field area.

You can track their progress in realtime here: https://share.garmin.com/SANAE65UJGeology

13/01/2026

The UJ Geology team are currently at the SANAE IV base, after an 18 hour overland journey by CAT train for Dewan and Nina, a direct flight in a helicopter for Prof Marlina, and a more circuitous route for Dr Herman to include a fuel drop, a check on the status of last year's food and fuel depot and a crevasse survey of the route to the field area, all in preparation for the real fieldwork to begin.

08/01/2026

You can catch the UJ Geology team in Antarctica speaking live on radio about their expedition on "Brekfis met Derrich" on RSG this Saturday from about 8:15 am.

The latest update: the offloading of cargo to the ice shelf has begun and, weather permitting, the team should soon fly by helicopter to the South African base - then the real work begins!

04/01/2026

The SA Agulhas II has reached the Antarctic ice shelf! The team has been waiting for the weather to clear sufficiently for the CAT train to leave the SANAE4 base and for the helicopters to be able to fly out, and then to assess the safety of the shelf to find a suitable place to offload cargo and crew - quite an operation.
In the meantime, in addition to assisting with the surveys, the UJ Geology team are practising their crevasse rescue and rope techniques (and in the case of Prof Elburg, doing some birding).

South Africa is the only African country with a base in Antarctica and was one of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. For more about the history of the program see www.antarcticlegacy.org.

30/12/2025

The UJ Geology team is braving rough seas on their way to Antarctica, with winds reaching up to 100 km/h. They have about 2000 km to go to reach the ice shelf. You can track their progress in realtime here: https://share.garmin.com/SANAE65UJGeology

26/12/2025

And they're off!!! The UJ Geology team left Cape Town harbour shortly after 1 am on Christmas morning aboard the S.A. Agulhas II, on their way to icy Antarctica. The South African National Antarctic Expedition 65 has officially begun!
You can track their progress in real time and receive updates via their Garmin inReach link here: https://share.garmin.com/SANAE65UJGeology.
We wish safe travels and a very successful field season to our intrepid explorers, Herman van Niekerk, Marlina Elburg, Nina Woithe and Dewan Isaacs! We'll be following your epic journey every step of the way.

02/12/2025

Some of the UJ Geology staff and students with our annual charity collection. This year we are helping to bring Christmas joy to children at the Twilight Home and Flames of Hope, and through Bet On Better's Santa Bags. 🥳🧸🎅🎄🎁