Department of Earth Sciences

Postgraduate programmes

(Visit the links below for Calendar information on the programmes' curricula)

BScHons in Earth Sciences

MSc in Geology

PhD in Geology

DSc in Geology

About the Department

South African geological record is superb and unique, providing a world-class natural laboratory for those interested in research in the earth sciences. The rapidly growing concern with environmental issues related to human activities, such as mining, provides for an important research focus on environmental geochemistry.

The department is also host to a Research Chair in Experimental Petrology as part of the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI).

The postgraduate population of the Department is cosmopolitan and, in recent years, we have attracted students from Germany, Namibia, the UK, Zimbabwe, France, Japan and Gabon.

Research fields

• Tectonics and orogenic processes
• Petrogenesis of granite rocks
• Trace-element and isotope geochemistry
• Shear-zone hosted gold deposits
• Massive sulphide deposits
• Heavy mineral placer deposits
• Metallogenesis of mobile belts
• Experimental petrology
• Metamorphic petrology
• Marine geochemistry
• Hydro-geochemistry and pollution