Geotrail, Barberton Greenstone Belt South Africa

Precambrian Geology

Geotrail, Barberton Greenstone Belt South Africa
Image: Christoph Heubeck

Why study Precambrian geology?

The Precambrian accounts for 82% of Earth's history and is our only window into early Earth processes and environments.

We strive to understand Archaean surface environments focused primarily on the Barberton Greenstone Belt (South Africa and Eswatini). Depending on the research questions, these studies combine field geology with geochronological, stratigraphic, sedimentological, structural, and/or biogeochemical aspects. 

Currently, the following projects are active:

Prof. Christoph Heubeck, speaker and coordinator of the ICDP project BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments), which has cored eight sections in the Moodies Group of the Barberton Greenstone Belt.
Terrestrial surface environment of the Moodies Group (PhD student Sebastian Reimann).
The Moodies magmatic complex (PhD student Deon Janse van Rensburg)

Barberton Archean Surface Environments

These projects have recently been completed:

Earth's oldest mappable ecosystem: Biomats of the Moodies group (former PhD student Martin Homann, former postdocs Dr. Inga Köhler, Sami Nabhan).
The role of partial convective overturn in the Barberton Greenstone Belt: Linking deep crustal mantle and surface processes through integrated sedimentary and structural analysis of the syntectonic Moodies Group (with Martin van Kranendonk and former PhD student Matthias Schmitz).

Team

Selected publications

  • 2022

    Heubeck, C., N. Drabon, G. Byerly, I. Leisgang, U. Linnemann, D.R. Lowe, R. Mertz-Kraus, A. Gonzalez-Pinzon, T. Thomsen, A. Zeh, Y. Rojas-Agramonte, A. Kröner, 2022, Detrital zircon provenance of the Archean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa and Eswatini. American Journal of Science 322, 65-107, DOI 10.2475/02.2022.01

    Heubeck, C., S. Bläsing, N. Drabon, T. Eulenfeld, M.U. Grund, M. Homann, D. Janse van Rensburg, I. Köhler, S. Nabhan, C. Rabethge, T. Voigt, and D. Zentner-Joerges, 2022, Reassessing evidence of Moon-Earth dynamics from tidal bundles at 3.2 Ga (Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa). Sedimentology; DOI:10.1111/sed.12988

  • 2021

    Bonnand, P., Köhler C., Heubeck, M. Homann, P. NHomann, M., and C. Heubeck, 2021, "A comment on "Metamorphic origin of anastomosing and wavy laminas overprinting putative microbial deposits from the 3.22 Ga Moodies Group (Barberton Greenstone Belt)"" by Saitoh et al. (2021). Precambrian Research, 365 (2021): 106395.

    Janse van Rensburg, D., C. Heubeck, S. Reimann, 2021, Volcanoes in the estuaries: Insights into earth's oldest (3.22 Ga) terrestrial microbial habitats, Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt. Research, 365 (2021) 106325.

    Schmitz, M., and Heubeck, C. 2021, Constraints on deformation mechanisms of the Barberton Greenstone Belt from regional stratigraphic and structural data of the synorogenic Moodies Group. Precambrian Research, 362, 15 August 2021, 106177.

    Reimann, S., Heubeck, C., Janse van Rensburg, D.J., Fugmann, P., Serre, S. H., Thomsen, T.B., Zametzer, A., 2021, Syndepositional hydrothermalism selectively preserves records of one of the earliest benthic ecosystems, Moodies Group (3.22 Ga), Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: South African Journal of Geology 124, 253-278.

  • 2020

    Bonnand, P., I. Köhler C. Heubeck, M. Homann, P. Nonotte, , K.O. Konhauser, M. Boyet, S.V. Lalonde, 2020, Post-depositional REE mobility in a Paleoarchean banded iron formation revealed by La-Ce geochronology: A cautionary tale for signals of ancient oxygenation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 547, 116452.

    Becker, L., and Heubeck, C., 2020, Behind-the-outcrop research drilling in the Sobrarbe Delta, Ainsa Basin: Core description and sedimentation processes in a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic delta complex. In J. Grötsch und M. Pöppelreiter, eds., Digital Geology - Multi-scale analysis of depositional systems and their subsurface workflows. - EAGE (Amsterdam), 139-160.

    Nabhan, S., Marin-Carbonne, J., Mason, P.R.D., and C. Heubeck, 2020, In situ S-isotope compositions of sulfate and sulfide from the 3.2 Ga Moodies Group, South Africa: A record of oxidative sulfur cycling. Geobiology 2020;00: 1 - 19; http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12393

  • 2019

    Köhler, I., and Heubeck, C., 2019, Tephra associated with microbial mats of the Archean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: Resemblance to potential biostructures and ecological implications: South African Journal of Geology; doi:10.25131/sajg.122.0015

    Drabon, N., C. Heubeck, and D.R. Lowe, accepted 2019, Evolution of an Archean fan delta and its implications for the initiation of uplift and deformation in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. Journal of Sedimentary Research

    Heubeck, C., 2019, The Moodies Group - A high-resolution archive of Archaean surface and basin-forming processes; in: A. Kröner and A. Hofmann (eds.), The Archaean Geology of the Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa. Springer (Regional Geology Reviews), p. 203-241; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78652-0_6

    Stutenbecker, L., Heubeck, C., and Zeh, A., 2019, The Lomati Delta Complex: A prograding tidal delta in the Archean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt. South African Journal of Geology, 122, 17-38.

  • 2018

    Byerly, G.R., D.R. Lowe, C. Heubeck, 2018, Geologic evolution of the Barberton Greenstone Belt - a unique record of crustal development, surface processes, and early life 3.55 to 3.20 Ga; in: Van Kranendonk, M.J., Bennett, V.C., and Hoffmann, J.E., Earth's Oldest Rocks - Second Edition. Elsevier (Amsterdam), 569-613.

    Homann, M., P. Sansjofre, M. Van Zuilen, C. Heubeck, J. Gong, B. Killingsworth, I. Foster, A. Airo, M. J. Van Kranendonk, M. Ader, and S.V. Lalonde, 2018, Microbial life and biogeochemical cycling on land 3,220 million years ago: Nature Geoscience, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0190-9

C. Heubeck and T. Ferrar
C. Heubeck and T. Ferrar
Image: C, Heubeck
Documenting tidal strata
Documenting tidal strata
Image: C. Heubeck
Eureka Syncline
Eureka Syncline
Image: C. Heubeck
Fig Tree Jaspillite
Fig Tree Jaspillite
Image: C. Heubeck
Geologists in action
Geologists in action
Image: C. Heubeck
Geologist´s natural habitat
Geologist´s natural habitat
Image: C. Heubeck
Makhonjwa Mountains
Makhonjwa Mountains
Image: C. Heubeck
Makhonjwa Mountains
Makhonjwa Mountains
Image: C. Heubeck
Makhonjwa Mountains
Makhonjwa Mountains
Image: C. Heubeck
Microbial mats
Microbial mats
Image: C. Heubeck
omatiitic ash
omatiitic ash
Image: C. Heubeck