We bring together African geoscience expertise in the Earth and Environmental Sciences with local partners and collaborators to meet the geoscientific challenges of Africa.
Africa is a very special continent. It features some of Earth’s oldest rocks, largest mineral and hydrocarbon deposits, and most extreme climates and environments. It is the cradle of humankind but has been particularly severely ravaged by colonialism since the 17th century. As a UK institution, we see it as a privilege, but also a particular responsibility, to contribute cross-disciplinary solutions to the continued development of the earth and environmental sciences in Africa. Particular areas of focus for us include sustainable mineral and hydrocarbon exploration, hydrology, paleoclimates, natural hazards and geoscience education and training.
Aims
We aim to understand the geology, georesources, climate, hydrology and landscapes of critical regions in Africa, to analyse how natural resources can be best harnessed for sustainable development, and how to strengthen resilience of people and society at all levels.
Research
Geoscience education and policy
We are working with partners including UNESCO, NEPAD, the African Union, the World Bank and major mining companies to develop and deliver online courses in prospectivity and sustainability mapping, to prepare graduates for roles in the minerals sector, and the development of industrial minerals and gemstones, with a focus on Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. We are analysing sustainability and climate focused strategies across the continent to understand the geoscience skills opportunities and challenges they create. We also work closely with many African universities, including Midlands State University, Zimbabwe and the University of Zimbabwe; Chancellor college, University of Malawi; Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Rhodes University, South Africa.
Economic Geology
We use our state-of-the-art analytical facilities to help unravelling the origin of some of the world’s largest deposits of minerals and hydrocarbons, and to develop improved methods for sustainable and non-invasive exploration. Deposit types of particular focus include magmatic PGE-Ni-Cu and gold deposits, studied in more than a dozen countries within southern, central and west Africa.
Hydrology
We are working with partners across East Africa (including the Horn of Africa) and Central Africa to understand and predict water availability in dryland regions to support community-centred adaptation and resilience to climate change. Our work includes all aspects of the terrestrial water cycle and its interactions with society and ecology. Better understanding of present-day climate-hydrological interactions also enables us to explore how variable water availability influenced human evolution and dispersal in the region.
Paleoclimate
We apply a range of paleoclimate proxies, which tell us about past climatic and environmental variables such as terrestrial temperature, vegetation, precipitation and rainfall seasonality, sea surface temperature, wind patterns, river runoffs and the terrestrial and marine landscape. These coupled marine-terrestrial reconstructions are being used to understand the role climate had in shaping the evolution of new adaptations, the origin and extinction of early hominin species, and the emergence and livelihoods of our species, Homo sapiens.
Natural Hazards
Together with partners in Malawi we study fault systems in the southern East African Rift. These faults have the potential for hosting large and damaging earthquakes, and we map the location, orientation, and extent of active faults to constrain seismic hazard. We are integrating diverse evidence sources to characterise multi-hazard interrelationships in urban contexts (e.g., in Nairobi) and exploring disaster preparedness in the face of multiple hazards.
Medical geology
Looking at the human health impacts of bioreactive clay minerals both as a health hazard when ingested or as a potential natural antibacterial agent when dermally applied to wounds.
Meet the team
Academic staff
Postgraduate students
Publications
Aubineau, J. et al. 2020. Trace element perspective into the ca. 2.1-billion-year-old shallow-marine microbial mats from the Francevillian Group, Gabon. Chemical Geology 543, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2020.119620
Cuthbert, M. O. et al. 2019. Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature 572, 230–234 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1441-7)
Diab, H. et al. 2020. Mechanism of formation, mineralogy and geochemistry of the ooidal ironstone of Djebel Had, northeast Algeria. Journal of African Earth Sciences 162, 103736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103736
Dirks, P. H. G. M. et al. 2020. The world class gold deposits in the Geita Greenstone Belt, Northwestern Tanzania. In: Sillitoe, R. H. et al. eds. Geology of the World’s Major Gold Deposits and Provinces. SEG Special Publications Vol. 23. Society of Economic Geologists, pp. 163-184.
Fantong, W.Y. et al. 2020. Compositions and mobility of major, δD, δ18O, trace, and REEs patterns in water sources at Benue River Basin—Cameroon: implications for recharge mechanisms, geo-environmental controls, and public health. Environmental Geochemistry and Health volume 42, 2975–3013.
Grobler DF, Brits JAN, Maier WD, Crossingham A (2019) Litho- and chemostratigraphy of the Flatreef PGE deposit, northern Bushveld Complex, Mineralium Deposita, DOI 10.1007/s00126-012-0436-1
Incledion, Alexander, Boseley, Megan, Moses, Rachael L., Moseley, Ryan, Hill, Katja E., Thomas, David W., Adams, Rachel A., Jones, Tim P. and Berube, Kelly A 2021. A new look at the purported health benefits of commercial and natural clays. Biomolecules 11 (1) , 58. 10.3390/biom11010058
Kenny, G.G., Harrigan, C.O., Schmitz, M.D., Crowley, J.L., Wall, C.J., Andreoli, M.A., Gibson, R.L. and Maier, W.D., 2021. Timescales of impact melt sheet crystallization and the precise age of the Morokweng impact structure, South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 567, p.117013.
Lambert-Smith, J. S., Allibone, A., Treloar, P. J., Lawrence, D. M., Boyce, A. J., & Fanning, M. (2020). Stable C, O, and S isotope record of magmatic-hydrothermal interactions between the Falémé Fe Skarn and the Loulo Au Systems in Western Mali. Economic Geology, 115, pp. 1537-1558. (https://doi.org/10.5382/econgeo.4759)
Maier WD, Barnes S-J, Smith WD (2023) Petrogenesis of the Mesoarchean Stella layered intrusion, South Africa: implications for the origin of PGE reefs in the upper portion of layered intrusions Mineralium Deposita
Maier, W.D., Barnes, S.J., Godel, B.M., Grobler, D. and Smith, W.D., 2023. Petrogenesis of thick, high-grade PGE mineralisation in the Flatreef, northern Bushveld Complex. Mineralium Deposita, pp.1-22.
Maier WD and Mundl-Petermeier A (2022) Controls on Pt/Pd ratios in Bushveld magmas and cumulates: a review complemented by new W isotope data. Mineralium Deposita, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-022-01141-z
Maier WD, Brits A, Grobler D (2022) Mineralised sills in the floor of the northern Bushveld: evidence for trans-crustal sulfide entrainment. SAJG, https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.125.0019
Maier WD, Abernethy KEL, Grobler DF, Moorhead G (2021) Formation of the Flatreef deposit, northern Bushveld, by hydrodynamic and hydromagmatic processes, Mineralium Deposita, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-020-00987-5
Maier WD, Barnes S-J, Muir D, Savard D, Lahaye Y, Smith WD (2020) Formation of Bushveld anorthosite by reactive porous flow, CMP, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-020-01760-7
Mamuse, A., von der Heyden, B.P. and Blenkinsop, T., 2024. Zimbabwe's coloured gemstone endowments-A regional geological overview. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 124(1), pp.33-42.
Moore, A., Yudovskaya, M., Proyer, A. and Blenkinsop, T. 2020. Evidence for olivine deformation in kimberlites and other mantle-derived magmas during crustal emplacement. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 175(2), article number: 15. (10.1007/s00410-020-1653-8)
Smith WD; Albrechtsen B; Maier WD; Mungall JE (2023) Petrogenesis and Ni-Cu-(PGE) prospectivity of the Ingeli and Horseshoe lobes of the Mount Ayliff Complex, South Africa: in Mineral Resources Related to Ultramafic-mafic Magmas, from Archean to Present: Old Deposits and New, in press
Smith WD, Maier WD, Barnes SJ, Moorhead G, Reid D, Karykowski B (2020) Element mapping the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex, Geoscience Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.11.001
Wagaba, B., Sayan, C., Haemmerli, H., Gill, J., & Parker, A. (2023). Understanding small NGOs' access to and use of geological data and expertise in delivering SDG 6 in eastern Africa. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 13(5), 312-321.
Williams, J. N. et al. 2019. How do variably striking faults reactivate during rifting? insights from Southern Malawi. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 20(7), pp. 3588-3607. (10.1029/2019GC008219)
Williams, J. N., Mdala, H., Fagereng, Å., Wedmore, L. N. J., Biggs, J., Dulanya, Z., Chindandali, P., and Mphepo, F.: A systems-based approach to parameterise seismic hazard in regions with little historical or instrumental seismicity: active fault and seismogenic source databases for southern Malawi, Solid Earth, 12, 187–217, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-187-2021, 2021
Zi J-W, Rasmussen B, Muhling J, Maier WD, Fletcher I (2019) U-Pb monazite ages of the Kabanga mafic-ultramafic intrusions and contact aureole, central Africa: geochronological and tectonic implications. Bull Geol Soc Am, https://doi.org/10.1130/B35142.1
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Next steps
Research that matters
Our research makes a difference to people’s lives as we work across disciplines to tackle major challenges facing society, the economy and our environment.
Postgraduate research
Our research degrees give the opportunity to investigate a specific topic in depth among field-leading researchers.
Our research impact
Our research case studies highlight some of the areas where we deliver positive research impact.