Photo source:  www.umjindi.org

The Barberton greenstone belt in the Makhonjwa Mountains of Mpumalanga and Swaziland contains early signs of life on Earth.

During the field trip, controls on the origin, locations, metabolism and ecology of early life will be discussed and examined. The Barberton Mountain Land, a nucleus of the earliest continent, offers the unprecedented opportunity to examine at first-hand the relative roles of horizontal versus vertical tectonics in the early stages of continental growth. Spherule layers point to the important role of meteorite impacts in shaping the Early Earth.

Field Trip Leaders: Christoph Heubeck, University of Jena; Don Lowe, Stanford University; Gary Byerly, Louisiana State University