November 14, 2012

LASI V: Scholarships for South African Geology Students

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

Geologists in the field at LASI V.

For the LASI V workshop which I attended a couple of weeks ago, the Physics of Geological Processes (a scientific Center of Excellence in Norway and one of the workshop sponsors) offered two scholarships for South African geology students to attend the workshop. I thought I would introduce you to the two wonderful scholarship awardees here on Georneys. Both of the scholarship awardees are studying for their masters degrees in geology with Prof. Gary Stevens at Stellenbosch University, which is one of the top universities in South Africa. Both students presented their masters degree projects at the conference.

Priscilla in the field at LASI V.

The first scholarship awardee is Priscilla Ramphaka, who comes from the Limpopo Province of South Africa. At LASI V Priscilla presented a talk titled, “The origin of rhythmic magmatic layering in the S-type Peninsula Pluton, Cape Granite Suite, South Africa.”

Prsicilla explains, “I presented my project on the layering in the granites found at Llandudno in Cape Town. My goal was to find out how the layering formed at Llandundo since that is not well understood.”

Priscilla says that she loved everything about the LASI V workshop, from the presentations to the field trip to the meeting of new people. Overall, she says that she really enjoyed participating in her first international geology conference. In addition to being a talented geologist, Priscilla is also a talented linguist– she speaks an impressive 10 languages!

Cedric in the field at LASI V.

The second scholarship awardee is Cedric Joseph, who comes from Windhoek, Namibia. At LASI V Cedric presented a talk titled, “The petrogenesis of the ignimbrites and quartz porphyritic granites exposed along the Saldhana west coast, South Africa.”

Cedric explains, “I did a project on the ignimbrites and subvolcanic rocks that you find around Saldhana. We investigated the petrogenesis of the rocks as well as the rock textures because it’s quite a controversial issue whether these rocks are intrusive or extrusive.”

Cedric says that his favorite part of the LASI V workshop was learning more about sills and dykes, particularly through observing these features in the field. Cedric is looking forward to working for a mining company in Namibia starting next year.

I really enjoyed meeting both Priscilla and Cedric at LASI V. I hope to run into them again, especially since Stellenbosch is just down the road from where I live in Cape Town.