Some exciting airport geology, migmatite, granitic gneiss and pegmatite in the air port. These rocks show that even before modern style plate tectonics had started, the crust was already being recycled by metamorphism and melting. This stuff is about 3 -3.2 billion years old and intrudes a lot of the Kaapvaal craton and probably provided the uplift that powered the erosion of intruded rocks forming possibly the first orogenic mountains on Earth. These are the rocks that were also blasted by the Vredefort impactor 2 billion years ago. The erosion of these early mountains provided detrital sedimentary material that accumulated as the Moodies Group sedimentary rocks which I will be studying once the cores arrive in Berlin in the autumn. I will slice the ancient sandstones and mudstone up, look at it under a microscope with light and electrons, and then disolve them in acids to try and find tiny carbon shadows that represent some of the first life to inhabit our planet. Last photo is my stupid tired face. I'm in the airport bar waiting for the start of my long trek home. Its been an incredible 3 weeks of seeing things I read about in books as a kid and learned about during my undergrad. I am incredibly fortunate to do what I love for living and it's something I never take for granted. I will always be grateful to everyone who helped me get to this position. 🙂 #geologyjohnson #geology #geologyrocks #rocksofinstagram #granite #pegmatite #migmatite #metamorphism #precambrian #metamorphic #igneous #sedimentary #archean #paleoproterozoic #intrusion #volcanic #meteor #southafrica #barberton #Kaapvaal https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccdn7MoNxq3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=