“A man must for years examine for himself great piles of superimposed strata, and watch the sea at work grinding down old rocks and making fresh sediment, before he can hope to comprehend anything of the lapse of time, the monuments of which we see around us”
-Charles Darwin
“Cool rocks!”
-Stephen Dobbs
My son is a Doctoral candidate in Geology. Now, to what I am sure will be his embarrassment, I am going to try to describe some of the fascinating geology of this area.
We climbed Table Mountain today. Well, we rode the Tram, but there were several stairs. Table Mountain is listed as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. It’s striking edifice soars over 3,000 feet above Cape Town, giving the city it’s unique look.
The geology of Cape Town goes back much further in time than the two oceans around it. Around 500 million years ago, cratonic plates - these are large, stable crustal masses - collided and merged to form Gondwana. Gondwana was a super continent that existed 550 million years ago and lasted through the Jurassic period 180 million years ago. Granite magma that was formed by the rocks melting underground was pushed to the surface. Magma is lighter than solid rock. As this magma cooled and solidified combined with the pushing of plates it created the iconic “Granite Suite” that now forms the Table Mountain region in Cape Town. All of these titanic forces along with the actions of glaciers from millions of years ago created Table mountain and the great rift valleys beyond.
How did I do Stephen?
Cool rocks indeed. Very cool rocks.
It was a busy day. We traveled from the top of the mountain out to the end of the Cape of Good Hope.
Along the way we found another beach with a large breeding colony of African Penguins.
Then we made our way to the majestic Cape of Good Hope. The historic end of the African continent.
This area is also known as “The Cape of Storms” due to it’s historic winds and bad weather. Over 600 ship wrecks line the cape. It was around this point that Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English mariners had to get in order to make it to the lucrative trade routes in India.
This point and the seas around it are the stuff of legends.
Here is a good one - “The Flying Dutchman”
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The ghostly galleon known as “The Flying Dutchman” is perhaps the most famous ghost ship to ever sail. It has been immortalized my mariner’s accounts and by a number of sightings over the last 350 years. These are the waters the ship sails.
As legend has it, The Flying Dutchman was captained by Hendrik van der Decken and was heading home to the Netherlands from Jakarta in 1641. As Van der Decken approached the cape, typically stormy weather shredded his sails. Waves flooded his decks. The Captain was experienced and had rounded the Cape several time before, but this time the crew was terrified and they implored him to turn back.
He refused to submit to the elements and lashed himself to the wheel, swearing he would sail around the point even if it took him until Doomsday.
An Angel appeared on the deck and the enraged captain in his delirious state shot her. Because of this action, Van der Decken’s wish was granted to round the point was granted that night.
However, he, and his crewmen, were doomed to sail these waters forever more trying to round the Point. Over the ensuing centuries a ghastly sailing ship that glows red in the night and has a mad, bald captain has been sighted by many mariners.
Those that have seen her say She lets down rowboats that approach with rotting men on board desperately trying to find someone that will send a letter back home to their families where they haven’t been seen for her 300 years! But if you agree to there entreaties, you are doomed….
Good stuff huh.
On a different note , We saw on the news here that Bhekizizwe Joseph Siphatimandla Mxoveni Mshengu Bigboy Shabalala died. He was 78 years old and spent his last days in Pretoria.
He was better known as Joesph Shabalala and was the founder and lead singer of Ladysmith Black Mambaza. This renowned African choral group partnered with Paul Simon to create the iconic sounds of Simon’s ‘Graceland’ album. The album would win 5 Grammy Awards. RIP Joesph.
Here is one of the songs off the album which Shabalala wrote and Simon added lyrics. Joseph performs here with Simon in London.
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