After all the trouble I have had with the house I bought (spoiler alert: there's more!), people have been saying "this had better be worth it". I still think it is, so without further ado, some pictures taken on and around the property:
These rocks are some of the oldest on the planet, around 2.6 billion years old and were formed before there was life on earth from deposition of silt, sand and pebbles at the estuary of an inland sea.
You can see distinct layers of pebbles and finer materials in some of the rocks and because they are made up of a variety of different materials and they are categorised as conglomerates. Some of the rocks are quartzite, formed from silica (sand) and some are shale, formed from finer particles of layers of mud.
About 2 billion years ago, an asteroid estimated to be between 10 and 15 km in diameter struck the earth with the force of many atom bombs, punching a hole right through the planet's crust and had there been life on earth at the time, it would have caused a mass extinction. The crater is clearly visible on satellite photos of the area and the epicentre of the meteorite strike is 120 km away, in Vredefort, where there is a massive rock dome. The entire crater structure is 300km across. This meteorite strike is responsible for the discovery of gold and the establishment of the city of Johannesburg.
There are many ridges around the Johannesburg area and they were formed by shock waves that rippled through the earth's crust, turning horisontal layers over until some of them were orientated vertically. The shockwaves also account for the broken, shattered appearance of the rocks.
This ridge is the second-from-outermost in the series of ridges and the last one is where the gold reef was discovered. There has been a little prospecting on this ridge, but nothing much was found.
There is a timelessness to the rocks and there is a large outcrop on my property and I enjoy walking around on the public land next to my house and looking at the indigenous plants. There will be lots more photos of those to follow