South Africa has embarked on an aggressive mapping programme over the nation Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) and in Antarctica. This project aims to collect multi-disciplinary geoscientific information in an effort to characterize the geology, environmental, climate and sea-level change effects. South African has invested significant resources in an attempt to map the EEZ at 1:50 000 scale. The mapping at this scale is unprecedented and has the following broad objectives: (1) to produce the “real geological map” of South Africa and (2) to establish a rich culture of marine geoscience in South Africa. Additional benefits of the marine mapping programme is show areas of known mineral deposits (e.g., phosphate and heavy mineral sands); energy generation from ocean currents, shipwreck database, popular science, etc. South Africa has a permanent base in Antarctica and invested in ice breaking vessels that makes regular visits to Antarctica. The intention is to characterize the crust and lithospheric mantle structure of the Grunehogna craton and correlate it with its equivalent, Kaapvaal craton.
Note: This paper was accepted into the Technical Program but was not presented at the 2020 SEG Annual Meeting.
