All About The Makhonjwa Mountains
Covering an area of 120 x 60 kilometres, from Swaziland to Mpumalanga, South Africa, the majestic Makhonjwa Mountains are a stones throw from our Mbombela accommodation and best viewed on a bright sunny day.
Also known as the Barberton Greenstone Belt or Barberton Mountain Land, this range of small mountains and hills ranges in altitude from 600 to 1800 meters above sea level. The range consists of forested valleys, rocky hills and lush grassy uplands. Summers in this area are wet, with 600 to 1150 millimetres of annual rainfall, and winters are dry in contrast.
Facts about the mountains
- The mountains, otherwise known as the “Genesis of Life”, lie on the eastern edge of the Kaapvaal Craton. Exposed rock in the area is estimated to be between 3.2 and 3.6 billion years old, making them some of the oldest exposed rock in the world, dating back to the Paleoarchean. This mountain range also has some of the oldest signs of life on Earth, all perfectly preserved.
- Named after the Komati River which flows through the mountains, Komatiites are a very unusual type of ultramafic volcanic rock that is found in the area. Also found in the mountains are gold deposits, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering Barberton’s gold mining legacy.
- Evidence of the largest meteor impact event was found by scientists in 2014. The impact is believed to have occurred 3.26 billion years ago. The estimated impact hole is believed to be between 37 – 58 kilometres wide, although the actual crater has proved difficult to find.
- Barberton Greenstone Belt is the best preserved example of Archaean Earth Rocks, attracting geologists from all over the globe annually to continue searching for evidence. There are three main groups of rocks found in the area.
- Onverwacht – some sedimentary, mostly volcanic rocks (14km thick)
- Fig Tree – deep water sedimentary rocks (7km thick)
- Moodies – Shallow water sedimentary rocks (2.5 km thick)
Our earth, during the Archaean times, was a very strange planet. Image if you can, volcanoes erupting constantly, filling the sky with ash and making the sun a dim light in the sky. The atmosphere would be toxic with very little oxygen. There was no vegetation, only volcanic debris littering the ocean covered planet. Millions of years of torrential downpours flooded the surface. The moon was much closer to the earth, making the days shorter and the tides higher. The rocks that are found in the area suggest volcanic activity, racing tides, asteroid impacts and the birth of the first continent.
The Geo-Trail
Make a day trip and do the Makhonjwa Geo-Trail. The mountain pass between Barberton and Josefsdal has a 38 km self-drive trail. Pack a picnic basket and head out early. Along the way, you will find well-marked interpretative panels and picnic spots to inform the enthusiastic explorer of how the earth was formed, with rock specimens, geological features and viewpoints en route.
Should you want to take a little of the history home with you, stop at the Barberton Tourism Office in town and pick up a copy of the fifty page guide book that expands on the geology and also contains information about the Geo-Trail.
