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24 October 2018
Geologist shares ground-breaking findings at Alex du Toit lecture
From the left: Prof Marian Tredoux, Associate Professor in the UFS Department of Geology, Prof Lew Ashwal, and Snegugu Zigubu, BSc (Hons) Geology student.
The Department of Geology at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently the host of a lecture in the 2018 Alex du Toit Memorial Lecture series.

The speaker at this event was the A-rated NRF researcher, Prof Lew Ashwal from the University of the Witwatersrand. He addressed academics and geology students on ‘Wandering continents of the Indian Ocean’.

Lost continent found

In this talk he specifically shared the research he conducted on the islands of Madagascar (which he visited 30 times to conduct field work and says it is not for the faint-hearted), the Seychelles, and Mauritius. 

Two things stood out in his lecture: the way in which his findings on the three islands helped to refine details about the assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent, and the report of a ‘lost continent’ found under Mauritius. 

These discussions were linked by Prof Ashwal’s belief that the so-called lost continent he found under Mauritius is a leftover from the break-up of Gondwana,

The discovery was made when he and a team of researchers found zircon from 2000 million years ago on a 9-million-year-young island. He believes that the piece of crust (where the tested zircon probably formed), which was covered by lava during recent volcanic eruptions on the island, is a tiny piece of the ancient continent which broke off from Madagascar, when Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica split up and formed the Indian Ocean.

Media frenzy 

The fact that the team of researchers found these extremely old minerals proves that there are materials under Mauritius that originated from a continent under the island. 

Prof Ashwal is studying the break-up process of the continents in order to understand the geological history of the planet.

For his work Prof Ashwal has enjoyed coverage from publications as far apart in focus from each other as The New York Times and Cosmopolitan magazine. 

News Archive

Mandela Day celebrated with R5 coin laying
2012-07-09

On 18 July 2012, the University of the Free State (UFS), in partnership with Pick n Pay Hyper in Bloemfontein, will celebrate Nelson Mandela Day with a special R5 coin laying ceremony.

The festivities kick off at 12:00 on the Red Square at the Bloemfontein Campus.

Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu will make a special appearance at this event and also deliver a short message.

Schools in the vicinity, UFS staff and students and the public are invited to take part in the coin laying ceremony.

Ms Marissa van Jaarsveld, the coordinator of the Nelson Mandela Day celebrations at the UFS, says the money collected at the event will be used to benefit the No Student Hungry (NSH) campaign, as well as Bloemfontein Child Welfare. NSH is an organisation on the Bloemfontein Campus that provides food bursaries to hungry students with good academic records.

Requests have been sent to schools to collect R5 coins for the event and representatives from the schools will attend the coin-laying.

These schools will be acknowledged for their contributions and there are prizes up for grabs for the primary and high schools that collect the most money.

Learners will deposit their coin contributions during the 67 Minute programme of giving back to the community and they will take part in fun activities. Participating schools are encouraged to be as creative as possible when handing over their R5 contributions.

On the day, there will also will be people with tins at the main entrances to the university for those who want to make a contribution.

The NSH-campaign will also show its support for eradicating world hunger on this day by helping Pick n Pay Hyper in Bloemfontein to package food parcels for the Stop Hunger Now campaign. The packaging of the food parcels will also take place at the UFS.

Members of the public and the media are invited to attend the festivities.
 

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