BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments) – drilling Paleoarchean coastal strata of the Barberton Greenstone Belt

The BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments) drilling project successfully recovered an unweathered, continuous core from the Paleoarchean Moodies Group in South Africa's Barberton Greenstone Belt, providing a high-resolution record of Earth's surface conditions around 3.2 billion years ago. The project, which drilled eight inclined boreholes totaling 2903 meters, revealed unexpected oxidative weathering depths, intense fracturing, and thicker banded-iron formations (BIFs) than anticipated. These findings offer unprecedented insights into early Earth's coastal environments, including alluvial, fluvial, tidal, and prodeltaic settings, preserved in sedimentary strata such as conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and rare BIFs. The project also included extensive sampling of mine adits and a water tunnel, along with downhole geophysical logging and public engagement initiatives tied to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Heubeck, C., Beukes, N., de Kock, M., Homann, M., Javaux, E. J., Kakegawa, T., Lalonde, S., Mason, P., Mashele, P., Paprika, D., Rippon, C., Tice, M., Tucker, R., Tucker, R., Ndazamo, V., Christianson, A., & Kunkel, C. (2024). BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments) – drilling Paleoarchean coastal strata of the Barberton Greenstone Belt. Scientific Drilling, 33(2), 129–172. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-129-2024