A Beginning

As this is my first post, I wanted to explain what I do. Wikipedia has quite an information page on geology, but Google the word and you're bound to get a gazillion pages as well.
Simply put, I work with rocks. I need to understand what kind of rocks I'm working with and what dangers are involved. Right now, I'm working at an underground coal mine. The mine is about 170 m deep (whereas gold mines can be just less than 3 km deep). My job is to ensure that the mining team know exactly where the coal is found underground, what geological obstacles the team will need to mine through to get to the coal and how safe the area will be underground once the coal is removed. Longer term planning involves modeling the extent of the entire coal deposit and determining what the coal quality is and for how long the mine will be able to produce.

I got into geology because I love science and didn't want to sit in an office the whole day. I studied for 4 years and then moved from the Western Cape to Mpumalanga (South Africa) to start working at a large mining company. I've been working for 3 years now and I thoroughly enjoy it.

The picture below roughly illustrates coal geology in Mpumalanga. From the surface, you'll find different layers of various sedimentary rocks (Karoo Supergroup) with the coal seams (black) in between. The sedimentary rocks are underlain by Dwyka Group rocks and igneous rocks from the Pre-Karoo strata. Typically, you'll have a vertical shaft that has been sunk down until the desired coal seam. From there, mining takes places in the coal seam leaving behind some of the coal to support the overlying rock. The biggest danger is roof falls which can crush you and unfortunately, people have been killed.


Mining in Coal


Why am I writing this blog? I was looking for something on the internet written by fellow female
geologists who might be gay. I wanted to see how they handle the tough mining industry and what they have experienced. I couldn't find any such blogs so I decided to start my own.
I'll be sharing the strange and funny day-to-day happenings at work as well as any cool and amazing things I'm enjoying.

Geology rocks! (Final and only geology pun :-)