Magaliesberg crests

The long mountain range of characteristic Magaliesberg summits has been subjected to a complex series of geological upheavals over many millions of years that created these distinctive looks. Vincent Carruthers (1990) describes the shaving of the quartzite crests of the Magaliesberg range during the Dwyka Glaciation of around 345 million years ago in his book.

The melting of the thick glacial sheet that covered the range along its length towards the end of that era played a big role. The ice moved slowly southwards, scraping all protruding rock and debris from the tops. This yielded the uniformly rounded appearance of all the mountain crests along the range. 

By the time of these events this mountain was already more than two thousand million years old! That means more than half as old as the earth. Going back one million years in the history of mankind brings us to distant forebears of whom we know little. Looking ahead for another million may reach well beyond the existence of our species. The Magaliesberg will probably still be host... to whom or what?