Salutations from the editorial desk for the final edition of 2003, which is also hopefully the year in which you received this issue. We pushed the submission deadline up by a week to try to beat the holiday mail glut. This issue of the GB is marginally distinctive in format, inasmuch as rather than having a particular thematic set of articles, we have a scientific article which is hopefully sufficiently broad in scope and impact to be of interest to the breadth of our readership. The article, submitted by Henk Winter (of Rand Afrikans University) deals with the application of sequence stratigraphic principles, commonly applied to Phanerozoic petroleum-bearing sedimentary suites, to the Precambrian Kaapvaal Craton rocks. Specifically, he presents an examination and re-evaluation of the Pongola Supergroup in a fresh context, with a more general overhaul of "hard rock" stratigraphy in mind (at least, this is my perception). In addition to this article, this issue also includes a number of other prominent articles on some of our regular issues, such as promotion and nurturing of future South African geoscientists, which is the focus of an article from the Minerals Education Trust. This illustrates one constructive approach to the problems of changing requirements in the geological marketplace and in traditional funding sources. There is also a contribution from Ignatius Schutte on South African geoconservation opportunities and development, with the Kruger National Park as a case study. In Part I, he describes aspects of the southern potions of the park, with the north, along with constructive recommendations, to be covered in the next issue.
展开▼
