The physical

environment
Owen McGee
The geological formations present in the Pietennaritzburg
area consist simply of an ancient (1 000 million-year-old),
solid, but greatly contorted Basement, and a succession of
more recent and much less deformed sedimentary cover
rocks overlying the Basement. Intrusions of molten rock
here and there penetrated, some 180 million years ago,
these formations along fissures , gradually to solidify as
dolerite in the form of vertical 'dykes' and horizontal 'sills' .
The Basement is not exposed in the immediate vicinity
of the City , being found rather in the valleys to the east of
Pietennaritzburg, and particularly in the Valley of the
Thousand Hills. The more recent cover rocks resting on the
Basement lie horizontally, or may be inclined gently to the
west. These rocks may be divided into three groups, the
Natal Group, the Karoo Sequence and the most recent
deposits, which belong to the Pleistocene Period.
The Natal Group is the lowest rock group and consists of
sandstones, formerly rather well-known to local
inhabitants as Table Mountain Sandstone, or TMS. Thi s The Dwyka Formation provides evidence of huge
sandstone was originally erosional ma terial deposited over continental ice sheets, at least 1 000 m thick, which moved
the area by large southward-flowing rivers; after sufficient from the north-east over the region about 300 millio n
time and compaction the sediment was transformed into a years ago, planing the underlying surface and depositing
sandstone plain above the Basement. Long-term glacial sediment referred to as till (which later compacted
subsequent erosion of this plain left many resistant to tillite). The undulating landscape east of the City is
remnants or 'outliers' in the region , the most prominent underlain by glacial debris while a veneer of the tillite on a
being Table Mountain itself. 'Conformal' summit levels polished glacial pavement is to be found on Table
surmounting the Valley of the Thousand Hills, and Mountain.
including that of Table Mountain, are also very noticeable A period of less rigorous climate followed th e glacial
remnants of this former plain. episode so that the deposits overlyi ng the Dwyka
Above the Natal Group sandstones are two formations Formation had their origins in rivers flowing from the
belonging to the Karoo Sequence, i.e. the Dwyka glacier, and huge rive r deltas, rather than in ice. Th is new
Formation and the Ecca Group . sedimentary succession (in its compacted form referred to
Two doleri te dy kes.

Wa ll of sn uffbox
shale in Loop
Str eet,
demolish ed in
1983.
Fig. 2. Schem at ic cross-sect ion in the Pieterm aritzburg area (notto scale) .
CD = Fault orfracture

+
+
+ +
+
+ +
WL......;....-'---'____'_____'_----'-'~'___'___'____'__---'L..--'--___'_____'_____'__-'---'____'_____'____'_____'__'___'___'____'_____'_____'_____'_____'______'_.. .:. . . . .;___'_

6
 11
A dolerite qua rry.

Taking out shaleto put

in a sw imm ing-pool in
Scottsville.
12
 the Natal Main Line and instead the SATS went to the
great expense of building the Cedara tunnel at depths
where this would not be a problem.
The dolerite sills are most commonly noted in the Ecca
Group of shales and sandstones. One resistant sill forms
the crown of Swartkop, another that of World's View, while
still another provides the raw material for a major quarry
near the Greytown road. Loose dolerite boulders (with
which many local gardeners must come to terms) are
formed by 'spheroidal' weathering. Penetration of air and
water, along the cooling or tension joints and crevices of
sills of rock, weaken these areas and the continuous
weathering leaves rounded residual cores of, often ,
excellent rockery boulders. Along such joints in the
dolerite and adjacent baked or 'indurated' shale, water
may percolate to well below the water-table, often to be
extracted from boreholes in times of drought.
River erosion by the Msunduze and its tributaries in the
Pietermaritzburg area has created the roughly 8 km x
as the Ecca Group) was deposited on top of the glacial 12 km x 300 m basin in which the City is situated. There
deposits following the melting and gradual withdrawal of is a gap to the south-east of the City through which the
the ice around 250 million years ago. Following Msunduze flows to join the Mngeni River. The basin is
compaction of the new sedimentary material it surrounded by dissected spurs and rounded hills and is one
consolidated into the well-known horizontally-laminated of many such basins in the Natal Midlands. A well-defined
shales of the Pietermaritzburg area. sinuous escarpment rises 300 to 400 m above the City on
The Ecca Group is customarily divided into three the west and north-west sides; it is situated along the
formations, the Lower, Middle and Upper Ecca. The Lower outcrop of Middle Ecca in a region where dolerite sills cap
Ecca or Pietermaritzburg Formation consists of shales and the sandstone and shale. These resistant sills are mainly
siltstone. Such material is used in the local manufacture of responsible for the high ground in the area. Erosion in the
bricks - an iron oxide content giving the familiar red basin has left a number of ridges between the Msunduze
brick colour to many of the City's buildings. The shales are and the Dorpspruit. The spur runs from Fort Napier
often exposed in road and railway cuttings as well as in through the centre oftown and tapers off.
excavations for swimming pools. Not all of the shale is The soils occurring in and around Pietermaritzburg owe
suitable for the construction of crazy paving or buildings, their distinctive characteristics to an interplay of
but, should it have been hardened by being in contact with geological, climatic and topographic factors .
intrusive dolerite dykes or sills, or should it not yet have
been weathered, then its hardness is such that it may be
used in various ways . The shale foundations and walls of
some of the older buildings of the City have been
constructed from such hardened shales.
Next above the Lower Ecca are the Middle Ecca
(Vryheid Formation') sandstones and shales. These
sometimes occur as outcrops in the area overlooking the
City, for example near World's View and in the kranses of
Otto 's Bluff. Sandstones were quarried at Sweetwaters in
earlier days for building-stone while the Cascades near
Queen Elizabeth Park are on sandstone beds.
The Upper Ecca (Volksrust Formation) shales and
sandstones are generally poorly exposed in the area; they
underlie much of the Cedara-Howick region.
The most recent deposits of material in the local area
belong to the Pleistocene Period (beginning about 1 million
years ago). Alluvium, for example, is found along the flood
plain of the Msunduze River; the floodplain is particularly
wide in the Edendale area. Former landslides have created
hillside scars while associated unconsolidated debris (talus
and soil) has created the hummocky terrain in the Queen
Elizabeth Park and Country Club area. Such landslides
occur when water seeps through the pervious Middle Ecca
sandstones to meet the underlying impervious plastic,
clayey Lower Ecca shales. The N3 double carriageway in
the vicinity of Queen Elizabeth Park has suffered more
than once from such slipping. Railway geologists strongly
recommended avoiding the area for the reconstruction of
10

Old St. Peter's Cathedral

bu ilt of local shale and
sandstone.
 13

Pietermaritzburg's rogue storm, 12 February 1978.

 the floodplain of the Msunduze and along the banks of its
tributaries. They are fertile and easily irrigated.
On the wetter side of town the soil pattern changes
considerably. Given the cooler temperatures and higher
rainfall, more leaching and weathering of soils have
occurred. They are therefore deeper and fairly porous.
Topsoils are enriched with humus and hold water well.
Fertilizer or manure may be required because the leaching
causes chemical infertility. In most cases the soil is acidic
so that lime will be needed to counteract this, except where
acid-loving plants such as azaleas and hydrangeas are
grown.
Numerous factors give Pietermaritzburg its particular
weather and climate - its latitude (300 S), altitude (658 m
at the City Hall), distance from the sea, and, particularly,
the local topography. Fig. 5 gives a summary of the main
climatic statistics, taken from various sources.
On the drier side of town (south and east of the Variations of rainfall across the area are to be expected,
Dorpspruit) three main categories of soil may be especially in view of the marked change in altitude
recognized : those derived from shale and from dolerite, and between the south-east and the north-west of the City. In
alluvial soils. particular there is a steady increase in the mean annual
In soils derived from shale, the topsoil is generally light rainfall total from less than 800 mm in the drier south-east
grey-brown with a loamy texture. It sets very hard when it to above 1 100 mm on the wetter north-west. Variations
dries out. The subsoil may be partly weathered shale or from year to year are also very noticeable (for example
impervious clay or a gravelly partly-cemented layer of iron 575 mm in 1941 and 1 533 mm in 1917 at the Botanic
concretions (ouklip or nkubanei. Either too hard or too Gardens), and the available rainfall data do not indicate
sticky, the soils are not easy to manage. Mulches may either a long-term increase or decrease, or wetter and drier
provide temporary help but termites, warmth and cycles.
humidity soon break these down. The soils are quite Most of the rain is associated with the passage of large-
fertile , seldom needing more than nitrogen fertilizer for scale disturbances such as depressions and cold fronts
vegetable or flower gardens. along the Natal coast which bring to Natal a cool south-
Soils derived from dolerite are usually clayey. They west airflow, or with the frequent thunderstorms of spring
may be dark, chocolate or red coloured, depending on and summer - either local convectional storms or those
drainage. The dark variety may contain a clay called which originate in squall lines extending right across the
montmorillonite which, if subjected to extremes of country.
wetting or drying, expands and contracts considerably, Some 60 per cent of the rain falls with an intensity
often cracking or shifting foundations of houses as well exceeding about 2 or 3 mmlhour and between 20 per cent
as providing a natural underground pruning action and 40 per cent with intensities exceeding 25 mmlhour.
(which may prove fatal) on tree and other plant roots. Most high intensity rains, of whatever duration, begin
Such 'black turf soils may be used by groundsmen in the between 16hOO and 17hOO. About 26 days during the year
preparation of cricket pitches. The redder soils are experience rainfalls greater than 10 mm and thunder will
physically better, being well-drained and quite fertile. be heard on 60 days a year.
Alluvial soils are deep, somewhat silty soils found on Average monthly rainfalls are given in Fig. 5. The

AGE
ERA (Ma *)
COVER ROCKS
u
6N 1 PI.,,,o,,", and recent deposit•. .......................................................................................................{ ~f~i,:1,:;'. material
0
cr: Soil
w
z
-c
:r:
a..
250 Karoo Sequence ___
_= Ecca Group
~upper (Volksrust Formation).....................................Shale , sandstone
Middle (Vryheid Formation) ......................................Sandstone, shale
Lower (PMB Formation) ................................................Shale , siltstone
Dwyka Formation ................................................................................................................Tillite
450 Natal Group .................................................................................................................................................................................Sandstone
BASEMENT ROCKS..................................................................................................................................Granite and metamorphic rocks
z
scr:
co
~
<l:
u
w
cr:
a..

* 1 Ma = One million years

Fig. 3 Geological formations in the Pietermaritzburg area.

8
most rainfall recorded at the Botanic Gardens in anyone
month was 468,9mm in March 1925. On 14 January 1947
a record 246,6 mm was recorded; the next highest was
117,3mmon 13 January 1915.
Relative humidity (RR) data are seldom collected and
are in any case meaningless unless considered against
temperature. The RH values in Fig. 5 provide some idea
of the fall-off in values as the temperatures increase to
midday; the actual amount of water vapour in the air may
or may not change over the same period.
If all the water vapour in the air over the City were to
condense, the depth of the liquid water would be about
27 mm (37 mm in summer, 13 mm in winter). Ifthe vapour
were not continuously replenished, the rainfall would
completely dry out the air in about ten days. Only about 10
per cent of the rain comes from locally evaporated water;
thus the planting or removal of trees and the presence of
dams such as Midmar can have no effect on rainfall, since
local rainfall is from water evaporated some ten days
previously from areas which could be hundreds if not
thousands of kilometres away.
Temperature variations also occur across the City.
Suburbs on the cooler north or north-west side owe their
lower temperatures in part to higher altitudes and in part
to their earlier sunsets each day . More detailed variations
are related primarily to the ventilation provided by local
air movements. Thus temperatures at the sheltered
Botanic Gardens site are lower than those at the exposed
Ukulinga Farm site in winter because of earlier sunsets,
but are higher in summer because of the comparative lack
of ventilation.
Fig. 5 gives temperature data at the Botanic Gardens;
the highest temperature ever recorded there was 44,4°C on
18 January 1966, the lowest -SoC on both 2 July and 11
July 1934.
Temperature and humidity combine to produce a
'humiture' figure, or comfort index. Such data have not
been mapped across the City but it is certain that it is the
 0700 h
0/0 ~~
20
.. •..•
.
.•....

I:~

40

1500 h % 20

10 .......
.. .....
o ~...L---L---.l.---...l--=::1=:±:::::t:::=J

2300 h 0/0 ~~
20
10 •••••.• •
...
."
".
'.

o ~
N NE E SE S SW W NW N

- - Summer (Nov., Dec., Jan ., Feb.) conditions

....... Winter (May, Jun., Jul., Aug .) conditions

Fig. 4 Seasonal wind direction frequenc ies in

Pietermaritzburg .
Fig. 5 Some cli mati c stat istics

RAINFALL' TEMPERATURE (OC)l RELATIVE HUMIDITY2(%) EVAPORATION3(m m)

AVERAGE % OFA NNUA L NO.OFDAYS AVERAGE AVERAGE MORN ING MIDDAY

MONTH (mm) RAIN FALL OFRAIN MAXIMUM MINIMUM (08 hOO) (12h OO)

Ja n 163,9 16,7 18 27,4 16,8 76 59 147

Feb 123,9 12,6 15 26,4 17,5 80 59 133
Mar 116,4 11,8 13 25,8 16,2 77 53 140
Ap r 69,8 7, 1 10 24,4 13,1 87 57 116
May 31.3 3,2 4 20,9 8,9 79 48 105
Jun 9,2 0,9 2 19,9 5,8 64 32 90
Jul 12,7 1.3 3 20,3 5,0 61 36 90
Aug 35,2 3,6 5 21,8 7,1 75 38 115
Sep 59, 1 6.0 10 23,1 10,4 65 40 120
Oct 96,2 9,8 15 25,1 12,2 72 60 135
Nov 117,7 12,0 18 25,8 14,4 70 51 132
Dec 148,0 15,0 19 26,8 15,9 78 62 143

Year 983,4 132 74 50 1 466

' From Botani c Gard ens ' data , Piete rmar itzburg ; daily recordings sta rted 1 January 1907.
2Universi ty (Baye r and Coutts, 1938).
3Sim ulated val ues provided by th e Depa rtm ent of Agricultural Engi neer ing, Un iversity of Natal , Piet ermaritzburg. These fi gures should be multipl ied
by a factor of 0,85 to gi ve th e approxim ate evapo rati on fr om local sw imming-pools.

9
(high) humidity values in the basin rather than high
temperatures that produce the feeling of discomfort in the
City on many a summer day, especially when ventilation
is low and the air is stagnant.
The humiture index may be obtained from temperature
(0 °C) and relative humidity (%) data using a specially de-
signed chart. There are probably between 3 and 5 da ys
during the average summer in Pietermaritzburg when
out-of-doors humiture values reach or exceed the danger-
ous 110 mark.
Pietermaritzburg faces wind from four main directions,
although not with equal frequencies. (See Fig. 4.)
The main daytime wind in the City is from the east or
south-east, a direction up the Msunduze valley. The south-
east wind may not be the only local wind controlled in its
direction by the delineation ofthe river valle y; other south-
east winds are linked to large-scale anticyclones ridging
south of the country. They can bring prolonged rainfall to
FOG OR SMOG? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,
Owen McGee
Commonly during the early evenings of w int er and especially
when the sky is clear , when co nditions are calm and w hen
hum idities are hig h near the surfa ce, t he land coo ls off rapid ly
through long-wave outgo ing radiat ion. Th is cool ing is
commun icated to the adjacent air w hich then increases in density
and slips down sloping ground to form cold air pools in any
depression, such as river valleys (locally the Msunduze and its
tributaries are ideal sites) . With the cooler air now below, and
warmer air aloft, a stable stratification known as a temperatu re
inversion is establ ished. Should t he cooling continue to the
dewpoint temperature, some of the water vapour in the air w ill
condense to form a m ist or fog.
The next morn ing the obl ique rays of the rising sun will have
difficulty penetrating the air , as will a car 's full-beam head lights.
This drop in visibility is therefore a natural occurrence and is not
caused by ' po ll ut ion' . In a natural way, too, t he m ist or fog w ill lift
by mid-morning, evapo rate completely, and th e vapour will be
ready to start the whole cyc le again towards sunset. The stable
stratification may pe rsist all day , t hough in an altered or
weakened form .
However, should pollutants be released into t he stable air,
especially from low-level sources, the visib ility may be reduced
even further because many of the pollution particles are
'hygroscopic' - that is, they have an affin ity for wate r which
results in their growing larger by extracting water vapour from
Natal. The south-east win d over Pietermaritzburg is more
frequent in summer than in winter and has a greater
speed on average in summer.
During the night the wind dire ction is ma inly from the
west or north-west, again largely along the Msunduze
valley. It is also from the north-west that the unpleasant
Berg wind blows. This wind is not related to the direction
of any local valley but rather to a large-scale weather
situation covering perhaps one-third of the country. Berg
winds usually blow between April and September and
bring with them temperature rises of perhaps 5 to lOoC.
Fortunately when Berg winds die down they are often
replaced by far more pleasant conditions, with a cool,
cloudy movement of air from the south-west.
Winds from the north-east are more common at the coast
than at Pietermaritzburg but they do sometimes penetrate
inland. The winds are related to the large anticyclones
over the southern Indian Ocean.
t he air . In this w ay a pa ll of smoke is added to th e air and beco mes
t rapped in t he inversi o n layer.
Thus w hen t he Pieterm arit zburg basin is supposedly shrouded
in 'sm og', part w ill be ant hropogenic (sm oke) and part natural
(fog)- hence the word 'smog' .
The ratio of smoke to fog ove r Pietermaritzburg is unknown,
but the monthly average smoke levels recorded at the
Mun icipal ity's six stations leave little room for complacency on
the part of householder or indust rialist. The only other
atmospheric const ituent monitored at present is S02 - an
invi sible substance which, when comb ined with wa ter in t he
atmosphere , produces an acid.
In addi tion t o t hese two (the dus t and S02) there are
undoubtedly m any other pollutants presen t in the air . It is
probably t rue that at present the ave rage citizen ove rreacts,
particula rly in w inter, to the v isible inversion layer , and is
blissfully unawa re of t he poss ibly far mo re injurious, and
virtually un monitored, invi si ble poll utants. Bear ing in m ind loca l
t opog raphy , the prese nt level of po llu t ion , and the
incompleteness of t he pollution picture, one should perhaps
firm ly endorse the conclus ion reached by a CSIR ventilation
study : 'all industries sub ject to smo ke control should be situated
at least 100 metres above the floor of the Pietermaritzburg Basin
and, better st ill, above t he 762 metre (2500 ft) contour li ne .. .'
{Liebenberg, 1976).
(high) humidity values in the basin rather than high
temperatures that produce the feeling of discomfort in the
City on many a summer day, especially when ventilation
is low and the air is stagnant.
The humiture index may be obtained from temperature
(0 °C) and relative humidity (%) data using a specially de-
signed chart. There are probably between 3 and 5 da ys
during the average summer in Pietermaritzburg when
out-of-doors humiture values reach or exceed the danger-
ous 110 mark.
Pietermaritzburg faces wind from four main directions,
although not with equal frequencies. (See Fig. 4.)
The main daytime wind in the City is from the east or
south-east, a direction up the Msunduze valley. The south-
east wind may not be the only local wind controlled in its
direction by the delineation ofthe river valle y; other south-
east winds are linked to large-scale anticyclones ridging
south of the country. They can bring prolonged rainfall to
FOG OR SMOG? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,
Owen McGee
Commonly during the early evenings of w int er and especially
when the sky is clear , when co nditions are calm and w hen
hum idities are hig h near the surfa ce, t he land coo ls off rapid ly
through long-wave outgo ing radiat ion. Th is cool ing is
commun icated to the adjacent air w hich then increases in density
and slips down sloping ground to form cold air pools in any
depression, such as river valleys (locally the Msunduze and its
tributaries are ideal sites) . With the cooler air now below, and
warmer air aloft, a stable stratification known as a temperatu re
inversion is establ ished. Should t he cooling continue to the
dewpoint temperature, some of the water vapour in the air w ill
condense to form a m ist or fog.
The next morn ing the obl ique rays of the rising sun will have
difficulty penetrating the air , as will a car 's full-beam head lights.
This drop in visibility is therefore a natural occurrence and is not
caused by ' po ll ut ion' . In a natural way, too, t he m ist or fog w ill lift
by mid-morning, evapo rate completely, and th e vapour will be
ready to start the whole cyc le again towards sunset. The stable
stratification may pe rsist all day , t hough in an altered or
weakened form .
However, should pollutants be released into t he stable air,
especially from low-level sources, the visib ility may be reduced
even further because many of the pollution particles are
'hygroscopic' - that is, they have an affin ity for wate r which
results in their growing larger by extracting water vapour from
Natal. The south-east win d over Pietermaritzburg is more
frequent in summer than in winter and has a greater
speed on average in summer.
During the night the wind dire ction is ma inly from the
west or north-west, again largely along the Msunduze
valley. It is also from the north-west that the unpleasant
Berg wind blows. This wind is not related to the direction
of any local valley but rather to a large-scale weather
situation covering perhaps one-third of the country. Berg
winds usually blow between April and September and
bring with them temperature rises of perhaps 5 to lOoC.
Fortunately when Berg winds die down they are often
replaced by far more pleasant conditions, with a cool,
cloudy movement of air from the south-west.
Winds from the north-east are more common at the coast
than at Pietermaritzburg but they do sometimes penetrate
inland. The winds are related to the large anticyclones
over the southern Indian Ocean.
t he air . In this w ay a pa ll of smoke is added to th e air and beco mes
t rapped in t he inversi o n layer.
Thus w hen t he Pieterm arit zburg basin is supposedly shrouded
in 'sm og', part w ill be ant hropogenic (sm oke) and part natural
(fog)- hence the word 'smog' .
The ratio of smoke to fog ove r Pietermaritzburg is unknown,
but the monthly average smoke levels recorded at the
Mun icipal ity's six stations leave little room for complacency on
the part of householder or indust rialist. The only other
atmospheric const ituent monitored at present is S02 - an
invi sible substance which, when comb ined with wa ter in t he
atmosphere , produces an acid.
In addi tion t o t hese two (the dus t and S02) there are
undoubtedly m any other pollutants presen t in the air . It is
probably t rue that at present the ave rage citizen ove rreacts,
particula rly in w inter, to the v isible inversion layer , and is
blissfully unawa re of t he poss ibly far mo re injurious, and
virtually un monitored, invi si ble poll utants. Bear ing in m ind loca l
t opog raphy , the prese nt level of po llu t ion , and the
incompleteness of t he pollution picture, one should perhaps
firm ly endorse the conclus ion reached by a CSIR ventilation
study : 'all industries sub ject to smo ke control should be situated
at least 100 metres above the floor of the Pietermaritzburg Basin
and, better st ill, above t he 762 metre (2500 ft) contour li ne .. .'
{Liebenberg, 1976).