​Prof Marlina Elburg

​Research Interests

Marlina’s research is focused on igneous petrology and geochemistry, and the application of geochemical analytical techniques to other fields of science, such as archaeology and conservation sciences. Together with colleagues and students, she has has worked on granites of the Australian Palaeozoic fold belts, mafic dykes of the Karoo province and island arc volcanics of the Indonesian and Aegean Arcs. Since arriving in South Africa in 2011, she has looked at the South African–Antarctic connection in the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents, focussing on the Natal Belt and eastern Dronning Maud Land (Sør Rondane). The Pilanesberg Alkaline Province and Namaqua pegmatite belts are other developing projects. Zircon studies have become a prominent part of her research, with the U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic systems as indicators for igneous process as well as sedimentary (re)cycling. The NRF-funded laser ablation multi-collector- and quadrupole-ICPMS instruments, which have been operational since February 2016, are important tools for these projects.

Marlina Elburg’s vital statistics are that she is an NRF B-rated scientist, with more than 140 peer-reviewed papers in international journals to her name. She has successfully (co)supervised sixteen MSc and seven PhD students, and is the scientific editor of the South African Journal of Geology, in addition to being Associate Editor of the Journal of Petrology. She has been the Head of Department of Geology since January 2022. In her spare time, she is a birdwatcher and likes cats, which admittedly is a bad combination.

Selected Recent Publications

• Andersen, T., Elburg, M.A., Kristoffersen, M., de Kock, M. (2024). Retrieving meaningful information from detrital zircon in Palaeoproterozoic sedimentary rocks: Provenance, timing of deposition, metamorphism and alteration of zircon in sandstones of the Pretoria Group in the Transvaal Basin, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 127, 473-454. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.127.0012

• Moyen, J.F., McCoy-West, A.J., Bruand, E., Millet, M.A., Nebel, O., Cawood, P.A., Saji, N., Ladwig, A., Klaver, M., Elburg, M. (2024). Felsic crust development in the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa: A reference sample collection to investigate a billion years of geological history. Earth-Science Reviews, 104680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104680

• Dal Bo, F., Friis, H., Elburg, M.A., Hatert, F., Andersen, T., 2024. Pilanesbergite: a new rock-forming mineral occurring in nepheline syenite from the Pilanesberg Alkaline Complex, South Africa. European Journal of Mineralogy, 36, 73-85. https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-36-73-2024

• Grantham, G., Elburg, M.A., Ueckermann, H., Iaccheri, L., Ngobeli, R., Moabi, N.G. , 2023. The age and chemistry of granitic gneisses from the western H.U. Sverdrupfjella, Maud Terrane, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Lithos 444-445, 107128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2023.107128

• Akoh, J.U., Elburg, M.A., Andersen, T., 2023. The Beacon Heights “Tinguaite” (Phonolite): A recrystallised agpaitic ignimbrite in the Mesoproterozoic Pilanesberg alkaline complex, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 126, 261-274. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.126.0017

• Hofmann, A., Jodder, J., Xie, H., Bolhar, R., Whitehouse, M., Elburg, M. (2022). The Archaean geological history of the Singhbhum Craton, India – a proposal for a consistent framework of craton evolution. Earth-Science Reviews 228, 103994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103994

• Andersen, T., Elburg, M. (2022). Open-system behaviour of detrital zircon during weathering: an example from the Palaeoproterozoic Pretoria Group, South Africa. Geological Magazine 159, 561-576. https://doi.org/10.1017/S001675682100114X

• Elburg, M.A., Cairncross, B. (2022). Controls on the geochemistry of southern African prehnite. South African Journal of Geology 125(1), 113-122. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.125.0007

• Kwayisi, D., Elburg, M., Lehmann, J. (2022). Preserved ancient oceanic lithosphere within the Buem structural unit at the eastern margin of the West African Craton. Lithos 410-411, 106585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2021.106585

• Van Niekerk, H.S., Elburg, M.A., Andersen, T., Armstrong, R.A. (2022) Provenance of metasedimentary rocks of the Kheis Terrane and Kakamas Domain: Support for accretionary tectonics during the development of the western Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province. South African Journal of Geology 125 (1), 61-78. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.125.0003

• Paprika, D., Hofmann, A., Agangi, A., Elburg, M., Xie, H., Hartmann, S. (2021). Age of the Dominion-Nsuze Igneous Province, the first intracratonic Igneous Province of the Kaapvaal Craton. Precambrian Research 363, 106335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106335

• Ballouard, C., Elburg, M.A., Harlov, D.E., Tappe, S., Knoper, M.W., Eglinger, A., Andreoli, M.A.G. (2021). Late-orogenic juvenile magmatism of the Mesoproterozoic Namaqua Metamorphic Province, South Africa, and relationships to granulite-facies REE-Th and iron oxide mineralizations. Journal of Petrology 62 (8), egab 059. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egab059

• Wang, C.-C., Wiest, J.D. Jacobs, J., Bingen, B., Whitehouse, M.J., Elburg, M.A., Sørstrand, T.S., Mikkelsen, L., Hestnes, Å. (2021). Tracing the Sveconorwegian orogen into the Caledonides of West Norway: geochronological and isotopic studies on magmatism and migmatization. Precambrian Research 362, 106301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2021.106301

External links

ORCID
Google Scholar