This walking tour commences at the Rhodes Memorial and then participants proceed on foot up to the King’s Blockhouse, considering some rock exposures of ancient rock falls, the Malmesbury Group shale, and active erosion. From the King’s Blockhouse we traverse the contour trail to Tafelberg Road, seeing exposures of the Graafwater Formation, a recent rock fall and the contact between the highly deformed Malmesbury bedrock and the overlying horizontal Table Mountain Group sandstone beds. We then walk back to Rhodes Memorial along the lower contour road.


John Compton received his PhD in Earth Science from Harvard University in 1986 and taught at the School of Marine Science, University of South Florida before moving in 1996 to the Department of Geological Science, University of Cape Town(UCT).At UCT he taught a first-year introductory course on Earth and environmental sciences and, in collaboration with students and colleagues, he has published over 60 papers spanning a wide range of research topics. He is now emeritus and continues to work various research projects, as well as publishing natural history books(visit johnscompton.com).