M.Sc. (Geology) / The study was undertaken to investigate the stratigraphic and sedimentological character of the transition between the Ecca and Beaufort Groups in the northeastern region of the main Karoo basin. Detailed stratigraphic profiles demonstrate that the transition comprises a regressional sequence of dark basinal shale overlain by sandy delta-lobe deposits. This is overlain by lenticular sandstones and shale representing meandering stream deposits. The deltaic sedimentary rocks vary markedly along strike and record deposition in four different deltaic sUbenvironments, namely: (A) "Normal" central delta lobe areas characterized by distal mouth bar sandstone-shale rhythmites gradationally overlain by proximal distributary mouth bar sandstones. (B) Interdistributary bay areas characterized by stacked thin upward-coarsening shale-sandstone cycles. (C) Areas of strong distributary channel erosion where prodelta shale deposits are erosively overlain by distributary or fluvial channel sandstones. No distributary mouth bar deposits are present. (D) Storm-dominated areas comprising prodelta sedimentary rocks which are in turn overlain by storm and possible barrier sand deposits. Palaeocurrent directions indicate that sediment transport was from the north-west, north and north-east. The concentrations of the trace elements B, V, Zn and Ni in prodelta shales indicate the possible prevalence of both marine and freshwater conditions in the near-coastal waters of the Ecca basin. Lateral variation of depositional environments on the same stratigraphic level makes the placing of the Ecca-Beaufort contact based on genetic criteria unsuitable. It is therefore suggested that purely lithostratigraphic criteria be used. On this basis the Ecca-Beaufort contact is taken at the base of the first prominent sandstone which overlies the Volksrust Shale Formation.

M.Sc. / The Late Carboniferous to early Jurassic Karoo Supergroup of South Africa witnessed two of the “big five” Phanerozoic mass extinction events, and the formation and subsequent break-up of the supercontinent Pangea. The closure of the Permian Period witnessed the greatest biotic crisis in the history of life. What is known about the Permian-Triassic boundary (hereafter referred to as the PTB) comes almost exclusively from marine successions in Europe and Asia. Although a major extinction event has been recognized in terrestrial successions, surprisingly little is known about its effects and timing. The exact placement of the PTB in the Karoo basin is not well constrained due to shortcomings of stratigraphic methods employed to date. This has made it extremely difficult to correlate the mass extinction events in the marine and non-marine environments; however, paleomagnetic studies could provide answers to both problems of absolute placement and correlation of the PTB in non-marine and marine successions. The PTB appears to lie within an interval of reversed polarity in many marine successions. A detailed magnetostratigraphic survey across the presumed PTB in the Karoo succession at localities in the north and south of the main Karoo Bain reveal two magnetic chrons, reversed followed by normal (with the boundary close to the reversal), which extends to slightly younger results from a previous study that identified an N/R pattern, thereby identifying a R/N/R pattern. The normal chron might correlate with the long basal Triassic normal polarity interval and the reversed polarity zones above and below it known from marine successions in the Alps, Russia, Pakistan and China. The PTB is thought to be situated coincident with the LAD of Dicynodon and the event bed of Ward et al. (2000), apparently above but not necessarily diachronous with a lithology change from predominantly green- to predominantly red mudstone. This placement falls within a normal polarity interval, but could conceivably have taken place at a time of reverse polarity due to delayed acquisition of magnetic remanence. The idea of an extraterrestrial impact as the cause of the end-Permian mass extinctions is strongly enhanced by a synchronous relationship between them. The configuration of the supercontinent Pangea during this time of earth history has been the matter of debate for the last three decades, with numerous alternative reconstructions to the classic Pangea A1 having been proposed for the time preceding the Jurassic. Paleomagnetic data from the Karoo allow for the definition of a new paleopole for West Gondwanaland, which prove a valuable tool for evaluating these various reconstructions. It is neither consistent with a Pangea B-type not C reconstruction for Pangea during this time interval, because of geological ambiguities. The most likely solution to the problem is that of a persistent non-dipole field contribution to the geomagnetic field during this time. Approximately 50 million years later Pangea was unambiguously in a classic Pangea A1 configuration, and life on earth suffered yet another set back. The end-Triassic mass extinction, which marks the sequence boundary between the Triassic and the Jurassic, has not received as much attention as the other four big Phanerozoic biotic disasters. In the Karoo a pronounced turnover in faunal assemblages from typical Triassic fauna to Jurassic Fauna (dinosaurs) is seen in the Elliot Formation. Magnetostratigraphic study of localities in the north and south of the Karoo Basin provided a magnetic zonation pattern for the Elliot Formation, a tool that has led to the constraining of the sequence boundary to the transition from the lower Elliot Formation to the middle Elliot and added to the hypothesis that the faunal turnover is globally synchronous. The determination of a paleolatitude for the Elliot Formation in combination with characteristically arid lithologies (eolian sandstones) provided the base for the evaluation of the paleoclimate that characterized Pangea during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic. Key words: Karoo Basin, Magnetostratigraphy, Mass Extinction, Paleoclimate, Paleogeography, Paleomagnetism, Pangea, Permian-Triassic, Triassic-Jurassic

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The Western Klein Karoo-Montagu area is located in the mid-eastern of the Western Cape Province , South Africa. In most of the study areas within semi-arid climatic zone , groundwater plays an important role in meeting both agricultural and urban water requirements. Developments of agriculture depend on more and more groundwater supply from Table Mountain Group (TMG) sandstone aquifer system in the study area. Groundwater recharge is considered as one of the most important factors governing the sustainable yield of groundw ater exploitation. There have been few studies on the recharge estimation of the TMG aquifer system in the Montagu area. Thus accurate and reliable recharge estimation of the TMG aquifer system in the Montagu area is important. The TMG aquifer in the Montagu area comprises approximate 4,000m thick sequence of sandstone with an outcrop area of 3,124 km2, which is recharge area. The outcrops are characterized by mountainous topography with sparse to dense vegetation, shallow and intermittent diverse soils and mean annual rainfall of 350-450 mm/yr. Based on detail analysis and interpretation of factors influencing recharge, water balance method is used to estimate recharge rates by using readily available data (rainfall, runoff, temperatures). Other estimate methods are difficult to be applied due to the limited information available in the study area. In this study, the water balance approach based on empirical evapotranspiration and runoff model is employed to determine and analyse long-term average water recharge. The long-term average recharge is modelled as a function of the regional interaction of the site conditions: climate, soil, geology and topography. Modelling is performed according to the outlined procedure using long-term climatic and physical data from the different rainfall period of different gauge stations. As results, actual evapotranspiration, direct runoff and recharge have been quantified. The recharge ranges vary from 0.1 mm/yr to 38.0 mm/yr in the study area, and the values less than 20.0 mm/yr are predominant. Relatively low recharge rates coincide with low precipitation in most regions. Recharge is less than 5.0 mm/yr if mean annual precipitation (MAP) is less than 400 mm/yr. The ranges of 10.0-20.0 mm/yr of recharge occur in precipitation ranging from 600 mm/yr to 1,200 mm/yr. The recharge rates exceeding 20.0 mm/yr are more related to the precipitation with 800 mm/yr or more. The low recharge rates less than 2.0 mm/yr are related to single high rainfall event in the study area. The total recharge volume of the outcrop of the TMG in the study area is approximately 54.2× 106m3/yr . Approximately 29.3% of the stream flow may be contributed by recharge in terms of baseflow. The recharge in the study area increases with increasing precipitation, but recharge percentage is non-linear relationship with the precipitation. Separate high rainfall events mainly contribute recharge if annual precipitation is extremely low in the study area. Spatial distribution of recharge is associated with the variations in precipitation, geological and geomorphologic settings in the study area. The method used yields a point estimate and then ext rapolate s to the whole study area. The ranges of recharge may be exaggerated or underestimated due to the finite number of the rainfall stations in the outcrop of the TMG of the study area. After comparison to other recharge estimates from early studies in the area, the estimates are considered as reasonable and reliable. The feasibility of the water balance approach in semi-arid area is confirmed as well. The estimates based on the water balance model should be crosschecked before they are applied for management of groundwater resources. / South Africa

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Lab conducted proximate analysis of coal bearing rock units calculates the weight percentage of ash, moisture, fixed carbon and volatile matter through a series of combustion steps. The data obtained is quintessential in establishing the coal rank and in the case of coal bed methane the gas-in-place estimates. In this study 105 proximate analysis samples, from 7 drilled wells, are taken from the south-eastern Kalahari Basin in Botswana. The pseudo proximate analysis, the method proposed in this thesis, calculates the lab proximate analysis results using the neutron, density and gamma ray wireline logs. The uniqueness of the method lies in the fact that no cut off values are needed for the wireline logs, nor are the results of the lab proximate analysis required for calibration. An in depth study of the relationship between the wireline logs and proximate analysis is conducted using a principle component analysis and the results tested using a combination of statistical techniques to determine the significance of the relationship. It is shown that the density and neutron logs model the proportion of ash and volatile matter in the rock matrix, respectively, with a high degree of accuracy. The multiple regression analysis shows that percentages fixed carbon and moisture components of the rock matrix correlate poorly to the proposed well logs, thus most error lies in the determination of these two components. It is statistically proven that the pseudo proximate analysis results are significantly different to the lab measured proximate analysis. This implies that the proposed pseudo proximate analysis method is unable to accurately determine the components of a coal bearing rock matrix using the density, neutron and gamma ray wireline logs. The application of the proposed method is a model to identity the coal bearing rock matrix and provide a predictive estimation of the coal quality, a priori lab measured data.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The Kalahari Karoo Basin is one of several basins in southern Africa filled with Late Carboniferous to Jurassic sediments that are primary targets for Permian aged coal. In order to determine the Coalbed Methane (CBM) potential of the Central Kalahari Karoo Basin, 9 exploration boreholes were drilled. Vitrinite reflectance (%Ro) and proximate analysis were conducted on cored coal intervals. Passey’s ΔLogR method used in this thesis employs the use of resistivity and porosity logs to identify and quantify total organic carbon (%TOC) in potential source rocks. Compared with lab measured %Fixed Carbon, the results showed that Passey’s ΔLogR method effectively identifies coal intervals as organic enriched. In terms of %TOC calculations, the method works poorly in coal metamorphosed by dolerite intrusions. These heat affected coal samples display %Ro from 0.77% to 5.53% and were increased in rank from primarily sub-bituminous to higher ranking volatile bituminous and finally to anthracitic coal. Their higher level of organic metamorphism (LOM), accompanying compositional changes and increased density associated with accelerated coal rank seem to have hindered the method in its estimations or lack thereof. Compositional changes in the coal were controlled by proximity to sill intrusion, with a decrease in fixed carbon and volatile matter, and increases in ash and moisture in the contact metamorphism zone (2-12m from sill). In heat unaltered coal that has undergone normal burial maturation characterized by %Ro of 0.44% to 0.65%, the method works very well even attaining accuracy in some samples. In unintruded boreholes CH1 and CH6, correlations between fixed carbon and generated %TOC curves indicate strong relationships with R2 from 0.70 to 0.83. Therefore, it was found that Passey’s ΔLogR method can be applied effectively on coal that has undergone normal burial maturation only.

The Hantam-Tanqua-Roggeveld subregion is located within the Succulent Karoo and Fynbos Biomes, in the predominately winter rainfall area of the Northern and Western Cape Provinces. A phytosociological analysis identified and mapped eight plant associations and 25 subassociations. Forty Whittaker plots were surveyed to quantify the botanical wealth in the area. Each plant association produced its own species-area curves, with the curves of the Mountain Renosterveld and Winter Rainfall Karoo more similar to one another than to the Tanqua Karoo. Species richness was highest for Mountain Renosterveld, intermediate for Winter Rainfall Karoo and lowest for Tanqua Karoo vegetation. The Mountain Renosterveld and Winter Rainfall Karoo values for evenness, Shannon and Simpson indices were not significantly different, but these values were significantly higher than for the Tanqua Karoo. An ordination of diversity data confirmed a clear Tanqua Karoo cluster, but the Mountain Renosterveld could only be partially separated from the Winter Rainfall Karoo. Chamaephyte, cryptophyte and therophyte species dominated the study area. Comparisons of life form spectra among associations showed clear differences at a species and vegetation cover level. The percentage contribution of succulent species was low in Mountain Renosterveld, intermediate in Winter Rainfall Karoo and highest in the Tanqua Karoo. Results confirmed the Tanqua Karoo and Winter Rainfall Karoo inclusion into the Succulent Karoo Biome and the strong karroid affinities of the Mountain Renosterveld. Abandoned croplands of various ages surveyed in the Roggeveld revealed that species richness increased with age yet no similar increase in evenness, Shannon or Simpson indices was found. An abandoned cropland of approximately 33-years should be as species rich as the natural vegetation but was floristically still very different. Recovery rates of the different life forms varied across the different ages of the abandoned croplands. A ten-year post-fire study in the Mountain Renosterveld indicated that species richness and Shannon index values usually reached a maximum within three years and then declined. A Principal Co-ordinate Analysis of species compositional data separated the first two years from the following eight years. Succession seemed to follow the ‘initial floristic composition’ model of Egler (1954). / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Plant Science / unrestricted

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The Karoo in South Africa is an area in which petroleum studies are being reviewed with particular interest, especially within the Tanqua and Laingsburg subbasins of the Karoo. The particular formations of interest comprises of the Laingsburg, Fort Brown, Kookfontein and Vischkuil of the Upper Ecca group, located within the Laingsburg subbasin as well as the Kookfontein formation found within the Tanqua subbasin. The present work dealt with interpreting and distinguishing the different types of source rock lithologies, to identify the source rock zones and organic matter within the Laingsburg, Fort Brown, Kookfontein and Vischkuil formations. This was achieved by utilising different geochemical analyses (such as rock eval pyrolysis and TOC) and organic chemistry (XRD) to assess the maturity, mineralogy and the quality of the source rocks.

Fine-grained sedimentary rocks of the Lower Permian lower Ecca Group in the Main Karoo Basin (MKB) in southern Africa have been identified to form a possible unconventional hydrocarbon reservoir, the gas potential of which is still relatively unknown. The lower Ecca Group is comprised of flysch-like successions of the Prince Albert, Whitehill and Collingham formations, which were impacted by diagenesis as well as contact and regional and metamorphism. Studies of fine-grained sedimentary rocks are notoriously complex as mechanical breakdown and diagenesis result in mineralogical changes and loss of source rock information. Therefore, a variety of analytical techniques are required for their thorough investigation. In this study, we analyse Permian rocks from two boreholes (KZF-1 and KWV-1) that were drilled ~ 830 km apart in the western and eastern MKB, respectively, and compare their composition, thermal maturity and petrophysical characteristics to better assess the hydrocarbon potential of the lower Ecca Group. In addition, whole rock geochemistry is used to reconstruct the palaeo-environment and provenance settings. Lastly, we investigate the influence of shale composition, porosity, well pressure and temperatures on their geomechanical properties such as compressive strength and elastic moduli. Sedimentary rocks in both boreholes were affected by burial and regional metamorphism (linked to orogenic events), but the sedimentary rocks in BH KWV-1 were also altered by contact metamorphism due to dolerite intrusions in the Early Jurassic. Major mineralogical differences between the boreholes include: 1) Fesilicate (greenalite); carbonates (rhodochrosite and dolomite) and Mn nodules (birnessite) being found only in BH KZF-1; and 2) metamorphic minerals such as garnet, cordierite, staurolite being found only in BH KWV-1. The results show that these rocks are over mature as evidenced by the low quantity of free hydrocarbons (S1 peak; 0.02–0.06 mg/g) and potential to release hydrocarbons (S2 peak; 0.06– 0.14 mg/g) and low hydrogen index (HI) values (2.40–167 mg HC/g TOC) from Rock Eval pyrolysis accompanied with high vitrinite/bitumen reflectance (BH KZF-1 is VRo= 4 and BH KWV-1 is BRo= 5). The total organic carbon (TOC) content is the highest in the Whitehill Formation in both boreholes (BH KZF-1: 5.17 wt%; BH KWV-1: 4.87 wt%). Burial diagenesis significantly reduced interparticle porosity and most of the measurable porosity comes from intraparticle nano-pores confined to organic matter v and dolomite. Meso- and macro-porosity are limited to phyllosilicates, pyrite framboids and microfractures. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) is highest for the Prince Albert Formation (72– 78) as the palaeo-environment changed from an ice-house to a green-house, postglacial period in southern Gondwana. Enrichment of trace elements in BH KZF-1 and BH KWV-1 are in order: Mn > Ba > Zn > Co > Cu > V > Rb > Cr > Ni; and for BH KWV-1: Mo > Ba > Cu > Zn > Mn > V > Co > Cr > Rb > Ni. Geochemical proxies used in determining levels of anoxia were: V/Cr, V(V+Ni), Ni/Co and Fe-S-TOC plots. Salinity was deduced using Rb/K ratios and with identification of potential benthic foraminifera and minerals such as apatite, birnessite and phosphate nodules, which are assumed to be syn-sedimentary in origin. Overall, the geochemical results indicate that the depositional conditions fluctuated with respect to anoxia, salinity levels, and that while the sedimentation rates were low and the bio-productivity level was high, at least episodically. Provenance was investigated using Discriminant Function Diagrams, Principle Component Analysis Results (PCA), Zr/Ti ratios and the Index of Compositional Variability (ICV). Results indicate that the Prince Albert and Whitehill formations in the western MKB comprises sediment that was mostly sourced from the Cambrian to Late Carboniferous Cape Granite Suite, Cape Supergroup, the Dwyka Group and possibly the Precambrian Kango Group (Saldania Belt) and/or the Namaqua-Natal Belt. The Prince Albert and Whitehill formations in the eastern MKB have a mafic signature, indicating that these sediments may have been derived from the PermoCarboniferous Dwyka Group, Precambrian Kaapvaal Craton, Natal Belt (Tugela Terrane), Natal Group and the Pan-African Mozambique and Maud Belts. The mudstone and wackes in the Collingham Formation were mostly sourced from the quartz-arenites and granites that were most likely associated with the Cape Fold Belt, the orogen immediately adjacent to and largely coeval with the MKB. Geomechanical results from BH KZF-1 show that the lower Ecca Group has a high proportion (~ 50–70 vol%) of mechanically strong minerals (e.g., quartz, feldspar, pyrite), ~ 30–50 vol% weak minerals (e.g., clay, organic matter) and up to ~ 0–50 vol%, highly variable, intermediate components (e.g., carbonates). Constant strain rate deformation experiments (T ≤ 100 °C; p ≤ 50 MPa) and compressional tests performed perpendicular and parallel to bedding show that the Prince Albert Formation is the strongest and most brittle followed by the Collingham Formation and then the Whitehill Formation. Triaxial compressive strength as well as static Young's vi moduli increased with increasing hard minerals and decreased with increasing mechanically weak minerals and porosity. On comparison with European and American shales, the shales in the lower Ecca Group are geomechanically stronger and more brittle, and thus may allow for fracture propagation without rock breakdown under pressure. The lower Ecca Group varies from the western to the eastern MKB in mineralogy, thermal maturity, palaeo-depositional environment and provenance. These observations directly challenge the previous assumptions that these black shales were deposited under predominantly anoxic conditions. Indeed, during deposition, the levels of anoxia appear to have been inconsistent across the MKB and were likely dependent on the changing primary bio-productivity levels, sedimentation rates and basin morphology. Neither borehole contained significant gas, likely due to degasification by dolerite intrusions in the Early Jurassic and structural deformation during syn- and post-Karoo times. In summary, this study quantitatively confirms that the lower Ecca Group has the potential to be an easily frackable, unconventional shale gas reservoir. However, this study also attests to the compositional and geomechanical complexity of these Karoo rocks, and this inevitably translates to a gas potential that is expected to vary significantly across the basin.

Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology) / Human-wildlife conflict is an ongoing issue worldwide. Within South Africa, human-carnivore conflict (HCC) as a result of carnivore depredation on small-livestock causes large-scale losses, and promotes the use of predator management tools by farmers. Despite being one of the major offenders involved in HCC, caracals, and their ecology in particular, are understudied. This is mainly due to high levels of persecution, coupled with their elusive nature. Within the Karoo region of South Africa, pastoralists make use of large-scale lethal predator controls in an attempt to remove the offenders, or non-lethal predator controls to protect livestock and deter predators. However, the effects of these various predator control techniques on caracal ecology have not been widely tested. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were, firstly, to assess caracal diet on lethal and non-lethal treatment farms in the Karoo; secondly, to investigate the drivers of caracal habitat selection on a non-lethal farm in the Karoo; and finally, to evaluate caracal activity patterns on the non-lethal farm.

MScAgric / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Little Karoo region of South Africa stretches from Montagu in the west, through Barrydale on the Langeberg Mountain, towards Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn and De Rust in the east, with the Swartberg mountain range in the north. The Wine of Origin district of Calitzdorp is a small, demarcated area around Calitzdorp in the Little Karoo, surrounded by the Rooiberg, Swartberg and Kleinberg mountains. With a mean February temperature (MFT) of 23.7ºC and a low annual rainfall of 233 mm, the district of Calitzdorp has a similar climate to that of the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR). The MFT is comparable to the DDR mean July temperature, and it seems that the Douro Superior sub-region to the east of the DDR has a mean July temperature of higher than 25°C. In the Cima Corgo sub-region (in the centre of the DDR), and the Baixo Cargo sub-region, the mean July temperatures are ±25°C and ±22°C respectively. Annual rainfall in the DDR is much higher, with Baixo Cargo recording 1 018 mm, Cima Corgo recording 658 mm and Douro Superior in the east recording only 437 mm. Touriga Naçional is one of the highest quality Portuguese red grape varieties. It produces high-quality port-style wine as well as table wines. Excellent quality Touriga Naçional wines have a dark black/purple colour, good extract, high, elegant tannin content and intense aromas, with typical plum, raisin, wild fruit, mulberry, “fynbos” and cherry aromas. The most suitable terroir for Touriga Naçional in the DDR has been found to be on sites that restrain the natural vigour of the grapevine. Soils with moderate to low water-holding capacity, in association with low rainfall, result in water deficits during the growing season and are considered optimal to restrict growth vigour. A steep, northern middle slope is ideal in the southern hemisphere for high temperatures and sunlight interception. Warm temperatures (25 to 30 °C) during the day and cooler temperatures during the night are optimal for photosynthesis and colour development. In order to study factors affecting the quality of Touriga Naçional in Calitzdorp, two Vitis vinifera L. cv. Touriga Naçional commercial vineyards in the Calitzdorp district were selected. Each vineyard was divided into two separate management blocks based on their empirically determined quality of production. Two crop-reduction treatments, the standard 50% crop reduction (which was considered to be the control) and a further less drastic treatment of 25% crop reduction, were applied. Significant differences were found in viticultural performance between the two adjacent Touriga Naçional management blocks in each vineyard, especially with respect to vigour. The upper management blocks, which provided grapes for reserve-quality port-style wines, experienced a higher water deficit due to the moderate soil water-holding capacity and higher temperatures in comparison to the lower sites. The higher water deficits had a restraining effect on the Touriga Naçional vines, and therefore the upper sites had lower vigour, which contributed to better quality of both the wine and port-style wine, and this could be recognised sensorially. However, it was not reflected in the chemical analytical results. Crop load also appeared to have an effect on the Touriga Naçional grapevines, but this appeared to be dependent on the management block. The 50% crop reduction had a significant positive effect on the sensory analyses, but did not significantly affect the chemical analyses. Calitzdorp terroir has a similar effect on Touriga Naçional compared to the DDR terroir, and that is why Calitzdorp can produce good table and port-style wines from Touriga Naçional. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Klein Karoo-streek in Suid Afrika strek vanaf Montagu in die weste, deur Barrydale teen die Langeberg, na Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn en De Rust in die ooste, met die Swartberg in die noorde. Die distrik van Calitzdorp is ‘n klein area rondom Calitzdorp, in die Klein Karoo, wat deur die Rooiberg, Swartberg en Kleinberg omring is. Calitzdorp het ‘n gemiddelde Februarie-temperatuur (GFT) van 23.7°C en ‘n lae jaarlikse reënval van 223 mm, wat soortgelyk is aan die klimaat van die Douro Vallei in Portugal. Die Douro Vallei se gemiddelde Julie-temperatuur (GJT) in vergelyking met die GFT van Calitzdorp is hoër, met temperature van meer as 25°C in die substreek Douro Superior. Vir die substreke Cima Cargo en Baixo Cargo is die GJT ±25°C en ±22°C onderskeidelik. Die jaarlikse reënval is ook hoër by Baixo Cargo, met 1 018 mm, Cima Cargo met 658 mm en Douro Superior met slegs 437 mm. Touriga Naçional is een van die beste Portugese rooi kultivars wat hoëkwaliteit tafel- en portwyne produseer. ‘n Tipiese hoëkwaliteit Touriga Naçional-wyn het ‘n swartpers kleur, hoë ekstrak, hoë elegante tanniene en intense aromatiese geure wat tipiese pruim, rosyne, wilde vrugte, moerbei, fynbos en kersie aromas insluit. Die geskikste terroir vir Touriga Naçional is op swak gronde wat die natuurlike groeikrag van die wingerdstok strem. Gronde met matige tot lae grondwaterhouvermoë tesame met lae reënval veroorsaak ‘n waterstremming in die wingerdstok gedurende die groeiseisoen en word as optimaal beskou omdat dit beheersde groei veroorsaak. In die suidelike halfrond word relatief steil, noordelike middelhange as ideaal beskou vir hoë temperature en maksimale sonligonderskepping. Gepaardgaande hiermee is die interne dreinasie verantwoordelik vir vinniger uitdroging van die grond. Hoë temperature (25 tot 30°C) gedurende die dag en koue nagte is optimaal vir fotosintese en kleurontwikkeling. Twee Vitis vinifera L. cv. Touriga Naçional kommersiële wingerde in die Calitzdorp-distrik is geselekteer en in twee afsonderlike bewerkingsblokke verdeel, gebaseer op kwaliteitsverskille. In elke blok was die verdeling van so ‘n aard dat daar ‘n hoërliggende helfte en ‘n laerliggende helfte was. Twee trosverminderingsbehandelings, nl. 50% (kontrole) en 25%, gebaseer op trosgetalle, is toegepas. By elkeen van die wingerde was daar betekenisvolle groeiverskille tussen die twee aangrensende helftes. Die boonste helftes (of gedeeltes) het minder gegroei a.g.v. ‘n hoër waterstremming sowel as hoër temperatuur as die laer helftes. Dit het geblyk om ‘n positiewe invloed op die kwaliteit van beide die tafel- en portwyne uit te oefen. Troslading het ook ‘n effek op die Touriga Naçional-wingerde gehad, maar dit blyk of dit blok-afhanklik is. Die 50% trosverminderingsbehandeling het ‘n beduidende positiewe verskil in die sensoriese analises gemaak, maar nie ‘n beduidende verskil in die chemiese analises van die wyne nie. Calitzdorp se terroir het ‘n soortgelyke effek op Touriga Naçional as dié van die DDR terroir en daarom kan Calitzdorp soortgelyke goeie tafel- en portwyne van Touriga Naçional produseer.