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A Special Honour: - Meritorious Service Award to: Manfred Hauger –
SAGA recognise his long term contributions of 50 years to the South African
geophysical community.
Manfred Hauger was born on 25
September 1930 at Grootfontein in South
West Africa. He started primary school in
1937 at Otavi. He started secondary
school in 1944 in Windhoek. He attended
the HPS German school. He started a
B.Sc with Geology at the University of
Pretoria in 1952, with Simon Zacht and
Prof. Lombaard. He could not finish his
studies due to finances. The funding he
should have received from family in East
Germany could not reach him due to the
Berlin Wall.
Manfred started to work in February 1953
as a technician at the Geological Survey
of South Africa. He started field work in
April 1953 near Hammanskraal. They
stayed in a field camp with tents. They
did the siting of boreholes for
groundwater near Hammanskraal, using
the Gane-Enslin Resistivity equipment.
The PARI instrument (Phase Amplitude
Ratio Instrument) was also used. It was a
Tube driven Electromagnetic system. It
used a round Tx loop with a 1.5kw 220V
generator. This system was very
sensitive to vertical structures and thus
good for groundwater. Manfred had and
still has an extensive knowledge of tubes,
and was able to fix the PARI system.
He also did groundwater exploration for
the Department of Agriculture on the
Springbok Plane. The purpose was to
find boreholes that can deliver more than
10 000 Gallons per hour to irrigate
tobacco fields. They suspected this will
destroy the aquifer, which happened 9
years later.
He developed the first water level
instrument in South Africa to replace the
old wet measuring tape system. It used
a voltmeter and was more accurate.
Multiple copies of this system were built
by the Geological Survey.
In 1954 he did the first geophysical
surveys that started the Rooiberg Tin
mine. He could map the faults and
dykes. A survey near Messina was done
to detect the shallow dipping Copper
beds in the area.
He did a self potential survey near
Barberton in 1955. This started the
beginning of Barbrook Goldmine. To be
more mobile Manfred got himself a
caravan. He did water divining for all the
railway stations between Warrenton and
Kimberley. Water was needed for the
small communities that serviced the
stations, but more so for the steam
engines.
In 1955, Bellsbank, close to Barkley West
opened for diamond prospectors and
diggers. He was commissioned to detect
the Kimberlite Dykes and Fishers. The
large contrast in resistivity between the
Kimberlites and the Dolomites produced
very good results. The thickness varied
between 10cm to 10m. It is a very dry
and arid place with dry boreholes.
Editor: Stoffel Fourie
sfourie@csir.co.za
August 2008 No.1