julia> cpt = makecpt(" -T-10000/2000/100 -Cgeo");
julia> psscale(cpt, B=:af, show=1, D="x8c/1c+w12c/0.5c+jTC+h", fmt=:png)

Checked and Matlab displays the same behavior, which doesn't rule out the possibility that error in gmtmex and the Julia wrapper mimicked it.