Vredefort Crater: Earth's Largest Asteroid Impact Crater
Vredefort Crater also called Vredefort Dome, lies approximately 120 km south-west of Johannesburg named after the town of Vredefort, which is situated near its center. Dating back 2,023 million years, it is the oldest asteroid crater yet found on Earth. With a radius of 190 km, it is also the largest and the most deeply eroded. The original crater, now eroded away, was probably 250 to 300 kilometers in diameter.
Vredefort Dome bears witness to the world’s greatest known single energy release event, which had devastating global effects including, according to some scientists, major evolutionary changes. It provides critical evidence of the Earth’s geological history and is crucial to understanding of the evolution of the planet. The impact would have vaporized about 70 cubic kilometers of rock - and may have increased the earth's oxygen levels to a degree that made the development of multicellular life possible.
Despite the importance of impact sites to the planet’s history, geological activity on the Earth’s surface has led to the disappearance of evidence from most of them.
It contains high quality and accessible geological (outcrop) sites which demonstrate a range of geological evidences of a complex meteorite impact structure. A comprehensive comparative analysis with other complex meteorite impact structures demonstrated that it is the only example on Earth providing a full geological profile of an "astrobleme" below the crater floor, thereby enabling research into the genesis and development of an astrobleme immediately post impact.
The world has about 130 crater structures of possible impact origin. Of those the Vredefort Dome is the oldest and largest clearly visible meteorite impact site in the world.
Vredefort Dome bears witness to the world’s greatest known single energy release event, which had devastating global effects including, according to some scientists, major evolutionary changes. It provides critical evidence of the Earth’s geological history and is crucial to understanding of the evolution of the planet. The impact would have vaporized about 70 cubic kilometers of rock - and may have increased the earth's oxygen levels to a degree that made the development of multicellular life possible.
Despite the importance of impact sites to the planet’s history, geological activity on the Earth’s surface has led to the disappearance of evidence from most of them.
It contains high quality and accessible geological (outcrop) sites which demonstrate a range of geological evidences of a complex meteorite impact structure. A comprehensive comparative analysis with other complex meteorite impact structures demonstrated that it is the only example on Earth providing a full geological profile of an "astrobleme" below the crater floor, thereby enabling research into the genesis and development of an astrobleme immediately post impact.
The world has about 130 crater structures of possible impact origin. Of those the Vredefort Dome is the oldest and largest clearly visible meteorite impact site in the world.
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