What happened to the Vredefort meteorite?
What happened to the Vredefort meteorite?
The impact occurred southwest of what is now Johannesburg, South Africa, and temporarily made a 40-kilometer-deep and 100-kilometer-wide dent in the surface. Almost immediately after impact, the crater widened and shallowed as the rock below started to rebound and the walls collapsed.
How big was the meteorite that hit Vredefort?
The asteroid that hit Vredefort is estimated to have been one of the largest ever to strike Earth (at least since the Hadean Eon some four billion years ago), thought to have been approximately 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) in diameter.
When did the Vredefort asteroid hit?
two billion years ago
The asteroid that hit Vredefort was one of the largest ever to strike Earth since the Hadean eon. The Vredefort hit was some two billion years ago. The bolide is thought to have been about 5–10 km (3–6 miles) in diameter.
What is Vredefort?
Vredefort is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa with cattle, peanuts, sorghum, sunflowers and maize being farmed. It was this approximately 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) wide bolide that led to the preservation of the gold-bearing reefs of the Free State some 2.02 billion years ago.
How big was the asteroid that hit Vredefort?
The interrupted line circle, 300 km (190 mi) in diameter, marks the extent of the original crater. The asteroid that hit Vredefort is estimated to have been one of the largest ever to strike Earth (at least since the Hadean Eon some four billion years ago), thought to have been approximately 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) in diameter.
How big is the Vredefort impact crater in South Africa?
The Vredefort Impact Crater was formed when an asteroid struck Earth about two billion years ago in an area that is now the country of South Africa. At the time of formation, the crater is believed to have been about 300 kilometers across. Since then, the crater and its ejecta have been removed by weathering and erosion.
What was the speed of the Vredefort impact?
It is thought to have been traveling at a rate of about 20 kilometers per second. The impact of a dense object at that velocity would have vaporized tens of cubic kilometers of rock in an energy-intensive explosion.
Where is the Vredefort Dome in South Africa?
The crater site lies in the Free State and North West Provinces, near the towns of Parys and Vredefort and some 1.5 hours west of Johannesburg. No towns exist in the dome itself, but there are many farms. Almost the whole designated area is private land. That’s one of the reasons that the site is hard to visit.
