Vredefort Dome

The Vredefort Dome is the oldest, largest and most deeply eroded known meteorite impact structure on earth, with a radius of 190km. The bolide that fell here is estimated to have been more than 10km wide, though the original structure could have been as large as 250km in diameter.

The Vredefort Dome therefore bears witness to the Earth's greatest and oldest known energy release event - more than 87 million megatons of energy were released on impact. The event occurred about 2 billion years ago during the Paleoproterozoic era, and caused massive global changes, including dramatic alterations in the evolution of species.

The Vredefort Dome is important evidence of Earth's geological and paleological history, and was inscribed as a World Heritage Site on this basis.

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