Visit to Vredefort Impact Structure, South Africa November 1997

We were shown around by Uwe Reimold, of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Upturned Strata form a collar of resistant rocks around the structure

Shatter Cones are witness to the impact explosion

As are widespread Pseudotachylite deposits (rock melted in faults)

This is also a major goldbearing region - this mine goes down to 4km depth

Lots of Wildlife, of course, These lions at the Mala Mala game reserve

This Rhino at the Pilanesburg reserve

Elephant at Mala Mala

Also visited the Pretoria Saltpan impact crater (about the same size as, but much older (and hence more degraded than) Meteor crater in Arizona

Lion Pictures elephant Pictures Pseudotachylite Pictures Shatter Cone Pictures Ralph Home Page