Foreword; Part I; Chapter 1: The early history of Earth; Chapter 2: Chaos and catastrophe; Chapter 3: The impact heritage of southern Africa; Chapter 4: Vredefort: the largest and oldest impact structure in the World; Chapter 5: The recent history of the Vredefort Dome area; Chapter 6: Frequently asked questions; Chapter 7: What does the future hold for humankind?; Chapter 8: Tourism in the Vredefort Dome; Part II; Tour guide through the Vredefort Dome; Stops 1-9: the core of the vredefort dome; Stops 10-22: The collar rocks of the vredefprt dome; Acknowledgements; Bibliography
Summary
The impact of large extraterrestrial bodies (asteroids and comets) with Earth is an ever-present danger that humanity has only recently begun to recognise. Of the 175 impact craters found thus far on Earth, three giants stand out - Chicxulub in Mexico, Sudbury in Canada, and the Vredefort Impact Structure in South Africa. Each of these impact events catastrophically altered the global environment and was strong enough to drastically change life on our planet. The Vredefort Structure is the oldest and largest of these three giants and at about 300 km diameter it is nearly twice the size of the