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  • Book
  • © 2010

Meteorite Impact!

The Danger from Space and South Africa's Mega-Impact The Vredefort Structure

Authors:

  1. Wolf Uwe Reimold

    1. Museum Naturkunde, Inst. Mineralogie und Petrographie, Humboldt-Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany

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  2. Roger L. Gibson

    1. Dept. Geology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • A guide to one of the world's oldest and biggest meteorite impact structures
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Geoparks of the World (GEOWORLD, volume 1)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    PDF

  2.  

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 12-13
      PDF

  3. Part I

    1. The Early History of Earth — Impact, Volcanoes and Early Life

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 14-47

    2. Chaos and Catastrophe

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 48-99

    3. The Impact Heritage of Southern Africa

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 100-115

    4. Vredefort: The Largest and Oldest Impact Structure in the World

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 116-161

    5. The Recent History of the Vredefort Dome Area

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 162-213

    6. Frequently Asked Questions

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 214-223

    7. What Does the Future Hold for Humankind?

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 224-231

    8. Tourism in the Vredefort Dome

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 232-239

  4.  

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-2
      PDF

  5. Part II

    1. Tour Guide through the Vredefort Dome

      • Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson
      Pages 242-277

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 278-337
    PDF
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About this book

PART I CHAPTER 1 T E — , , . . . . . . . . . 15 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Geological change — the answers within, and without. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Man on the Moon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Back to the beginning — from the Big Bang to early Earth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Impact — the ubiquitous process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The oldest rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Time to cool — birth of the Kaapvaal continent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Old crust in the Vredefort Dome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Rifting, oceans, volcanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Mountains, fire and ice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The unique Bushveld magmatic event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 CHAPTER 2 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 49 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Extinction or survival — our restless Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Meteorite-impact catastrophes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Normal (background) versus mass extinctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 A brief look at the impact record in the Solar System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 What are the projectiles capable of causing an impact catastrophe?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 What is an impact crater? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 How can we identify impact structures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Shock metamorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 CHAPTER 3 T A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Tswaing meteorite crater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Does Tswaing have a twin? (Kalkkop Crater, Eastern Cape Province) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 South Africa’ s other Giant Impact Morokweng impact structure, — North West Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Our southern African neighbours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Testimony of earliest impact catastrophe — Barberton and the Northern Cape Province . . 113 Traces of catastrophe in the Karoo?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 6 CHAPTER 4 V : T W . . . 117 The Vredefort Structure revealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Getting to know the giant: By road through the Vredefort Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Traversing the outer parts of the Vredefort Dome (Fochville to Parys) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 5 The geology of the Vredefort Dome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Keywords

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Reviews

From the reviews of the third edition:

“Third edition of Meteorite Impact! … by Reimold (Museum for Natural History, Humboldt Univ., Germany) and Gibson (Univ. of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) is two things. First, it is an interesting, comprehensive field guide to an exceptional geologic site that warrants further exploration and interest. Second, it is a primer on Earth hazards with the typical popular-level approach. … content gives the reader an easily understandable and personable on-site perspective to this complex area. … Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates and general readers.” (L. R. Johnston, Choice, Vol. 48 (9), May, 2011)
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Authors and Affiliations

  • Museum Naturkunde, Inst. Mineralogie und Petrographie, Humboldt-Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Wolf Uwe Reimold

  • Dept. Geology, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Roger L. Gibson

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Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Meteorite Impact!

  • Book Subtitle: The Danger from Space and South Africa's Mega-Impact The Vredefort Structure

  • Authors: Wolf Uwe Reimold, Roger L. Gibson

  • Series Title: Geoparks of the World

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10464-0

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-10463-3Published: 23 June 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-10464-0Published: 02 June 2010

  • Series ISSN: 2190-6173

  • Series E-ISSN: 2190-6181

  • Edition Number: 3

  • Number of Pages: XI, 342

  • Number of Illustrations: 300 illustrations in colour

  • Additional Information: Originally published by Chris van Rensburg Publications (Pty) Ltd and the Council for Geoscience, 2005

  • Topics: Planetology

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Buy it now

eBook USD 84.99
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  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

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