Local News
Vredefort Dome no longer the world's largest meteorite crater─── DANE BEISHEIM 11:36 Tue, 24 Mar 2015
Parys - The Vredefort Dome is no longer the largest confirmed meteorite crater in the world, after an even bigger crater was discovered in outback Australia.
The Australian crater is about 416 kilometres in diameter, while the Vredefort Dome, near Parys in the Free State, is 298 kilometres.
The crater, about 700 kilometres north of Adelaide, was discovered last year, but its size was estimated at about 200 kilometres in diameter. The Telegraph reports that further investigations have revealed that the new crater consists of two parts, each with a diameter of about 200 kilometres.
Scientists suspect that the asteroid split into two parts before it crashed into the earth 300 million years ago. Each part was likely more than 10 kilometres in diameter.
Marianne Tredoux, a professor of geology at the University of the Free State, says it is difficult to determine the sizes of such craters.
The Vredefort Dome was created over 2,000 million years ago when a meteorite struck earth. It is the oldest crater made by either a meteorite or a comet and it is reportedly the site of the largest energy release in the world’s history.
Dane Beisheim/OFM News
Marianne Tredoux:
