The Dome is so big it can only be seen from space - as in the image here (false colour highlighting the features). Come
to our Vredefort Dome information centre to learn all about the mightiest
asteroid impact of them all. The Unesco World Heritage Site draws tourists,
school and student groups, scientists and adventurers. We are 2km from the town
of Parys, on the Vaal River in central South Africa. Get hold of us to arrange
your visit and plan a tour to suit your interests - from geology to
battlefields, from driving and hiking to cycling and rafting.
My chapter in Essence of a Land: South Africa and its World Heritage Sites. Click to read.
Over the years I have written many articles and some chapters in books about the Vredefort Dome. It’s not just that the Dome fascinates as an object of scientific interest. It is also absorbing for what has happened here in the span of humanity’s lifetime – the migrations, wars and gold rush as well as recent ecotourism developments.
Moreover, the Dome resonates with the history of South Africa’s mixed heritage of human origins and cultures. The “first people” – the Bushmen – inhabited the plains around what is today Parys and probably fought skirmishes with the migrant Khoi people coming in from the North. The battles and reconciliations of SA history are highlighted on another page.
The Dome is a developing story and it takes time and effort to stay with it. So much more is being learnt about how our planet was born and evolved, with new findings on a daily basis. To keep tabs, I run a Twitter account @impactVDome and I welcome followers, so join. The more of us there are, the more the knowledge spreads.
Like many others I am drawn to the study of asteroids. Asteroids in any shape or form are figments of human fears, seen as threats to our very survival. But there is much to be said about asteroids that is positive and also holds out hope for the human future. We can mine them for minerals, or drag them to the Moon to supply us with water (many asteroids contain up to 40% water according to some estimates). They may also act as bus-stops on our way to the distant planets.
On this website I will be tracking articles, podcasts and videos of interest about the Dome and especially the planetary science of asteroids for fanatics like myself. So much is being researched and written that it is hardly possible to keep up. Elsewhere on the site I have set up a news aggregator where you can go to see the latest alerts and findings on asteroids and related topics.
Meanwhile here are some of my articles:
- What we can learn from the Mayans about the End of Days
- Antarctic crater under the ice is massive
- Earth-Moon collision was the biggest impact
- Bring the long-term benefits of the Dome back to Earth
- Stromatolites – the fossilised ‘rocks of life’
- BullsEye Earth (why the Dome is a World Heritage Site)
There are more, and as I find them I’ll put them up. Find them? Well, yes. Like any good journalist I lose total track of what I have written and where it appears. I even have to buy back my published books in second-hand shops because I have given so many copies away!
– Graeme Addison