Note: Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Part I -- Chapter 1: The early history of Earth -- Introduction -- Geological change -- Man on the Moon -- Back to the beginning -- Impact -- The oldest rocks -- Time to cool -- Old crust in the Vredefort Dome -- Rifting, oceans, volcanism -- Mountains, fire and ice -- The unique Bushveld magmatic event -- Chapter 2: Chaos and catastrophe -- Introduction -- Extinction or survival -- Meteorite-impact catastrophes -- Normal (background) versus mass extinctions -- The Smoking gun! -- Vredefort -- A brief look at the impact record in the Solar System -- How did impact science getstarted? -- Craters on the Moon -- From the Moon to the Earth-Moon system -- The impact record on Earth -- The wealth within -- What are the projectiles capable of causing an impact catastrophe? -- Meteors and meteorites -- Large asteroids and comets -- What is an impact crater? -- How can we identify impact structures? -- Shock metamorphism -- Chapter 3: The impact heritage of southern Africa -- Tswaing meteorite crater -- Solving the riddle of the origin of Tswaing -- The search for the meteoritic projectile -- What do we know about the landscape in the Tswaing area prior to the impact? -- What would the catastrophe have been like? -- Were there any witnesses of the catastrophic impact at Tswaing? -- Does Tswaing have a twin? -- South Africa's other giant impact -- Our southern African neighbours -- Testimony of earlier impact catastrophes -- Traces of catastrophe in the Karoo? -- Chapter 4: Vredefort: the largest and oldest impact structure in the World -- The Vredefort Structure revealed -- Getting to know the giant -- Traversing the outer parts of the Vredefort Dome -- The Geology of the Vredefort Dome -- The unique rock formations and deformation in the Vredefort Dome -- The findings of the early Vredefort gealogists -- The second phase. , Craters and breccias -- Shock meta morphism -- The vredefort structure in the 1970s and 1980s -- What do dead elephants in Leningrad have to do with the Vredefort Structure? -- The third phase -- Shocked zircon and a precise agefor the impact event -- How big is 'big'? -- Vredefort research in the 21st century -- Vredefort -- Chapter 5: The recent history of the Vredefort Dome area -- Section 1: Travelling through time -- Introduction -- Stone Age Vredefort Dome -- The Iron Age -- Archaeological research on the Askoppies Late Iron Age site -- Archaeology of the historical period on the dome -- Section 2: Beyond the frontier history of the Vredefort Dome area -- The geographic setting -- Development of towns -- Treading on territorial toes -- Mineral resources -- The Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) -- After the war -- 20th Century developmentand growth -- Development of infrastructure -- Development of tourism -- Workers and forced removals -- Section 3: Flora and fauna of the Vredefort dome -- The Vredefort Dome plants (flora) in a geographical context -- The composition of the flora -- Which biome occurs on the VredefortDome? -- Veld types on the Vredefort Dome -- Factors that affect the vegetation -- The habitats on the Vredefort Dome -- The effect of geology on the vegetation of the Vredefort Dome -- Recent changes in habitats on the Vredefort Dome -- Woody vegetation in the Vredefort Dome -- Fauna in the Vredefort Dome -- Chapter 6: Frequently asked questions -- Frequently asked questions about the Vredefort impact event -- Where is the projectile responsible for the Vredefort impact? -- Do we know from which direction the Vredefort bolide came? -- Do we know how large the bolide was that caused the Vredefort catastrophe? -- Could any life forms have perished in this catastrophe?. , Would this impact have influenced further development of life? -- Can there be other impact structures of the size of Vredefort, not yet discovered on Earth? -- Major diamond, gold and platinum resources lie close to the Vredefort Dome. Why have no major ore deposits been found in the dome itself? -- Is Vredefort truly unique? -- Is the Cradle of Humankind related to the impact structure? -- Chapter 7: What does the future hold for humankind? -- What does the future hold for humankind? -- Chapter 8: Tourism in the Vredefort Dome -- Outlook -- The International Significance of the Vredefort Dome -- Part II -- Tour guide through the Vredefort Dome -- Stops 1-9: the core of the vredefort dome -- Stop 1: Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site Visitor Centre -- Stop 2: Inlandsee pan and the centre of the Vredefort impact structure -- Stop 3: Ancient oceanic crust at Greenlands -- Stop 4: Broodkop shear zone and bentonite mines -- Stop 5: Steynskraal pelitic granulites - a thermal record -- Stop 6: Pseudotachylitic breccia and gneisses, Parys -- Stop 7: Pseudotachylitic breccia and gneisses in the outer core -- Stop 8: Vredefort Granophyre and Bushman petroglyphs, Daskop -- Stop 9: Vredefort Granophyre and Dominion Group lavas, Iniekom -- Stops 10-22: The collar rocks of the vredefprt dome -- Stop 10: Rocks and metamorphism of the Central Rand Group (Witwatersrand Supergroup), Donkervliet valley -- Stop 11: Vaal River view site and alkali granite -- Stop 12: Gold mining in the Venterskroon area -- Stop 13: Shatter cones in the Booysens Formation, Rooderand -- Stop 14: Amazon gold reef, Rooderand -- Stop 15: Ventersdorp lavas, Askoppies Iron Age settlement and Anglo-Boer War sites on Tygerfontein farm -- Stop 16: Stromatolites and cave in Transvaal rocks of the western collar -- Stop 17: Schoemansdrift Bridge shatter cones. , Stop 18: Dwarsberg (Steenkampsberg) view site -- Stop 19: Rocks and metamorphism of the lower Witwatersrand Supergroup, Kommandonek Nature Reserve -- Stop 20: Impact-induced fold and view site, Parson's Rus -- Stop 21: Coesite-stishovite-bearing quartzite, Kromellenboog Stream -- Stop 22: Witwatersrand Supergroup quartzite, impact fault and Bobbejaanrant viewpoint, Smilin' Thru Resort -- Acknowledgements -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Appendices -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Appendix 3 -- Index.

Note: Impact Studies -- The Chesapeake Bay Crater -- Copyright -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Geological Framework of Impact Site -- 3 Geophysical Framework of Impact Site -- 4 The Primary Crater -- 5 Secondary Craters -- 6 Synimpact Crater-Fill Deposits -- 7 Initial Postimpact Deposits -- 8 Age of Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater -- 9 Geological Consequences of Chesapeake Bay Impact -- 10 Comparisons with Other Impact Craters -- 11 Comparisons Between lmpactites -- 12 Implications for Impact Models -- 13 Biospheric Effects of Chesapeake Bay Impact -- 14 Residual Effects of Chesapeake Bay Impact -- 15 Summary and Conclusions -- Appendix -- References -- Index.