Kopjeskraal Country Lodge - Vredefort Dome Tours

South Africa became a signatory to the international World Heritage Convention in 1997.

In terms thereof it has the duty of ensuring the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage sites of uneversal value to mankind, on its territory. World Heritage starus is the highest form of protection in the world that can be awarded to a site.

The United Nations Education and Science Commission (UNESCO) is responsible to oversee that effective and active measures are taken for the protection conservation and presentation of World Heritage Sites by member states.

It has the power to inscribe and delist World Heritag Sites.

CRITERIA

The criteria for the declaration of a World Herige Site is that it must be o uneversal value to mankind, and that the state in whose territory if falls must be able to ensure that it is properly protected, conserved and managed. The process of declaring the Vredefort Dome a World Aheritage Site took 5 years.

OLDEST & LARGEST

In July 2005 dthe Vredefort Dome. being the world's oldest (2023 millions years), largest (350 km diameter) and most deeply eroded complex meteorite impact structure, was inscriced by UNESCO and South Africa's seventh World Heritage Site.

It is the only example on earth providing a full geologica profile of an astrobleme below the crater floor, thereby enabling research into the genesis and development of an astrobleme immediately post impact.

This declaration of th Vredefort Dome as a World Heritag Site put it om par with sites in South Arrica like Robben Island. Cradle of Humankind, Mapungubwe, St Lucia Wetlands Park and international sites like the pyramides of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef, the old city of Timbakry and others.

Approximately 60% of the site falls within th eNorth West Province(all of it within the municipal area o Potchefstroom) and 40% in theFree State Province.

Satelite image of circular structure

EVIDENCE

The following are the most important evidence of the Vredefort Dome being a meteorite impact structure. All thereof occur within the site:

Shape

the characteristic circular or ring shape of a meteorite impact structure and the annular syncline wich surrounds the inner mountainous ring.

Evidence of great energy release

the extreme physical conditions imposed by shock waves of impact intensity produce unique, recomnizable, durable shock metamorphic effects including planar deformation feature (microscopic features in quartz and feldspar); shatter comes; impact-related breccias or pseudo-tachylite; chocolate tablet brecciation (stress release in very hard rock type); polymorphs of quartz (coesite and stishovite); and, possible impact melting.

Structural features

The detachment surface or fault plane (above which the rock displacement occurred) is evident at the property in ramp faults that underlie neppes. There are multiple structural features associated with this metorite impact structure.

Material exposed on the surface

Thanks to the meteorite impact and rebound effects (and subsequent erosion), the coreportion of the nominated property represents the equivalent of a borehole, drilled into the earth to a depth of 25 km. Deep crustal rock types, including granulie-hornfels facies grade metomorphics, are found therein.

Breccias

WORLD HERITAGE OBLIGATIONS

Only a small part of the whole crater, namely the best preserved part of the central upliftment was included. The site includes the core area of approximately 40, 000 hectares, the buffer zone of 5 km around the core area, as well as three satelite sites. The core area, buffer zone and satellite sites together comprise the World Heritage sSite. It is at present managed by a steering committe headed by the departments of Environmental Affairs of the North West and Free State provinces.

The pre-amble to the World Heritage Convention Act 49 of 1999 reads as follows:

RECOGNISING that the cultural heritage and the natural heritage are among the priceless and irreplaceble possenssions, not only of the Republic, but of humankind as a whole;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the loss, through deterioration, disappearance or damage through inappropriate developnent of any of these most prized possessions, constitutes an impoverishnent of the heritage of all the peoples of the world and, in particular, the people of South Africa, this act is enacted.

In terms of the Convention and the Act, South Africa has the following obligations regarding the Vredefort World Heritage Site:

To protect, conserve, manage and present the site without compromising its interity.

UNESCO will visit the site during July 2007 to establish whether the necessary management plans are in place for the Vredefort Dome ensuring that South Africa does comply with its obligations in terms of the Convention