The weird black and pink rock I'm stood next to its called Pseudo-tachylite and it formed in a spectacular and cataclysmic event. Around 2 billion years ago, a 15km wide chunk of rock face planted into what would become south africa at a velocity of around 200,000km+ an hour. It created a crater 60 km deep and 300 km wide with a central uplift region around 17 km high. This was one of the biggest impacts in Earth's history, including being larger than the one that caused the K-Pg. Luckily the microbes that inhabited earth at this time were pretty tough critters so life continued in the aftermath. Today most of the structure has been eroded away, a ring hills 90 km across is all that survives on the surface near the towns of Parys and Vredefort South Africa. These hills represent rock that was tilted upwards by the blast during the impact. The underlying rock made of hard granitic gneiss was shattered and blasted outwards as huge blocks carried in a slurry of melted rock. The melted rock quickly cooled to glass as water poured into the new crater. This rock is the pseudo-tachylite I'm stupid next to in the photo. It was injected into the bedrock in these wonderfully messy veins by the force of the impact. I've wanted to see this place in person for a long time and it did not disappoint! If you are in the area, contact Karen or Graeme at Otters Haunt for a tour of the quarry and the geological details! #geologyjohnson #geology #meteor #crater #pseudotachylite #vredefort #parys #archean #precambrian #paleoproterozoic #SouthAfrica #granite #gneiss https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccc_th8twwv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
