[meteorite-list] Stakeholders to Meet At Vredefort Dome Heritage Site

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 21 17:00:16 2005
Message-ID: <200509212059.j8LKx3N26887_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://allafrica.com/stories/200509210570.html

Stakeholders to Meet At Vredefort Dome Heritage Site
Teboho Mahlaba
BuaNews
September 21, 2005

The Free State government is hosting a stakeholder workshop at Vredefort
Dome World Heritage Site here during the next two days.

The aim of the workshop is to come up with an integrated management plan
to ensure the protection and management of the Vredefort Dome World
Heritage Site in line with the World Heritage Convention Act.

The Vredefort Dome is the oldest and largest meteorite impact site in
the world. It was formed about two billion years ago when a giant
meteorite hit the earth close to where Vredefort is today.

Spanning the Free State and the North West provinces, the 29th World
Heritage Committee Meeting inscribed the dome as South Africa's fourth
natural heritage site in July.

The honour is awarded to designated sites that are deemed to be of
outstanding universal value.

Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan has said opportunities existed
there to engage in geological research and explore and understand more
sensitively the rich culture of the Basotho, Batswana and Khoi San and
the early evidence of human cognitive and artistic endeavour their
cultures boast.

This, he said, demonstrated that heritage could be a tool for nation
building and that this tangible site and its intangible aspects should
be preserved for posterity and for the nation's survival as a human race.

With over 100 different plant species, more than 300 types of birds,
over 70 butterfly species and a variety of small mammals, the site is
said to be adding real biodiversity value to the country's goal of
expanding the areas under conservation.

Meanwhile, the workshop will be attended amongst others by MECs, heads
of department, mayors from both the Free State and North West, officials
from the department of land affairs, water affairs and forestry, public
works, roads and transport and so on.

Spokesperson for the provincial department of tourism, environmental and
economic affairs Tshidiso Lerumo said the core of the dome constituted
an area of about 30 000ha and is surrounded by a buffer zone of about 14
000ha.

He said three additional satellite sites were added to the nomination of
the World Heritage Site.

"These sites constitute high geological formations which are unique to
complex meteorite impact structures and thus demonstrate evidence of
such an impact.

"Some of the effects of the forceful impact of the 10-15km meteorite
include exposure to granite which originally resided at about 38km below
the surface of the earth, upliftment of gold bearing rocks of the
Witwatersrand and fracturing of dolomites which led to the formation of
caves as those found in Sterkfontein in which hominid fossils have been
found," added Lerumo.
Received on Wed 21 Sep 2005 04:59:01 PM PDT