Record #00499Nature archive
South Africa's Vredefort impact structure formed about 2.023 billion years ago and is widely regarded as the largest confirmed terrestrial impact remnant. Geological reconstructions commonly estimate the original crater at roughly 250–300 km across, while UNESCO describes a broader structure with a radius of 190 km.
Current Record
about250
Current record value
Billions of years of erosion have removed the crater's original rim and exposed the deeply uplifted central region now represented by the Vredefort Dome.
A 2022 JGR: Planets modelling study describes common original-crater estimates around 250–280 km, while a 2023 Meteoritics & Planetary Science study gives 250–300 km. UNESCO describes a broader structure with a radius of 190 km, which is not automatically equivalent to the modelled original crater diameter.
Credible sources support core facts; the comparison scope or corroboration remains incomplete.
Basis: corroborating reliable secondary materials
UNESCO calls Vredefort the largest known impact structure, using a broader 190 km radius. JGR (2022) and Meteoritics & Planetary Science (2023) estimate the original crater at about 250–300 km diameter. The numeric 300 is an explicitly qualified upper bound, not a directly observed exact diameter.
The original rim has been deeply eroded. Reconstructed crater diameters commonly fall around 250–300 km but broader estimates exist; UNESCO's radius must not be assumed equivalent. Developing status is retained.
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