Impact cratering - a review,with special reference to the economic importance of impact structures and the Southern African impact crater record |
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| Authors: | W U Reimold |
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| Institution: | (1) Economic Geology Research Unit at the Department of Geology, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, P.O. Wits 2050, Johannesburg, Rep. South Africa |
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| Abstract: | Only since several decades has impact cratering been recognized as an important surface process on all planetary bodies in the Solar System. However, as the process has not yet been effectively introduced into geological curricula, it is necessary to inform a wider public about its importance for (i) planetary formation and (ii) evolution, (iii) the understanding of this process as a geological process, (iv) the terrestrial impact crater record and its limitations, and (v) the recognition criteria for terrestrial impact structures, as well as (vi) the need of improvement of the impact cratering record in the light of the potential danger of an impact catastrophe on this planet. It is, particularly for developing countries, of interest to examine the economic and educational-environmental potential of impact structures. That it is possible to carry out an effective, low-budget geological investigation of impact structures within a  Second World environment is demonstrated by the discussion of the progress that has been made in recent years with regard to the Southern African impact crater record. Several recommendations on how to improve, on the one hand, the terrestrial impact crater record and, on the other, their general working situation by activation of workers in Developing Countries are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | Impact cratering shock metamorphism planetary surface economic geology impact catastrophe Africa |
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