| Tswaing
Crater |
|
| Pretoria
Salt Pan, South Africa |
| Earth's Natural Wonders in
Africa |
| |
|
The
Tswaing Crater (Tswaing meaning
"Place of Salt" in
the Tswana language) gets 12
000 visitors a year, mostly
Gautengers, coming to marvel
at this wonder that hit the
earth 220 000 years ago with
an impact of about 100 atomic
bombs of the type dropped on
Hiroshima in 1945.
[2]
|
| Coordinates:
25° 24' 32 S, 28° 4' 58
E |
|
Tswaing is an impact crater in South
Africa. This astrobleme is 1.13 km
in diameter and 100 m deep and the
age is estimated to be 220,000 ±
52,000 years (Pleistocene).[2] The
impactor is believed to have been
a chondrite or stony meteorite some
30 to 50 m in diameter that was vaporized
during the impact event.
The name Tswaing means
Place of Salt in Tswana and the crater
was also formerly known in English:
as Pretoria Saltpan crater and in
Afrikaans: as Soutpankrater. Stone
tools from the Middle Stone Age show
that the crater was regularly visited
by people from as far back as 100
000 years ago in order to hunt and
collect salt. Water in the crater
comes from surface springs, ground
water and rain water and is rich in
dissolved carbonates and sodium chlorides.
Tswana and Sotho people harvested
the salt by filtering and decoction
between 1200 AD and 1800 AD. Between
1912 and 1956 brine was pumped from
the floor of the crater by the company
SA Alkali Ltd. in order to extract
soda and salt.
Tswaing is currently
on the tentative list for consideration
as a World Heritage Site.
[3]
