When an asteroid struck South Africa during the Precambrian, earthquakes rocked the region for millennia as Earth’s crust reequilibrated, new research reveals.
South Africa
Posted inNews
Ejecta Discovered Near Site of Ancient Meteorite Impact
South Africa’s Vredefort impact structure is the largest on the planet, and researchers have now discovered the first proximal ejecta possibly deriving from the cataclysmic impact.
Posted inNews
Ancient, Acidic Lakes May Have Harbored Life
A new analysis of South African sediments hints that acidic lakes may have leached minerals necessary for biotic life.
Posted inFeatures
A Lost Haven for Early Modern Humans
Sea level changes have repeatedly reshaped the Paleo-Agulhas Plain, a now submerged region off the coast of South Africa that once teemed with plants, animals, and human hunter–gatherers.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ancient Sea Levels in South Africa May Offer Modern Analogues
Largely spared from disruptive tectonic activity, the South African coastline offers a natural setting to study sea levels from when Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide last reached today’s levels.
Posted inScience Updates
Ocean Gliders Ride the Research Wave in the Agulhas Current
Off the east coast of South Africa, robotic ocean gliders deployed in the Agulhas Current capture new data that help us better understand how energy dissipates in the ocean.
Posted inNews
Will Cape Town Escape Its Water-Starved Fate?
Despite ramped-up conservation efforts and hopes lifted by a few recent rainstorms, residents of the South African metropolis still face the possibility of a water doomsday.