Mössbauer study of two different aged rock types in the Vredefort structure, South Africa

The Vredefort Structure in South Africa was recently inscribed into the list of World Heritage sites as the oldest and largest recognised impact structure on earth. Due to upliftment of more than 30 km of the Archaean basement core and subsequent exposure of the deeply eroded central portion of the crater a unique opportunity exists to study rocks of the crust, especially those that have undergone recrystallization due to various thermal metamorphic events over time. Two rock types occurring in the central uplifted part of the impact structure were studied. One was a typical Archaean iron formation of sedimentary origin. The other rock studied, adjacent to this much older rock, is a homogeneous, medium grained recrystallized norite of immediately pre- or post-impact age, indicating a possible mafic igneous activity related to impact. Microscopy, XRD and Mössbauer analyses were performed on both samples.