The asteroid that hit Vredefort is estimated to have been one of the largest ever to strike Earth since the Hadean Eon some four billion years ago. The crater, which has since been eroded away, was around 200–300 km (100–200 mi) across when it was formed. The remaining structure, comprising the deformed underlying bedrock, is located in present-day Free State province of South Africa. It is named after the town of Vredefort, which is near its centre. The structure's central uplift is known as the Vredefort Dome. The impact structure was formed during the Paleoproterozoic Era, 2.023 billion (± 4 million) years ago. It is the second-oldest known impact structure on Earth, after Yarrabubba (Australia).

This impact was 3 times more energetic than the Chicxulub impact. Unlike this one, the consequences of the Vredefort impact on Life were never been quantified, because of the lack of fossil records of that epoch, 30 times older than the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.

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