The reason the Earth can have such a diverse ecological environment is thanks to water and many other elements. So, how did the Earth’s water and other elements come to be? After continuous research and exploration, scientists have come to a reliable conjecture that it is due to the impact of asteroids and comets.
Accordingly, after the birth of the Earth, the frequency of collisions with other asteroids is also very high. During the collision, comets can bring water and life to Earth. In addition, many asteroids and other celestial bodies also bring some rich metals to Earth, such as gold.
Gold is one of the precious metals on Earth. (Image: Getty).
Gold is very valuable. In fact, exploitable gold mines are also relatively small with very limited reserves.
Perhaps many people think that gold reserves on Earth are so scarce that it makes sense for this metal to be expensive. But is gold really scarce?
Scientists have constantly researched and explored, discovering that at the bottom of the Vredefort impact crater in the Free State, South Africa is a huge treasure. Inside there may be a reserve of at least 1,000 tons of gold. However, until now, no one has been seen to mine gold at the impact crater that was formed about 2 billion years ago. Why?
Vredefort is considered the largest impact crater on Earth. (Image: Getty).
According to the researchers, this impact crater is considered the best witness of the development of the Earth. The impact crater is not only like a friend of the Earth, but also gives our planet special gifts.
There are countless large and small impact craters in the world today. However, very few people have witnessed the process of creating impact craters.
The diameter of the Vredefort impact crater is estimated at 300km. People here did not realize this was an impact crater. Instead, they just thought they were living on top of a mountain, not a hole.
After studying, experts have pointed out some clues that show the difference of this crater. Specifically, it is the mineral composition here that is not the same as the rock composition in the crater. The minerals here resemble rare materials left over after an impact with a meteorite.
According to scientists, the asteroid collided with our Earth and created the largest Vredefort crater ever.
In fact, most of the remaining craters on Earth are in uninhabited places. However, Vredefort crater is different. Although very lonely in its inception, even abandoned even for many years, it has grown into a city of 550,000 inhabitants.
The fact that humans have been able to live in the impact crater for generations suggests that there must be enough resources and materials for humans to use.
Some experts argue that the resources that exist on Earth are brought about by meteorites.
So far, although there is no solid scientific basis to support this view, it cannot be denied that there are some rare metals such as gold that humans are in contact with are brought by meteorites. . The temperature and climate in some places can also be changed by the appearance of meteorites.
In fact, to find out what this crater really looks like, many scientists from all over the world have come to explore it. They think that perhaps this place contains rare substances that the Earth has never seen.
The reason why no one dares to mine at the 1,000-ton gold mine
The news that Vredefort has a large amount of gold and diamonds, with reserves of about 1,000 tons, immediately spread around the world and attracted more and more people to the crater to pan for gold. However, so far, no one has dared to exploit it for the following 2 reasons.
Firstly, exploiting this huge “treasure” will also create a big problem. That is, if gold becomes more and more popular in society, it could be a “disaster”, making the gold market unstable, and affecting the stability of the global financial market. bridge.
Although the crater in South Africa has huge gold reserves, no one has yet exploited it. (Pictured).
Second, this is a giant impact crater that is unique on Earth. Its age is about 2 billion years. Over such a long period of time, the Vredefort impact crater has been able to preserve some historical traces due to its special environment.
Scientists also hope to uncover the mystery of this ancient crater through research aimed at uncovering some of the mysteries of Earth 2 billion years ago. The implications of this research extend even beyond impact crater destruction and gold mining.
On the other hand, the appearance of outsiders has greatly affected the inherent life of the residents here. Therefore, in 2005, under the leadership of the United Nations, this crater was listed as a World Heritage Site. Accordingly, no one or any organization can come here to mine gold and diamonds. Thanks to this, the people here still live in peace.
Scientists surmise that a lot of gold fell in the early days of the Earth. Because they are located very deep in the ground, mining is not easy.
It can be seen that our Earth is very fortunate to not only be a planet that has life and gives birth to humans, but also attracts many celestial bodies that collided with each other during early evolution. This forms a rich and diverse resource in the ground and awaits the exploitation and application of humans. However, exploiting resources deep underground is not simple.