Monday, May 12, 2014

Breathtaking Landscapes, Beautiful Rock Formations & Meteorites

Namibia has some of the world’s most spectacular desert ecosystems and wildlife and contains a wide range of landscapes, creatures and peoples. Its stark, magical beauty and diversity of culture make it an arid, spacious paradise. Richly coloured sand dunes, vast plains, savannahs teeming with African game and rugged mountains make up the serene landscape between the inhospitable Namib Desert and the escarpment of the interior plateau.



The Namibian landscape varies from vast expanses of desert and sand dunes to rugged rock formations in the south and west, to the starkly contrasting savannah and woodlands of the central regions and the lush forested scenery of the north-east.


The Hoba Meteorite is the largest known single meteorite of its kind lying on the surface of the earth. It's mass is estimated at around 60 metric tonnes and measures 2.95m x 2.84m. The thickness varies between 75-122cm. As it consists of mainly iron and nickel, it can safely be described as an iron meteorite, although scientifically it is termed an ataxite; a meteorite with a high nickel content.
The Hoba Meteorite's age has been reasonably accurately estimated from the presence of a rare radioactive nickel isotope, with a half-life of less than 80,000 years. Armed with this information, scientists have been able to determine that the Hoba Meteorite fell to earth less than 80,000 years ago. The age of the meteorite has been estimated rather loosely to be between 190 million and 410 million years.


No comments:

Post a Comment