Wolfe Creek Crater

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Wolfe Creek Crater
Kandimalal
Wolfe creek crater.jpg
The Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater in 2003
Impact crater/structure
ConfidenceConfirmed
Diameter875 m (2,871 ft)
Depth60 m (200 ft)
Age ~150 ka
Pleistocene
ExposedYes
DrilledNo
Bolide type iron meteorite
~50,000 t (49,000 long tons; 55,000 short tons)
Location
Location Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park, Great Sandy Desert
Coordinates 19°10′18″S127°47′44″E / 19.17167°S 127.79556°E / -19.17167; 127.79556 Coordinates: 19°10′18″S127°47′44″E / 19.17167°S 127.79556°E / -19.17167; 127.79556
Country Australia
State Western Australia
Australia Western Australia location map.svg
Map pointer.svg
Location of the crater in Western Australia
Access Tanami Road
Wolfe Creek Crater. Sentinel-2 image. Wolfe Creek Crater L1C T52KCD A024796 20211205T014106.jpg
Wolfe Creek Crater. Sentinel-2 image.

Wolfe Creek Crater is a well-preserved meteorite impact crater (astrobleme) in Western Australia. [1] [2]

Contents

Description

It is accessed via the Tanami Road 150 km (93 mi) south of the town of Halls Creek. The crater is central to the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park. [3]

The crater averages about 875 metres (2,871 ft) in diameter, 60 metres (200 ft) from rim to present crater floor. [3] It is estimated that the meteorite that formed it was about 15 metres (49 ft) in diameter and had a mass of about 14,000 tonnes. [4] For many years it was thought to have been created around 300,000 years ago, but in 2019, following investigations by researchers from Portsmouth University together with Australian and US researchers, it is now estimated to be less than 120,000 years old, placing the event in the Pleistocene. [5] Small numbers of iron meteorites have been found in the vicinity of the crater, as well as larger so-called 'shale-balls', rounded objects made of iron oxide, some weighing as much as 250 kilograms (550 lb). [6]

It was brought to the attention of scientists after being spotted during an aerial survey in 1947, investigated on the ground two months later, and reported in publication in 1949. [7] The European name for the crater comes from a nearby creek, which was in turn named after Robert Wolfe (early reports misspell the name as Wolf Creek), a prospector and storekeeper during the gold rush that established the town of Halls Creek. [8]

Aboriginal significance

The local Djaru (Jaru) Aboriginal people refer to the crater as Kandimalal. [3] There are multiple Dreaming stories about the formation of the crater. One such story describes the crater's round shape being formed by the passage of a rainbow snake out of the earth, while another snake formed the nearby Sturt Creek. [9] Another story, as told by an Elder, is that one day the crescent moon and the evening star passed very close to each other. [10] The evening star became so hot that it fell to the ground, causing an enormous explosion and flash, followed by a dust cloud. This frightened the people and a long time passed before they ventured near the crater to see what had happened. When they finally went there, they realised that this was the site where the evening star had fallen to the Earth. The Djaru people named the place "Kandimalal" and it is prominent in art from the region. [11] [12]

Cultural references

The crater was featured in the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek , and the sequel in 2013, Wolf Creek 2 . It also features in the Stan Australia streaming service original television series with the same name.

It was the setting for Arthur Upfield's 1962 novel The Will of the Tribe.

The Wolfe Creek crater has considerable claim to be the second most 'obvious' (i.e. relatively undeformed by erosion) meteorite crater known on Earth, after the famous Barringer Crater in Arizona.

The crater is mentioned in the 2010 children's science fiction book Alienology that says (in its universe) that a space craft crashed there.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact crater</span> Circular depression in a solid astronomical body formed by the impact of a smaller object

An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters typically have raised rims and floors that are lower in elevation than the surrounding terrain. Lunar impact craters range from microscopic craters on lunar rocks returned by the Apollo program and small, simple, bowl-shaped depressions in the lunar regolith to large, complex, multi-ringed impact basins. Meteor Crater is a well-known example of a small impact crater on Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteorite</span> Solid debris from outer space that hits a planetary surface

A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteor Crater</span> Meteorite impact crater in northern Arizona

Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Cañon Diablo. Because the United States Board on Geographic Names recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of "Meteor Crater" from the nearby post office named Meteor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact event</span> Collision of two astronomical objects with measurable effects

An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect. When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System's solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tektite</span> Gravel-sized glass beads formed from meteorite impacts

Tektites are gravel-sized bodies composed of black, green, brown or grey natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during meteorite impacts. The term was coined by Austrian geologist Franz Eduard Suess (1867–1941), son of Eduard Suess. They generally range in size from millimetres to centimetres. Millimetre-scale tektites are known as microtektites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxhole crater</span>

Boxhole is a young impact crater located approximately 180 km north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is 170 metres in diameter and its age is estimated to be 5,400 ± 1,500 years based on the cosmogenic 14C terrestrial age of the meteorite, placing it in the Holocene. The crater is exposed to the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campo del Cielo</span> Meteorites discovered in Argentina

Campo del Cielo refers to a group of iron meteorites and the area in Argentina where they were found. The site straddles the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, located 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) north-northwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina and approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) southwest of Asunción, Paraguay. The crater field covers 18.5 by 3 kilometres and contains at least 26 craters, the largest being 115 by 91 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalgaranga crater</span> Impact crater in Western Australia

Dalgaranga crater is a small meteorite impact crater located on Dalgaranga pastoral station 75 km northwest of Mount Magnet in Western Australia. It is only 24 m in diameter and 3 m deep, making it Australia's smallest impact crater. Though discovered in 1921, it was not reported in the scientific literature until 1938. The bedrock at the site is weathered Archaean granite of the Yilgarn Craton. The discovery of fragments of mesosiderite stony-iron meteorite around the crater confirms an impact origin, making this crater unique as the only one known to have been produced by a mesosiderite projectile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gosses Bluff crater</span> Impact crater in Northern Territory

Gosses Bluff is thought to be the eroded remnant of an impact crater. Known as Tnorala to the Western Arrernte people of the surrounding region, it is located in the southern Northern Territory, near the centre of Australia, about 175 km (109 mi) west of Alice Springs and about 212 km (132 mi) to the northeast of Uluru. It was named by Ernest Giles in 1872 after Australian explorer William Gosse's brother Henry, who was a member of William's expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool crater</span> Impact crater in Northern Territory, Australia

Liverpool is a meteorite impact crater situated in Arnhem Land within the Northern Territory, Australia. It was named after the nearby Liverpool River. Liverpool is remote and difficult to access. The crater has a raised, near-circular rim averaging about 1.6 km in diameter. It was first noticed by geologists during reconnaissance geological mapping in the 1960s, and although an impact origin was considered possible, this was not confirmed until a more detailed study was undertaken in 1970.

Maple Creek is a subterranean meteorite crater in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is 6 km (3.7 mi) in diameter and the age is estimated to be less than 75 million years. The crater is buried beneath younger sediments and cannot be seen at the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rochechouart impact structure</span> Asteroid impact structure in France

Rochechouart impact structure or Rochechouart astrobleme is an impact structure in France. Erosion has over the millions of years has mostly destroyed its impact crater, the initial surface expression of the asteroid impact leaving highly deformed bedrock and fragments of the crater's floor as evidence of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roter Kamm crater</span>

Roter Kamm is a meteorite crater, located in the Sperrgebiet, within the Namibian section of the Namib Desert, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Oranjemund and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Aurus Mountain in the ǁKaras Region. The crater is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in diameter and is 130 metres (430 ft) deep. The age is estimated at 4.81 ± 0.5 Ma, placing it in the Pliocene. The crater is exposed at the surface, but its original floor is covered by sand deposits at least 100 metres (330 ft) thick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vredefort impact structure</span> Largest verified impact structure on Earth, about 2 billion years old

The Vredefort impact structure is the largest verified impact structure on Earth. The crater, which has since been eroded away, was around 180–300 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 years ago. It is the second-oldest known impact structure on Earth, after Yarrabubba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve</span> Protected area in the Northern Territory, Australia

Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the locality of Ghan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darwin Crater</span> Impact crater in Tasmania, Australia

Darwin Crater is a suspected meteorite impact crater in Western Tasmania about 26 km (16 mi) south of Queenstown, just within the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The crater is expressed as a rimless circular flat-floored depression, 1.2 km (0.75 mi) in diameter, within mountainous and heavily forested terrain. It is east of the West Coast Range and the former North Mount Lyell Railway formation.

The Hickman crater is a recently discovered meteorite impact crater, 16 kilometres northeast of the Hope Downs 4 Mine and 35 kilometres north of Newman in the Ophthalmia Range, Western Australia. It was discovered by Arthur Hickman, a government geologist with the Geological Survey of Western Australia, in July 2007. The discovery was made by chance while browsing Google Earth. A 2012 government scientific drilling project in the centre of the crater confirmed in 2017 the impact of an iron-nickel meteorite.

Dhala crater is a crater formed by an asteroid impact. It is situated near Bhonti village in Pichhore block of Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh state in India. It is the largest crater in India, and between the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. The diameter of the structure is estimated at 3 km, while other sources estimate its diameter to be 11 km diameter. It is the second such crater found in India, after Lonar lake.

References

  1. McNamara, K. Wolf Creek Crater illustrations by Ben Jackson. Perth, W.A : Western Australian Museum, 1982. ISBN   0-7244-9239-9
  2. "Wolfe Creek". Earth Impact Database . Planetary and Space Science Centre University of New Brunswick Fredericton . Retrieved 6 August 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 "Wolfe Creek Crater National Park". NatureBase National Parks. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
  4. "Wolfe Creek Crater younger than previously thought". University of Portsmouth. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  5. "Wolfe Creek Crater is way younger than we thought". Australia's Science Channel. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  6. Bevan, Alex; Ken McNamara (1993). Australia's Meteorite Craters. Perth: Western Australian Museum. p. 8. ISBN   0-7309-5926-0.
  7. Reeves F. & Chalmers R.O. (1949) 'The Wolf Creek crater', The Australian Journal of Science 11, 154-156.
  8. "Wolf Creek Crater, Koongee Park - Alice Springs Rd, Halls Creek, WA (Place ID 10162)". Australian Heritage Database . Australian Government . Retrieved 8 February 2007.
  9. Mountford, C.P. (1976) 'Nomads of the Australian Desert', Rigby, Ltd., Adelaide.
  10. Goldsmith, J. (2000), 'Cosmic impacts in the Kimberly', Landscope Magazine, Vol. 15(3), pp. 28-34
  11. Sanday, P.R. (2007) 'Aboriginal Paintings of the Wolfe Creek Crater: Track of the Rainbow Serpent', University of Pennsylvania Press.
  12. Hamacher, D.W. & Norris, R.P. (2009) 'Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts?' Archaeoastronomy, Vol. 22, pp. 62-95.

Further reading