Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater

Values

Wolfe Creek Crater has great value to the scientific community, as demonstrated by the large number of scientific papers written about the area. (See Earth Impact Database for a list of these papers.) Wolfe Creek Crater is the second largest rimmed meteorite crater in the world; the largest crater with a discernible rim is Meteor Crater in Arizona. Wolfe Creek Crater is a spectacular and well-preserved landform that displays clearly all the classic features of a large meteorite impact crater. Wolfe Creek Crater has the potential to reveal details of the process of explosive meteorite impact. Wolfe Creek Crater is a geological site of worldwide importance. It is one of only eighteen structures of proven meteorite impact origin throughout the world that are associated with remnant meteorites and is the largest of five such craters in Australia. Analysis of meteorite remnants from Wolfe Creek has yielded two rare and previously undescribed nickel-containing minerals. The place is a major tourist attraction, and has achieved worldwide fame by lending its name to the title of a recent movie.

Physical Description

Wolfe Creek Crater is a natural feature formed when a meteorite hit Earth 300 000 years ago. It is a circular crater, approximately 850m across situated 90km south of Halls Creek, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The walls are up to 35m high and the crater floor is 50m below the rim. While walls are bare and stony, the flat floor is vegetated with acacia, melaleuca (myrtle) and grasses.

History

European immigrants did not identify the place until 1947, when, during an aerial survey of the area, geologist Frank Reeves found the crater while exploring for an oil company. Visiting the crater by land, he identified it as meteoritic in origin and published the first scientific article describing its features. A meteorite weighing more than 50 000 tonnes, travelling faster than a bullet (more than 12 km/sec), collided with the Earth, punching a hole and pulverising the rocks below the surface. Nearby rock melted, and shock waves blasted debris upwards and outwards in every direction. Wolfe Creek Crater exhibits a near circular, bowl-shaped depression, upturned strata, and a rim raised above the surrounding country. The presence of meteorites confirms the explosive impact origin of the crater. Dating of these remnants gives an age of 300 000 years. Most remnants are heavily weathered to iron oxides and now occur as rusty balls of iron-shale situated on the rim of the crater. These balls occur in clusters, weigh up to 250kg each and contain fragments and veins of iron-nickel metal and grains of the iron phosphide mineral schreibersite which occurs in many iron meteorites. Unweathered iron meteorite fragments have been found about 3.9km southwest of the crater, the largest weighing 72.6g. Wildlife characteristic of the arid environment, such as red kangaroos, Major Mitchell cockatoos and brown ringtail dragons, inhabit the place. The impact structure is well preserved and a striking landscape feature within a national park. There is evidence of erosion over the last 300 000 years and the crater has been partly filled and mantled with sand.

Uses

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