Veevers crater

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Veevers (Western Australia)
Veevers
Veevers
Location in Australia

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Veevers Meteorite Crater, August 2011

The Veevers crater is an impact crater , located in the flat desert area between the Great Sandy Desert and the Desert Gibson in the middle of Western Australia in Australia is. It is said to be one of the best preserved small meteorite craters on earth.

discovery

The area is very remote and difficult to get to. The crater was discovered during a government geological expedition in honor of Australian geologist John James Veevers in July 1975, who worked in the area until the 1950s. At the time of discovery, the geological appearance could not be scientifically proven as a meteorite impact. It was only with the discovery of fragments of an iron meteorite around the crater by Eugene Merle Shoemaker and Carolyn S. Shoemaker in 1984 that all doubts were removed.

description

The crater has a symmetrical arcuate topography and is one of the best preserved small craters on earth. The 20 meter wide wreath rises about 1.5 meters above the plain. Since the deepest point in the center of the impact is 7 meters lower than the rim of the rim, the crater has a diameter of approximately 70 meters. Based on the cosmic isotopes found , the crater could be dated: it is less than 20,000 years old, and because of the impeccable state of preservation of the astrogeological material, it is assumed that it could not even be 4000 years old.

The fragments of the iron meteorite collected around the crater have been classified as coarse octahedrites , which have been classified in chemical class II. Due to their considerable impact, the fragments prove that they were created by an impact explosion. It is believed that the meteorite weighed 100 to 1000 tons, presumably closer to the upper limit. Its remains are now scattered as fragments in the crater, in breccia and in the ejecta.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ passc.net ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Veevers on Earth Impact Database, accessed May 25, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.passc.net
  2. ^ Veevers Biography.
  3. ^ A. Bevan, K. McNamara: Australia's Meteorite Craters . Western Australian Museum, 1993, ISBN 0-7309-5926-0 .
  4. ↑ a b A. N. Yeates, RWA Crowe, RR Towner: The Veevers crater; a possible meteoritic feature . In: BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics . tape 1 , 1976, p. 77-78 .
  5. ^ EM Shoemaker, CS Shoemaker: Impact structures of Western Australia . In: Meteoritics . tape 20 , 1985, pp. 754-756 , bibcode : 1985Metic..20R.754S .
  6. ^ A b c d E. M. Shoemaker, FA Macdonald, CS Shoemaker: Geology of five small Australian impact craters . In: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences . tape 52 , no. 4-5 , 2005, pp. 529-544 , doi : 10.1080 / 08120090500180921 . (Abstract)
  7. ^ AWR Bevan: Australian crater-forming meteorites . In: AGSO Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics . tape 16 , 1996, pp. 421-429 .

Coordinates: 22 ° 58 ′ 12 ″  S , 125 ° 22 ′ 21 ″  E