Wolfe Creek Crater National Park

Wolfe Creek Crater National Park
Wolfe Creek Crater
Coordinates: 19 ° 10 ′ 19 ″  S , 127 ° 47 ′ 43 ″  E
Location:	Western Australia , Australia
Specialty:	Meteorite crater
Next city:	Hall's Creek
Surface:	15 km²
Founding:	1969

The Wolfe Creek crater is 145 km south of Halls Creek , State of Western Australia , in the Australian Outback on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert . The eponymous brook only carries water after rare heavy rains.

While the almost circular impact crater with a diameter of around 880 m had been known to the Aborigines for a long time, it was only discovered from the air by Europeans in June 1947. Wolfe Creek is the largest crater from which meteorite fragments have been found, after Barringer Crater in Arizona . The crater, which is only partially buried by sand drifts, is very well preserved.

In 1969 the 15 km² Wolfe Creek Crater National Park (1,460 hectares) was founded.

geology

The impact of the meteorite occurred about 300,000 years ago in the Pleistocene . The impact body had a mass of around 50,000 t and hit at a speed of 15 km / s. Fragments were found at a distance of 4 km.

Smaller fragments of iron oxide slate ( shale balls ) can be found on the slopes of the crater . Some of them lie loosely on the ground, others are melted into the laterite cover . They contain iron-nickel and iron phosphide and are the rusted remains of the iron meteorite . The iron meteorite is of the medium octahedrite IIIAB type .

The area in which the crater was formed is geologically composed of quartzite covered with laterite . The quartzite layer was redeployed as a result of the impact . This is clearly visible on the inside of the crater rim . The laterite, which once covered the quartzite rock, is visible in some places as rock folded between quartzite layers.

The crater, which may originally have a depth of 120 m, has been filled with sand and gypsum over time by drifts . Today's depth measured from the crater rim is around 50 m. The rim of the crater rises about 25 m from the surrounding area.

Mythological meaning

The local Aborigines , the Djaru , call the crater Kandimalal . In the Aboriginal dream time , two rainbow snakes crossed the desert, forming the nearby Sturt and Wolfe streams . One of the two snakes emerged from the place of the crater and gave it its shape. The rainbow snake plays a central role in the Aboriginal thought of creation.

Infrastructure

The crater can be reached via the unpaved Tanami Track , the central connection between Halls Creek and Alice Springs in the Red Heart of Australia. The slope crosses Wolfe Creek twice. After 118 km a rough side track branches off to the east over farm area delimited by gates to the national park (22 km). The cattle belong to the nearby Sturt Creek Farm .

The facilities of the national park administration include an information stand, a parking lot and a shadowless campsite with toilets about 500 meters from the crater rim.

A 200 m short path leads from the parking lot to the crater rim in a few minutes. Circumnavigating the crater over a distance of 6 km is just as possible as descending into the crater floor, which the national park administration advises against due to the loose rock.

The entire structure and location of the crater can only be seen from the air; For this purpose, sightseeing flights are offered to tourists from Halls Creek.

Flora and fauna

In the middle of the flat, sandy bottom of the crater, water collects during the rare heavy rains, which leaves the dissolved mineral salts behind as it evaporates quickly. Only a few plant species such as the salt acacia ( Acacia ampliceps ) and the Kali Turgida ( Salsola kali ) survive these conditions. Various eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus ) and myrtle heather ( Melaleuca ), mulla mulla ( Ptilotus exaltatus ) from the foxtail family and an endemic cotton species ( Gossypium australe ) thrive outside the salty center .

The red giant kangaroo is rarely seen in the heat of the day. With a bit of luck, you will discover a Ctenophorus caudicinctus , a lizard with a thin, striped tail, on the loose rock of the crater rim .

Others

The crater is named after the Australian horror film Wolf Creek (2005) and its sequel Wolf Creek 2 (2013). Although these films show some aerial shots of the real Wolfe Creek Crater, they were shot in South Australia. The crater was found in the detective novel The Will Of The Tribe by Arthur W. Upfield.

Web links

Commons : Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park ( Memento from March 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• The crater on the Earth Impact Database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Arthur W. Upfield: The Will Of The Tribe , Angus & Robertson, London & Sydney 1983, ISBN 0-207-14709-4