Boxhole
Key facts
- Country
- Australia
- Diameter
- 170 m
- Age
- about 5,400 years
- Location
- 22.61° S, 135.20° E
A small, round crater about 170 m across with a low, raised rim, set among low hills and scrub on a cattle station in the Northern Territory.
Boxhole is a small, well-preserved meteorite crater in the Northern Territory of Australia, about 180 km north-east of Alice Springs. It sits on a cattle station, among low rocky hills, and it is one of a handful of young iron meteorite craters in central Australia.
The impact. About 5,400 years ago an iron meteorite struck the ground here, forming a crater about 170 m across and about 16 m deep. The rim stands a few metres above the surrounding land. The target rocks were ancient metamorphic rocks, including gneiss and schist, which were broken and thrown out by the impact.
The meteorite. Fragments of the Boxhole meteorite have been found in and around the crater. It is an iron of group IIIAB, the same group as the Henbury meteorite, although the two came from separate falls. Many fragments are small, but some larger masses have been found, as well as rusty pieces of iron shale, formed when the meteorite's metal weathered over thousands of years.
Recognition. The crater was brought to scientific attention in 1937, and studies soon confirmed that it was made by a meteorite. Its age of roughly 5,400 years is an estimate, and like many small craters it carries quite a wide margin of uncertainty. One useful method for dating such sites is cosmogenic nuclide dating, which measures rare isotopes made by cosmic rays in rocks freshly exposed at the surface by the impact.
Central Australia's craters. Australia's dry interior is one of the best places in the world to find young meteorite craters. Boxhole and Henbury in central Australia, and Wolfe Creek in the Kimberley of Western Australia, are all iron meteorite craters, and they are well preserved because of the dry climate and slow erosion. Studying them helps scientists understand how often small impacts happen and what they do.
Why it matters. Boxhole is a good example of a small crater made by a single iron meteorite, not a shower of fragments like Henbury. It helps scientists understand how small iron meteorites make craters and how the meteorites break up on impact.
Visiting. Boxhole lies on private pastoral land, so visitors need the landholder's permission. The crater is reached by unsealed tracks, and visitors need suitable vehicles, plenty of water and good preparation for the remote, hot conditions. Meteorites in the Northern Territory are protected by law, so they must not be removed without permission.
A quiet site. Unlike Henbury, which has a visitor trail, Boxhole has few facilities. It is a quiet place where it is easy to imagine the moment, thousands of years ago, when a blazing fireball crashed into the land.
Did you know?
Boxhole was made by an iron meteorite of the same group as the Henbury meteorite.
Boxhole, Henbury and Wolfe Creek are three of Australia's best-known young iron meteorite craters.
The crater lies on a working cattle station in central Australia.