Dalgaranga
Key facts
- Country
- Australia
- Diameter
- 24 m
- Age
- probably about 3,000 years
- Location
- 27.63° S, 117.28° E
A small, shallow pit about 24 m across and 3 m deep on a sheep station in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Dalgaranga is a small meteorite crater about 24 m across and 3 m deep in the Murchison region of Western Australia. It is the only known crater on Earth made by a mesosiderite, a rare type of stony-iron meteorite.
Discovery. In 1921 an Aboriginal stockman, Billy Seward, came across the crater on Dalgaranga sheep station. The station manager soon found metallic meteorite fragments around it, and pieces reached the Western Australian Museum in 1923. The crater was first reported in the scientific literature in 1938.
The meteorite. Mesosiderites are made of roughly equal amounts of iron–nickel metal and stony material, a mixture of broken rock from the crust of an asteroid. They are thought to form when molten metal from one asteroid mixed with the shattered surface rocks of another in a violent collision. Hundreds of small fragments have been found around Dalgaranga.
What it hit. The meteorite struck a flat, gravelly surface over weathered granite.
Age. The age is not precisely known, but the crater's fresh shape and the lightly weathered fragments suggest it is young, possibly about 3,000 years old.
Why it matters. Dalgaranga is Australia's smallest known meteorite crater apart from the smallest pits at Henbury, and its unusual meteorite makes it unique.
Visiting. The crater is on a working station. Visitors need the landholder's permission, and meteorite collecting in Western Australia is controlled by law.
Did you know?
Dalgaranga is the only known crater made by a mesosiderite.
An Aboriginal stockman, Billy Seward, came across the crater in 1921.
Mesosiderites are part metal and part broken asteroid crust.