Shoemaker
Key facts
- Country
- Australia
- Diameter
- 30 km
- Age
- uncertain: about 570 million to 1.63 billion years
- Location
- 25.87° S, 120.88° E
A great ring of seasonal salt lakes about 30 km across, including Lake Teague, around a core of granite in Western Australia. It is striking on satellite images.
Shoemaker is an eroded impact structure about 30 km across in central Western Australia, north of Wiluna. It was formerly called Teague Ring and was renamed in honour of the American planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker, one of the founders of impact science, who died in a road accident while studying craters in Australia in 1997.
What can be seen. The structure is marked by a ring of seasonal salt lakes, the largest of which is Lake Teague. They surround a central area of granite about 12 km across, the eroded central uplift. From space, the ring of lakes is one of the most striking features in Western Australia.
What it hit. The impactor struck the boundary between ancient granites of the Yilgarn Craton, more than 2.6 billion years old, and younger sedimentary rocks of the Earaheedy Basin. The rebound of the crater floor raised the Teague Granite into the centre, surrounded by down-folded sedimentary rocks.
Proof of impact. Shatter cones and quartz grains with shock features confirm an impact.
Age. The age is poorly known. The impact must be younger than the Teague Granite, about 2.65 billion years old. An age of about 1.63 billion years is often quoted, but it may date a later heating event rather than the impact. Some dating gives ages as young as about 570 million years.
Why it matters. Shoemaker is one of the largest impact structures in Australia and honours one of the most important figures in the study of craters. The impactor is unknown.
Did you know?
The structure is named after Eugene Shoemaker, a founder of impact science.
A ring of salt lakes marks its outline.
Its age is uncertain by about a billion years.