Veevers
Key facts
- Country
- Australia
- Diameter
- 80 m
- Age
- less than about 20,000 years
- Location
- 22.97° S, 125.37° E
A small, round crater about 70 to 80 m across with a raised rim, in the red sand plains of the Gibson Desert, Western Australia.
Veevers is a small, beautifully preserved meteorite crater about 70 to 80 m across in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia. It is named after the Australian geologist John Veevers, who worked in the area in the 1970s.
Discovery. The crater was spotted from the air in July 1975 during a government geological survey. In 1987 the American geologists Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker visited it and found small fragments of iron meteorite around the rim, which confirmed that it was made by an impact.
The meteorite. The fragments are a coarse octahedrite of the IIAB group, a family of iron meteorites rich in the iron–nickel mineral kamacite.
What can be seen. The crater is a simple bowl, about 7 m deep below its rim, with a well-preserved blanket of material thrown out by the impact around it.
Age. Measurements of rare atoms made by cosmic rays in rocks of the crater walls show that it is less than about 20,000 years old. The freshness of its ejecta suggests it may be much younger, perhaps less than 4,000 years.
Why it matters. Veevers is one of the best-preserved small meteorite craters on Earth.
Visiting. The crater is extremely remote. Travel requires careful preparation, and meteorite collecting in Western Australia is controlled by law.
Did you know?
Veevers was spotted from the air in 1975.
Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker found iron meteorite fragments there in 1987.
It may be less than about 4,000 years old.