Wolfe Creek
Key facts
- Country
- Australia
- Diameter
- 880 m
- Age
- about 120,000 years
- Location
- 19.17° S, 127.80° E
A near-circular crater about 880 m across with a rim rising roughly 25 m above the surrounding plain, its floor partly filled with wind-blown sand and a patch of trees and shrubs.
Wolfe Creek Crater, on the edge of the Tanami Desert in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, is one of the best-preserved meteorite craters in the world. From its rim you look down on a broad, round bowl about 880 m across, its floor flat and pale with sand, dotted with shrubs and trees where groundwater lies close to the surface.
The impact. Around 120,000 years ago an iron meteorite, perhaps 15 m across and weighing many thousands of tonnes, struck the sandstone plain. The crater was originally much deeper, perhaps around 150 m, but wind-blown sand has filled it, and today the floor lies about 50 to 60 m below the rim. Dating of the crater's exposed rocks has narrowed its age, though estimates have varied over the years.
Iron and rust. Fragments of the iron meteorite have been found around the crater, along with large numbers of rusty, iron-rich balls and lumps called shale balls or "iron shale". These are pieces of the meteorite that have weathered almost completely to iron oxides over thousands of years in the desert. Some contain unweathered metal at their core.
Kandimalal. To the Jaru (Djaru) people, the crater is called Kandimalal. In Aboriginal tradition it is linked to the Dreaming, the time of creation, and stories tell of rainbow serpents whose movements formed the crater and nearby creeks. The crater has long been known to the people of the region.
Western discovery. The crater first came to the attention of Western scientists in 1947, when it was spotted from the air during a geological survey. A ground expedition soon confirmed it as a meteorite crater. It was named after nearby Wolfe Creek.
A national park. Today the crater lies within Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park, about 150 km south of the town of Halls Creek by unsealed road. There is a short, steep walking track to the rim, and the view from the top gives a real sense of the scale of the impact. The park is remote and very hot for much of the year, so visitors need a suitable vehicle, plenty of water and good preparation. Removing rocks or meteorites from national parks is illegal, and the site is culturally significant to Traditional Owners, so it should be visited with respect.
Why it matters. Wolfe Creek is the second-largest crater in the world from which meteorite fragments have been recovered, after Meteor Crater in Arizona. Its excellent preservation in a dry climate makes it an outstanding example of a simple, bowl-shaped impact crater.
Did you know?
Wolfe Creek was spotted from the air by Western scientists in 1947 but has long been known to Aboriginal people as Kandimalal.
Most of the meteorite has rusted into iron-rich lumps called shale balls.
Wind-blown sand has filled much of the crater's original depth.