Wolfe Creek
One of the best preserved meteorite craters in the world.
Key facts
- When
- about 120,000 years ago
- Where
- Kimberley region, Western Australia, Australia
- What hit
- an iron meteoroid perhaps 15 m across
- Era
- In the age of humans
- Location
- 19.17° S, 127.80° E
Very roughly a few megatons of TNT.
Hundreds of times the Hiroshima bomb.
What happened
Wolfe Creek Crater is a crisp bowl about 880 m across in the dry country of north-west Australia. Sand has filled much of it, but its rim still stands up to about 25 m above the plain.
Scientists first saw it from the air in 1947. It is much older to Aboriginal people of the region: the Jaru people call it Kandimalal, and stories about it are told by Jaru and neighbouring communities.
Iron meteorites and rusty iron-rich 'shale balls', the weathered remains of meteorite fragments, have been found around the crater.
Effects
The impact would have thrown rock and molten iron across the surrounding land and destroyed everything for several kilometres around.
The evidence
Meteoritic iron and its weathered remains, shocked quartz and the clear shape of a simple crater with an overturned rim.
Did you know?
Wolfe Creek is the second-largest crater in the world from which meteorite fragments have been collected.
Its age has been estimated from the build-up of certain isotopes in rocks exposed on its rim.
Related pages
How is impact energy measured? See energy explained, or try the impact calculator.