Boxhole crater

Coordinates: 22°36′45″S 135°11′43″E / 22.61250°S 135.19528°E / -22.61250; 135.19528

Boxhole meteorite crater, July 2011

Boxhole is a young impact crater located approximately 180 km (265 km by road) north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.[1] It is 170 metres in diameter and its age is estimated to be 5,400 ± 1,500 years based on the cosmogenic14C terrestrial age of the meteorite,[2] placing it in the Holocene. The crater is exposed to the surface.[3]

In 1937 Joe Webb, a shearer at Boxhole sheep station, took geologist Cecil Madigan to examine the crater. Madigan discovered nickel-bearing metallic fragments and iron shale-balls similar to those found at Henbury to the south of Alice Springs. A later search found additional meteoritic metal including an iron mass of 181 pounds (82 kg) ,[4] now in the Natural History Museum, London.

References

  1. Bevan, Alex; McNamara Ken (1993). Australia’s Meteorite Craters. Perth: Western Australian Museum. p. 15. ISBN 0-7309-5926-0.
  2. Kohman T. P. and Goel P.S. 1963. Terrestrial ages of meteorites from cosmogenic 14C. In: Radioactive Dating, pp. 395–411. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.
  3. "Boxhole". Earth Impact Database. University of New Brunswick. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  4. Mark, Kathleen (1987). Meteorite Craters. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. p. 90. ISBN 0-8165-1568-9.

External links


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