During the drier periods of the year, ordinary vehicles can be used to access the park road, but during the wetter seasons, it is only accessible by 4WD. The trip can take upwards of three hours to complete in a 4WD. A visit to Wolfe Creek Crater is both the chance for visitors to experience some of the most beautiful landscapes offered by this planet, as well as to catch a glimpse of the mark left by something truly not of this world.
These rocks now take the form of rusted balls of iron-shale. Occurring in clusters, these balls can weigh as much as kilograms pounds apiece. Caption by Michon Scott. View this area in EO Explorer. Wolfe Creek Crater is the second largest crater in the world from which meteorite fragments have been collected.
Image of the Day Land. Two months later, Reeves and Hart reached the site on foot and made the first detailed investigation. Their suspicion that it was a deep crater was confirmed after they climbed up the outer sloping flanks of the structure and looked down to the floor, some 30 metres below. As they made their way up the slope of the crater rim they would have seen rusty balls of rock scattered on the ground or fused to the laterite. These rust balls represent the deeply weathered remains of an iron meteorite that exploded when it collided with Earth about , years ago — clear and stark evidence of what made the crater.
The hole that it gouged out of the Devonian age quartzite rocks varies in diameter from to metres. The only bigger crater undoubtedly made by a meteorite impact is the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Most of the meteorite, which was probably getting on for , tonnes in weight, would have been vapourised, along with huge quantities of the quartzite rock into which it ploughed.
Very little of the meteorite remains today, but sufficient has been collected for us to be sure that this was what made the crater. Like all iron meteorites, this one contained small quantities of nickel. Leave rocks and cultural artefacts as you find them. No bins are provided so please take your rubbish with you. Wolfe Creek Crater National Park lies km from Halls Creek via the Tanami Road and access road gravel and only accessible to conventional vehicles during the dry season , a two to three hour drive.
All access within the national park is on foot. The Atlas of Living Australia Atlas contains information on all the known species in Australia aggregated from a wide range of data providers: museums, herbaria, community groups, government departments, individuals and universities. You must be signed in to add a review, simply Click here to create an account or login.
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