WOLF CREEK METEORITE CRATER, WESTERN 

 AUSTRALIA 1 



By D. J. GuppT and R. S. Matheson 

 Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology, and Geophysics, Canberra City, Australia 



[With 2 plates] 

 INTRODUCTION 



The Wolf Creek meteorite crater, situated in the Kimberley District 

 of Western Australia, is the second largest crater of meteoritic origin 

 to be discovered on the earth's surface.^ The crater has been named 

 by Dr. Reeves (Reeves and Chalmers, 1948) after the adjacent water- 

 course, Wolf Creek. 



The nature of the crater was first recognized on June 21, 1947, by 

 Dr. Frank Reeves and N. B. Sauve, of the Vacuum Oil Co., during an 

 aerial reconnaissance of the Desert Basin in a Zinc Corp. aircraft 

 piloted by Dudley Hart. It was reached on the ground on August 24, 

 1947, by Reeves, Harry Evans, and Dudley Hart. 



The crater was independently located and its meteoritic origin sus- 

 pected by the writers early in 1948 when preparing a photogeological 

 map from photographs covering the area. 



LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 



The crater is situated on the northern edge of the Desert Basin at 

 approximately longitude 127°46' E., latitude 19° 18' S., 65 miles south 

 of Halls Creek, the nearest township and aerodrome. 



The crater may be reached without difficulty during the dry season 

 by taking the track from Halls Creek to Ruby Plains homestead and 

 thence to Beaudesert Well. Near Beaudesert Well a branch track is 

 followed along the west bank of Wolf Creek as far as the crater 



(fig.l). 



The crater is situated in an area covered with loose sand with oc- 

 casional low dunes and sparse vegetation, a few miles south of the last 



1 Published by permission of the Director, Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology, and 

 Geophysics, Commonwealth of Australia. Reprinted by permission from Journal of 

 Geology, vol. 58, No. 1, January 1950. 



' The recent discovery of the gigantic Chubb crater in northwestern Quebec, Canada, 

 makes the Wolf Creek crater the third largest meteorite crater known. An account of a 

 recent expedition to the Chubb crater has been published by V. M. Keen, Journ. Roy. Astro- 

 nomical Soc. Canada, vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 169-180, 1950. — Editoe. 



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