Records of the Western Australian Museum 17: 51-59 (1995). 
Metallography and thermo-mechanical treatment of the Veevers (IIAB) 
crater-forming iron meteorite 
A.W.R. Bevan 1 , E.M. Shoemaker 2 and C.S. Shoemaker 2 
'Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth, 
Western Australia 6000 
2 U. S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, U.S.A. 
Abstract — Thirty six fragments of iron meteorite (group IIAB - Wasson et 
al. 1989) totalling 298.1 g found at Veevers crater in Western Australia 
(22°58'06"S, 125°22'07"E) represent the disrupted remnants of the crater¬ 
forming projectile, and confirm an origin for the ca. 75 m crater by meteorite 
impact. The morphology and metallography of the residual material show 
that the impacting meteorite was a coarsest octahedrite with a kamacite 
bandwidth of > 8.6 mm. Disruption of the meteorite during impact probably 
occurred along the grain boundaries of a-kamacite crystals in the original 
octahedral structure, but may also have resulted from failure related to 
intense shear deformation. Further disintegration of the surviving fragments 
may have occurred as the result of prolonged terrestrial weathering. Thermo¬ 
mechanical alteration of the micro-structure of the meteorite as a result of 
impact includes transient, localised re-heating to >800°C, shearing and plastic 
deformation. Failure of parts of the meteorite along brittle-cracking paths, 
such as crystal boundaries, may have absorbed some of the energy of 
terrestrial impact and allowed portions of the original micro-structure of the 
meteorite to be preserved. Veevers 
associated with an impact crater. 
INTRODUCTION 
In Australia there are five meteorite impact 
craters (Wolfe Creek, Dalgaranga, Henbury, 
Boxhole and Veevers) with associated meteoritic 
fragments representing the remnants of the 
impacting projectiles. Of these, Veevers crater is 
the most recently recognised and the least well 
described. Veevers meteorite impact crater is 
situated between the Great Sandy and Gibson 
Deserts in Western Australia at co-ordinates 
22°58'06"S, 125°22’07"E. The bowl-shaped, circular 
structure, measuring 70-80 m in diameter and 7 m 
deep, was recognised as a possible impact crater in 
July 1975 (Yeates et al. 1976). Yeates et al. (1976) 
surveyed the crater but did not find any meteoritic 
material that would have provided conclusive 
evidence of an origin by meteorite impact. 
Subsequently, in August 1984, two of us (EMS and 
CSS) visited the locality and recovered several 
small fragments of iron meteorite from two 
localities immediately to the north of the crater 
(Figure 1). Tire material (Table 1- WAM 13645-46) 
comprises several irregular, weathered fragments, 
the largest weighing 8.9 g. In July 1986, during a 
further visit to carry out a detailed survey of the 
crater (Shoemaker and Shoemaker 1988), an 
additional 32 metallic slugs and fragments of 
is the only known group IIAB iron 
meteoritic iron were recovered, the largest 
weighing 36.3 g (Graham 1989) (see Table 1). Most 
of this material was found just to the east of the 
crater, on the flanks of the crater rim and adjacent 
plain (Figure 1). A precise age for the crater has not 
yet been published, although Shoemaker and 
Shoemaker (1988) estimated that it was formed 
around 4000 years ago. 
More recently, Wasson et al. (1989) analysed the 
meteorite and have shown it to be a normal 
member of chemical group IIAB containing 5.82 
wt% Ni, 57.7 pg/g Ga, 160 pg/g Ge and 0.028 pg/g 
Ir. Wasson et al. (1989) also suggested that the size 
of the recovered fragments reflects separation of 
cm-thick kamacite lamellae as the result of 
weathering or impact fragmentation. In this paper, 
a detailed metallographic description of the 
meteorite is provided, and the disruptive thermo¬ 
mechanical history of the meteorite during crater¬ 
forming impact is interpreted. 
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND SAMPLE 
PREPARATION 
The weights and dimensions of the meteorite 
fragments recovered from the vicinity of Veevers 
crater are listed in Table 1 and shown (WAM 
