Spider Meteor Impact Crater - WA

  Crater

Position

DEG: -16.73336 126.083298
DMS: 16º 44' 0.1" S 126º 04' 59.87" E
UTM: 52 K 8147661mN 188988mE
Altitude: 500.23m

Description

Address & Contact

Mt Barnett
Western Australia
Phone: N/A
Email: N/A
Web: N/A

Information

Spider is an impact structure (or astrobleme), the deeply eroded remnant of a former impact crater, situated in the Kimberley Region of northern Western Australia, 18 km east of the Mount Barnett Roadhouse on the Gibb River Road. Due to very rugged terrain the site is effectively inaccessible. The name is derived from the visually striking spider-like radiating ridges of quartzite prominently visible from the air or on satellite images.
The unusual geological structure has been a puzzle since the 1950s, but it was not until shatter cones were discovered in the centre in the late 1970s that it was realized that it was an eroded impact structure. The central area bearing shatter cones is interpreted as the relic of a central uplift with the outer limits of disturbance confined to a subcircular area about 11 x 13 km in diameter; the original crater may have been slightly greater than this due to the depth of erosion. The asymmetry of the structure lead some geologists to conclude that the projectile had a very low angle trajectory from the north or northwest while others suggest that the asymmetry may be at least partly due to the effect of pre-existing topography.
The age of the Spider impact event is not accurately constrained, but it has been argued it occurred after gentle folding of the Palaeoproterozoic quartzite, but before a regional episode of glacial erosion, if correct it occurred between 900-600 Million years ago i.e. during the Neoproterozoic.

PlaceID78249
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TrekNotes Near This Place (1)

Wildflowers

Weather

Closest Weather Station

Doongan at 14/09:00am WST
Distance from Spider Meteor Impact Crater 152.38km N
TemperatureFeels LikeRel. HumidityDew PointPressureRainfallWind DirectionWind SpeedGusts
33.1°C36.2°C52%22.1°C1010.4hPa0.0mmS9km/hr
5knots
km/hr
knots

Closest Climatic Station

Mount Elizabeth
Distance from Spider Meteor Impact Crater 35.09km N
 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Mean Max. °C33.032.132.432.529.928.028.530.534.135.936.234.1
Mean Min. °C22.121.820.516.712.08.88.19.514.919.121.622.3
Mean Rain mm255.7226.2163.339.414.712.83.11.98.632.574.4166.9

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