Strangways_crater

Strangways crater

Strangways crater

Impact crater of Northern Territory

Strangways is a large impact structure, the eroded remnant of a former impact crater, located in the Northern Territory of Australia about 65 kilometres (40 mi) east-south-east of the town of Mataranka.[1][2] It was named after the nearby Strangways River. The location is remote and difficult to access. Its age has been determined as approximately 646 Ma.

Quick Facts Impact crater/structure, Confidence ...
Oblique false colour Landsat image draped over digital elevation model (x10 vertical exaggeration), Strangways crater; screen capture from NASA World Wind

Description

The circular topographic feature that marks the site was originally thought to be volcanic, with an impact origin first proposed in 1971 after the discovery of evidence diagnostic of impact including shatter cones and shocked quartz.[3] The circular topographic feature is about 16 km (9.9 mi) in diameter and lies within Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the McArthur Basin. However, this is only a relic of the original crater after considerable erosion. Estimates of the original rim diameter vary between different researchers in the range 24–40 km (15–25 mi);[4] the Earth Impact Database[1] prefers a diameter of 25 km (16 mi). The age of the impact event has been determined at 646 ± 42 Ma (Neoproterozoic) based on radiometric dating of impact melt rocks.[5]

In 1996, the crater's site was listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate.[2]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Strangways". Earth Impact Database. Planetary and Space Science Centre University of New Brunswick Fredericton. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  2. [2]
    "Strangways Crater, Mataranka,(sic) NT, Australia - listing on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate (Place ID 18094)". Australian Heritage Database. Australian Government. 28 May 1996. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. [3]
    Guppy DJ, Brett R, Milton DJ (1971). "Liverpool and Strangways craters, Northern Territory; two structures of probable impact origin". Journal of Geophysical Research. 76 (23): 5387–93. Bibcode:1971JGR....76.5387G. doi:10.1029/JB076i023p05387.
  4. [4]
    Haines PW (2005). "Impact cratering and distal ejecta: the Australian record". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 52 (4–5): 481–507. Bibcode:2005AuJES..52..481H. doi:10.1080/08120090500170351. S2CID 128705406. Abstract[permanent dead link]
  5. [5]
    Spray JG, Kelley SP, Dence MR (1999). "The Strangways impact structure, Northern Territory, Australia: geological setting and laser probe 40Ar/39Ar geochronology". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 172 (3–4): 199–211. Bibcode:1999E&PSL.172..199S. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00206-X. Abstract
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