Whitecourt crater is a meteorite

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...

in central

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, located approximately southeast of the Town of

Whitecourt Whitecourt is a town in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Woodlands County. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton and southeast of Grande Prairie at the junction of Highway 43 and Highway 32. It has an elevation of . White ...

within

Woodlands County Woodlands County is a municipal district in north-central Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division No. 13, its municipal office is located outside but adjacent to the Town of Whitecourt. A second municipal office is located in the Hamlet ...

. It is remarkable for being unusually well-preserved for a crater of small size and relatively young age. whitecourt_meteorite

The crater is approximately in diameter and deep, and its age is estimated to be between 1,080 and 1,130 years since the buried fragments of the impacting meteorite are all found above a layer of carbon from a forest fire dating around 1,100 years ago. The crater was found by Sonny Stevens, a resident of Whitecourt, on July 3, 2007. Stevens was hunting in the area, and later found the first fragments of the meteorite while metal detecting on the crater rim. The meteoritic nature of the fragments, and thus the authenticity of the crater, were confirmed by Dr. Chris Herd, professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

. The area has been placed within a 200-metre by 200-metre protected zone, within which collecting is prohibited and subject to a $50,000 fine or one year in jail. However, the vast majority of fragments have been found on Crown land beyond the protected area. More than 3,000 pieces of the impacting meteorite have been found (as of 2012). The pieces are shrapnel, mostly between a few grams and 500 grams in mass, with sharp edges and mechanically deformed from the impact, but showing no sign of impact melt. Over one dozen individual (non-shrapnel pieces that show regmaglypts) meteorites have also been found with the largest weighing 31 kilograms. The meteorite fragments are irons of type IIIAB. Most fragments were ejected eastward from the crater.

References

External links

Aerial Exploration of the Whitecourt craterWhitecourt Meteorite Impact Crater
Holocene impact craters Impact craters of Alberta Whitecourt Woodlands County Provincial Historic Resources of Alberta {{Alberta-geo-stub