Whitecourt - Impact Crater

Alternate Names N/A
Coordinates 53° 59' 56" N; 115° 35' 51" W
Notes
  1. 17 km SSE of Whitecourt (Herd et al., 2008).
Country Canada
Region Alberta
Date Confirmed 2008
Notes
  1. Confirmed as an impact crater based on the presence and direct association of iron meteorite fragments within and surrounding the crater (Herd et al., 2008).
Buried? No
Drilled? Yes
Notes
  1. ~50 boreholes made using hand augers to sample subsurface and determine the extent of the buried ejecta blanket and crater-fill (Kofman et al., 2010).
Target Type Sedimentary
Notes
  1. Quaternary glacial till and soil.
Sub-Type Unconsolidateddeposits
Apparent Crater Diameter (km) 36 m
Age (Ma) <0.0011
Notes :
  1. Charcoal layer underneath ejecta provides a maximum age for impact of 1100 years (Herd et al., 2008). *Minimum age is poorly constrained.

Method :
  1. 14C
Impactor Type Iron, IIIAB
Notes
  1. Herd et al. (2008) Meteorites recovered. Over 5000 meteorites recovered for a total known mass of ~230 kg (Newman and Herd, 2015).

Advanced Data Fields

Notes

Local Language
N/A
Erosion
1
  1. Crater is surrounded by a well-preserved ejecta blanket buried ~35 cm below surface (Kofman et al., 2010) and raised rim is preserved (Herd et al., 2008).
Final Rim Diameter
36 m
Maximum Crater Size
36 m
Number of Craters
1
Rim Reliability Index
1
  1. Well-preserved bowl-shaped crater with diameter of 36 m (Herd et al., 2008). Raised rim is preserved along eastern edge of crater (Herd et al., 2008).
Thickness of Seds
Unknown
Target Age
Cenozoic
Marine
No

References

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C D K Herd, E L Walton, D G Froese, E P K Herd, R S Kofman (2008) The discovery of a late Holocene impact crater near Whitecourt, Alberta, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 43, Suppl., A J Timothy Jull (ed.), p. 1, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, pdf

C D K Herd, D G Froese, E L Walton, R S Kofman, E P K Herd, M J M Duke (2008) Anatomy of a young impact event in central Alberta, Canada; prospects for the missing Holocene impact record, Geology (Boulder) 36(12), p. 955-958, Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, url, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G25236A.1

R S Kofman, C D K Herd, E L Walton, D G Froese, E P K Herd (2008) A geologic overview of the late Holocene Whitecourt meteorite impact crater, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 43, Suppl., A J Timothy Jull (ed.), p. 1, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, url

R S Kofman, C D Herd, D G Froese, E L Walton (2009) The Whitecourt meteorite impact crater; observations and interpretations at a late Holocene impact structure, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 90(22, SUPPL.), p. Abstract MA11B-01, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, url

R S Kofman, C D K Herd, E L Walton, D G Froese (2009) The late Holocene Whitecourt meteorite impact crater; a low-energy hypervelocity event, Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 40, p. 0-42, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, TX, pdf

R S Kofman, C D K Herd, D G Froese (2010) The Whitecourt meteorite impact crater, Alberta, Canada, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 45(9), p. 1429-1445, Meteoritical Society, Fayetteville, AR, url, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01118.x

J D Newman, C D K Herd (2013) Whitecourt meteorite impact crater; distribution, texture, and mineralogy of meteorites and the discovery of carbon spherules possibly associated with the impact event, Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 44, p. Abstract 2316, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, TX, pdf

J D Newman, C D K Herd (2013) Possible impact origin on amorphous carbon spherules found in soil surrounding the Whitecourt meteorite Impact Crater, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 48(SI-1), p. A263, pdf

G C Wilson, P J A McCausland (2013) Canadian meteorites: a brief review, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de la Terre 50(1), p. 4-13, Turnstone Geological Services Limited, P.O. Box 1000, Campbellford, ON K0L 1L0, Canada., turnstonerocks@yahoo.ca: NRC Research Press, url, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e2012-036