The Discovery and History of the Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater, Western Australia

TL;DR

This paper explores the discovery, historical context, and scientific understanding of the Dalgaranga meteorite crater in Western Australia, highlighting past misidentifications and the need for further research on its age and origin.

Contribution

It provides a detailed historical analysis of the Dalgaranga crater's discovery and clarifies misconceptions, emphasizing the importance of archival research in impact crater studies.

Findings

The crater is the smallest isolated impact structure in Australia.

It is uniquely associated with a mesosiderite projectile.

Estimated projectile mass is between 500-1000 kg.

Abstract

The Dalgaranga meteorite crater, 100 km northeast of Yalgoo, Western Australia, was one of the first impact structures identified in Australia, the smallest isolated crater found in Australia, and the only confirmed crater in the world associated with a mesosiderite projectile. 17 years passed before the Dalgaranga meteorites were described in the scientific literature and nearly 40 years passed before a survey of the structure was published. The reasons for the time-gap were never explained and a number of factual errors about the discovery and early history remain uncorrected in the scientific literature. Using historical and archival documents, and discussions with people involved in Dalgaranga research, the reasons for this time gap are explained by a series of minor misidentifications and coincidences. The age of the crater has yet to be determined, but using published data, we estimate the projectile mass to be 500-1000 kg.