Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve

Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The reserve is located 145 kilometres south west of Alice Springs and contains twelve craters, which were formed when a meteor hit the earth’s surface.

Henbury is one of five meteor impact sites in Australia associated with actual meteorite fragments and one of the world's best preserved examples of a small crater field. [Haines P.W. 2005. Impact cratering and distal ejecta: the Australian record. "Australian Journal of Earth Sciences" 52:481–507. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tandf/aes/2005/00000052/F0020004/art00003 Abstract] ] At Henbury there are 13 to 14 craters ranging from 7 to 180 metres in diameter and up to 15 metres in depth that were formed when the meteor broke up before impact. Several tonnes of iron-nickel fragments have been recovered from the site. The site has been dated to 4.2±1.9 thousand years ago based on the cosmogenic ¹⁴C terrestrial age of the meteorite. [Kohman T. P. and Goel P.S. 1963. Terrestrial ages of meteorites from cosmogenic ¹⁴C. In: "Radioactive Dating", p. 395–311. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.]

The craters were discovered in 1899 by the manager of Henbury Station, then went uninvestigated until interest was stirred when the Karoonda meteorite fell on South Australia in 1930. [ [http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/parks/management/pdf/henbury_pom.pdf Henbury Meteorites Conservation Reserve Draft Plan of Management 2002] . Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. ISBN 0-7245-2765-6] "The Meteorite Craters at Henbury Central Australia" by A.R. Alderman was published in 1932 detailing the scientific investigations of the site. Numerous studies have been undertaken since.

References

External links

* [http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/parks/find/henbury.html Henbury meteorites conservation reserve]