Gosses Bluff crater

Gosses Bluff (Gosse's Bluff) is thought to be the eroded remnant of an impact crater.[1][2][3] It is located in the southern Northern Territory, near the centre of Australia, about 175 km (109 mi) west of Alice Springs and about 212 km (132 mi) to the northeast of Uluru (Ayers Rock). The original crater is thought to have been formed by the impact of an asteroid or comet approximately 142.5 ± 0.8 million years ago,[4] in the earliest Cretaceous, very close to the Jurassic - Cretaceous boundary. The original crater rim has been estimated at about 22 km (14 mi) in diameter, but this has been eroded away. The 5 km (3.1 mi) diameter, 180 m (590 ft) high crater-like feature,[5] now exposed, is interpreted as the eroded relic of the crater's central uplift. The impact origin of this topographic feature was first proposed in the 1960s, the strongest evidence coming from the abundance of shatter cones.[6] In the past the crater has been the target of petroleum exploration, and two abandoned exploration wells lie near its centre.[3]

Cultural Significance

The site is known as Tnorala to the Western Arrernte Aboriginal people, and is a sacred place. It is now located in the Tnorala Conservation Reserve. A Western Arrernte story attributes its origins to a cosmic impact: in the Dreaming, a group of celestial women were dancing as stars in the Milky Way. One of the women grew tired and placed her baby in a wooden basket. As the women continued dancing, the basket fell and plunged into the earth. The baby fell to the earth and forced the rocks upward, forming the circular mountain range. The baby's parents, the evening and morning star, continue to search for their baby to this day.[5][7][8]

References

  1. ^ "Gosses Bluff". Earth Impact Database. University of New Brunswick. http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/gosses-bluff.html. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 
  2. ^ Milton, D. J.; et al. (1972). "Gosses Bluff Impact Structure, Australia". Science 175 (4027): 1199–1207. Bibcode 1972Sci...175.1199M. doi:10.1126/science.175.4027.1199. PMID 17794191. 
  3. ^ a b Milton, D. J.; Glikson, A. Y.; Brett, R. (1996). "Gosses Bluff—a latest Jurassic impact structure, central Australia. Part 1: geological structure, stratigraphy, and origin". AGSO Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics 16 (4): 453–486. hdl:10070/89299. 
  4. ^ Milton, D. J.; Sutter, J. F. (1987). "Revised age for the Gosses Bluff impact structure, Northern Territory, Australia, based on Ar-40Ar-39 dating". Meteoritics 22: 281–289. Bibcode 1987Metic..22..281M. 
  5. ^ a b Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory (May 2007) [March 1997]. Tnorala Conservation Reserve (Gosse's Bluff): Plan of Management. Northern Territory Government. ISBN 1-920772-87-1. http://nt.gov.au/nreta/parks/manage/plans/pdf/tnorala.pdf. 
  6. ^ Dietz, R. S. (1967). "Shatter Cone Orientation at Gosses Bluff Astrobleme". Nature 216 (5120): 1082–1084. doi:10.1038/2161082a0. 
  7. ^ Hamacher, D. W.; Norris, R. P. (2009). "Australian Aboriginal Geomythology: Eyewitness Accounts of Cosmic Impacts?". Archaeoastronomy 22: 62. arXiv:1009.4251. Bibcode 2009Arch...22...62H. 
  8. ^ Cauchi, S. (18 June 2003). "Outer space meets outback and a bluff is born". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/17/1055828328658.html. Retrieved 2011-10-08. 

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