Whitecourt crater

Whitecourt crater is a meteorite impact crater in Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of the Town of Whitecourt within Woodlands County.

The crater is approximately 36 m (118 ft) in diameter and 9 m (30 ft) deep. Its age is estimated at less than 1,100 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.[1]

More than 2,500 pieces of the impacting meteorite have been found (as of 2010). The pieces are shrapnel, mostly with sharp edges and mechanically deformed from the impact, but showing no sign of impact melt. The meteorite fragments are irons of type IIIAB. Most fragments were ejected eastward from the crater.[2]

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