Goat Paddock crater
Goat Paddock is a 5 km-diameter near-circular bowl-shaped depression in a range of gently dipping Proterozoic sandstone in the Kimberley Region of northern Western Australia, 106 km west-southwest of Halls Creek. It is interpreted as an ancient meteorite impact crater, the evidence including breccia containing melted rocks, silica glass, shatter cones and shocked quartz.[1][2][3] Drilling shows that the crater is filled with about 200 m of ancient lake sediments containing Early Eocene pollen, this age thus giving a minimum estimate for the age of the crater itself.[1] The crater is not perfectly circular, but slightly elongated in a north–south direction, suggesting that the projectile struck at low angle from either the north or south.
Oblique Landsat image draped over digital elevation data (x3 vertical exaggeration), Goat Paddock crater (circular feature in centre); screen capture from the NASA World Wind program
The crater can be seen at the centre of this image
 Landsat image of the Goat Paddock crater (circular feature in centre); screen capture from the NASA World Wind program | |
| Impact crater/structure | |
|---|---|
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Diameter | 5.1 km (3.2 mi) |
| Age | <50 Ma Eocene |
| Exposed | Yes |
| Drilled | No |
| Location | |
| Location | Kimberley Region |
| Coordinates | 18°20′S 126°40′E |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Western Australia |
  Location of the crater in Western Australia | |
References
- Harms J.E., Milton D.J., Ferguson J., Gilbert D.J., Harris W.K. & Goleby B. 1980. Goat Paddock cryptoexplosion crater, Western Australia. Nature 286, 704–706. Abstract
- Milton D.J. & Macdonald F.A. 2005. Goat Paddock, Western Australia: an impact crater near the simple – complex transition. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 52, 691–698. Abstract
- "Goat Paddock". Earth Impact Database. Planetary and Space Science Centre University of New Brunswick Fredericton. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
Further reading
- Milton, D. J., Ferguson, J. and Fudali,R.F., Goat Paddock impact crater, Western Australia (abstract). Meteoritics, v. 15, p. 333. 1980
