Whitecourt Crater, Alberta

"Hiding in plain sight"

Over a thousand years ago, an iron-nickel meteorite slammed into the earth, blasting open a crater in the ground and scattering hundreds of chunks of meteorite metal and shrapnel.

This fantastic 1100 year old crater was only discovered in 2007 as it lies hidden in an isolated wooded area northwest of Edmonton. Special imaging was used to map it. Many iron meteorites were initially found in the area.

The crater zone is now a protected area and meteorite hunting is prohibited.

The 118 ft diameter well preserved crater has steep sides and is 20 feet deep.

The route to the crater is a very rough ATV track. We hiked it as a 7 km return trip.

A typical small Whitecourt meteorite

This huge 31.5kg piece of the meteorite is at the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection in Edmonton.

Image by Dave Kenny, used with permission from Univ of Alberta