Virtual tours offer armchair view of meteorite impact structures amongst huge range of free online geological resources
| Date: | Wednesday, 16 August 2017 |
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Amateur geologists and people wanting more information about meteorite impact sites in Western Australia will find the latest addition to the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s (DMIRS) eBookshop of great interest.
Meteorite Impact Structures of Western Australia, the most recent release in the range of free virtual tours available from DMIRS, offers an in-depth armchair guide to seven meteorite impact structures in Western Australia.
The virtual tour provides not only geological information, but also explores historical and cultural aspects of the locations.
The Geological Survey of Western Australia’s General Manager, Geoscience Information Stephen Bandy said the tour included a detailed set of terms to aid the novice geologist as well as a set of references for further reading.
“The tour provides in-depth information on seven of the State’s most important impact sites, including the well-known Wolfe Creek crater,” he said.
“To make full use all of the features of the tour, it should be run on Google Earth Pro.
“The Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file can be downloaded to a USB or saved to a local drive on your PC, with the tour featuring photographs, geological maps and geophysical images to take people on a virtual journey to the sites.”
The impact sites included are Dalgaranga, Piccanniny, Shoemaker, Veevers, Wolfe Creek, Yallalie and Yarrabubba.
Mr Bandy said two other free virtual tours were available from the department’s eBookshop: ‘Virtual tour of the mafic-ultramafic intrusions of the Youanmi Terrane’ and ‘Discovery trails to early earth - a virtual tour to the east Pilbara of Western Australia’.
‘Virtual tour of the mafic–ultramafic intrusions of the Youanmi Terrane’ was based on the department’s 2016 field guide (Record 2016/6). Each site has high-quality figures, images and illustrations. ‘Discovery trails to early earth - a virtual tour to the east Pilbara of Western Australia’ included six trails radiating out from Marble Bar, which delve back into Deep Time.
“There is a huge range of products on offer in the department’s eBookshop and it’s great that this latest virtual tour has been designed to provide an opportunity for amateur geologists to access this data,” he said.
“The eBookshop catalogue also includes a variety of records, reports, bulletins, books, posters and data packages with 176 new or updated items added during 2016-17.”
Visit the department’s eBookshop for more information or go directly to our download the tour page.
