science

Hickman crater

Hickman crater is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hickman crater rather than just read about it. In short: The Hickman crater is a recently discovered meteorite impact crater, 16 kilometres northeast of the Hope Downs 4 Mine and 35 kilometres north of Newman in the Ophthalmia Range, Western Australia. It was discovered by Arthur Hickman, a government geologist with the Geological Survey of Western Australia, in July 2007.

Key takeaways

Hickman crater belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hickman crater to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hickman crater from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Hickman crater is a recently discovered meteorite impact crater, 16 kilometres northeast of the Hope Downs 4 Mine and 35 kilometres north of Newman in the Ophthalmia Range, Western Australia. It was discovered by Arthur Hickman, a government geologist with the Geological Survey of Western Australia, in July 2007. The discovery was made by chance while browsing Google Earth. A 2012 government scientific drilling project in the centre of the crater confirmed in 2017 the impact of an iron-nickel meteorite.

Description The crater is about 260 metres (853 ft) wide and 30 metres (98 ft) deep, and is thought to be between 10,000 and 100,000 years old. New research suggests it may be around 50,000 years. Elevated levels of siderophiles in the structure such as iridium and palladium have been found. It is estimated that the meteorite was between 10 and 15 metres (33 and 49 ft) in diameter when it impacted the ground. In 2012 the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) ran a drilling project in collaboration with Atlas Iron, the findings from which were presented at a Geoscience Research workshop in November 2017. The findings are summarised on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) website, and include the following quote: "The 65 metre deep drillhole found that the centre of the crater is filled in by about 48 metres of sediment that was washed in after the crater formed. Below this is a nearly seven metre thick layer of finely smashed up and melted rock that formed the original crater floor, underlain by fractured bedrock. Chemical analysis of the smashed up and melted rock shows, besides comprising fragments of bedrock, it also contains traces of material from an iron meteorite. The internal structure of the crater is similar to that found at other small meteorite impact craters drilled overseas and confirms that the crater was produced by a meteorite impact."

References

External links Aussie finds meteorite crater on Google Earth at Cosmos Magazine

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hickman crater

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hickman crater claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hickman crater before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hickman crater ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hickman crater

In research: Hickman crater appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hickman crater in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hickman crater is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Impact craters of Western Australia, Pleistocene Australia, Pleistocene impact craters, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hickman crater outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hickman crater in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hickman crater means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hickman crater out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hickman crater in simple terms?

Why does Hickman crater matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hickman crater?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hickman crater.