Amateur Astronomer Discovers Ancient Meteorite Crater in Quebec Using Google Maps

An amateur astronomer identified a 15-mile-wide meteorite crater in northeastern Quebec after spotting unusual terrain on Google Maps. Planetary geologists have since confirmed the structure dates to 390 million years ago, making it one of the largest impact craters discovered in recent decades. The crater, named Uhackatik with approval from the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit, was found in the Côte-Nord region near Lake Marsal.

Discovery and Confirmation

Joël Lapointe, an amateur astronomer, initially noticed the odd terrain while using Google Maps to plan a camping route in 2024. Upon checking existing crater databases and finding no record of the formation, Lapointe submitted his observation to Impact Earth, a crowdsourcing platform for crater identification maintained by Canada's Western University in London, Ontario.

Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist at Western University, led an expedition to the site in October 2025 to investigate. The team faced challenging conditions—described by Osinski as "one of the most arduous expeditions" despite his 25 Arctic expeditions and six-continent experience—but located critical evidence on the second day of fieldwork. Researchers discovered shatter cones, cone-shaped rock patterns formed by shock waves traveling through the ground during impact, as well as extensive impact melt rock, which forms from the extreme pressure and temperature of a meteorite strike.

The crater spans approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter and contains visible shock metamorphic effects—rock deformations caused by the impact's shock waves and heat. Osinski emphasized that finding preserved impact melt rock was "a big surprise," as these features are typically among the first crater components to erode over geologic time.

Significance in Crater Research

The discovery ranks among the largest impact craters identified in recent memory. For comparison, the Hiawatha structure, spotted in Greenland in 2018 and estimated at 31 kilometers wide, remains partially buried under ice with ongoing debate about its confirmed origin. The Uhackatik crater, by contrast, shows unambiguous evidence of impact origin with no obscuring ice coverage.

Only approximately 200 meteorite craters have been formally identified worldwide, making each discovery scientifically valuable. Ancient impact craters on Earth are particularly difficult to locate due to erosion and geologic activity that obscure their features over time. The evidence gathered from Uhackatik will help researchers better understand meteorite impacts on the Moon, Mars, and other rocky celestial bodies. Osinski's research will be presented at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Frankfurt, Germany in August, pending peer review completion.