Researchers Confirm 16-Mile Uhackatik Impact Crater in Quebec After 390 Million Years
Updated
Updated · Earth.com · Sep 16
Researchers Confirm 16-Mile Uhackatik Impact Crater in Quebec After 390 Million Years
3 articles · Updated · Earth.com · Sep 16
Summary
Shatter cones found during an October 2025 expedition confirmed that the circular structure around Lake Marsal is an ancient impact crater, now named Uhackatik after consultations with the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit.
Joël Lapointe, an amateur astronomer, first flagged the site in 2024 after spotting the ring on satellite maps while planning a camping trip, prompting specialists in Europe and North America to investigate.
Rock analysis dates the crater to about 390 million years ago, and researchers say the impact carved a complex structure roughly 16 miles across with a central uplift.
Uhackatik is considered essentially confirmed pending formal Meteoritical Society recognition, and researchers say it is the largest impact crater discovery since Greenland's 31-mile Hiawatha structure was reported in 2018.
Only about 200 impact structures have been confirmed worldwide, underscoring how erosion, vegetation, sediment and oceans can hide even large scars for hundreds of millions of years.