Thursday 4 March 2010

Pingualuit Crater, a perfect meteor crater

This is one of the youngest and best-preserved craters in the world. The basin created at the time of the meteor impact is now filled with exceptionally pure water.

Pingualuit means “where the land rises” in inuit language; the crater, known by the inuits as "Crystal Eye of Nunavik", is officially named Cratère Nouveau Quebec (New Quebec crater)

Location : Canada, Quebec
61°17'N , 75°40'W

Geologists established that the structure was a meteorite crater produced from an impact roughly 1.4 million years ago, just before the glaciers covered the area.

With a diameter of 3.4 kilometers, Pingualuit Crater holds a lake about 267 meters deep and almost perfectly circular in outline. Because this lake has no connection to any other water body, inflows from other lakes cannot contaminate Pingualuit’s sediments. Deep sediments in Pingualuit Crater preserve a longer record.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingualuit_National_Park

http://www.nunavikparks.ca/en/parks/pingualuit/index.htm

Pingualuit Park lodge