Pingualuit crater
Coordinates: 61 ° 16 ′ 17.8 ″ N , 73 ° 39 ′ 1.6 ″ W.
The Pingualuit Crater ( English Pingualuit Crater , French cratère des Pingualuit ; Inuktitut , "where the land rises", earlier names are Chubb Crater (1950–1968) and later New Quebec Crater or cratère du Nouveau-Québec (1968–1999 )) is an impact crater on the Ungava Peninsula in northern Québec , Canada . It has a diameter of 3.44 km, a depth of 400 m and was formed in the Pleistocene 1.4 ± 0.1 million years ago.
The crater rises 160 m above the surrounding tundra landscape. The height of the crater rim reaches 657 m above sea level . The 267 m deep and 6.4 km² large Pingualuk Lake is located in the center of the crater. It has an average diameter of 2.8 km and a maximum diameter of 3.2 km. The lake is one of the deepest lakes in North America. The water quality of the lake is exceptional, with a salinity of less than 3 ppm . In comparison, the salinity of the Great Lakes is 500 ppm. Only Lake Mashu in Japan has clearer water than Lake Pingualuk. The Provincial Park Parc national des Pingualuit , founded in 2004 and covering 1,133.90 km², encompasses the crater and its surroundings.
discovery
For a long time, the water-filled crater remained unknown to the general public. Only the Inuit living in the region knew it and called the lake the "crystal eye of Nunavik" because of its clear water. During the Second World War, pilots used the circular lake for navigation purposes.
On June 20, 1943, the crater was photographed by a United States Army Air Forces aircraft on a meteorological flight over the Ungava region of Quebec Province . The image showed a wide rim of the crater that rose above its surroundings. In 1948 the Royal Canadian Air Force undertook a program of photographic exploration (photo mapping) of Canada. However, the resulting photographs did not become publicly available until 1950.
In 1950, the unusual terrain aroused the interest of diamond prospector Frederick W. Chubb, so he asked geologist Victor Ben Meen of the Royal Ontario Museum for an assessment. Chubb hoped that the crater could be of volcanic origin and thus host diamond deposits similar to those in South Africa. However, Meen's knowledge of Canadian geology did not support this assumption. Both traveled to the crater by plane in 1950. During that flight, Meen suggested naming the crater "Chubb Crater".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Province Quebec ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ www.theglobeandmail.com
- ↑ a b Parc des Pingualuit (PDF; 684 kB)
- ^ Ingrid Peritz: Quebec crater is out of this world . In: The Globe and Mail , May 25, 2007. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved August 17, 2008.
