Haughton
Key facts
- Country
- Canada
- Diameter
- 23 km
- Age
- about 31 million years
- Location
- 75.37° N, 89.68° W
A broad, eroded crater about 23 km across in the bare polar desert of Devon Island, with pale grey impact breccia hills and fossil lake sediments on its floor.
Haughton Crater, on Devon Island in Canada's High Arctic territory of Nunavut, is often described as the closest thing to Mars on Earth. It lies in a cold, dry polar desert with almost no plants, under endless daylight in summer and darkness in winter. Scientists and engineers come here to practise exploring other worlds.
The impact. An asteroid struck Devon Island and formed a crater about 23 km across. For years the impact was dated to about 39 million years ago, but newer measurements published in 2013 suggest an age of about 31 million years, and that is now the preferred estimate. The impact struck a thick pile of limestone and dolomite on top of ancient crystalline rock. Much of the crater is covered by a light grey impact breccia, rock made of broken and melted fragments cemented together, which gives the landscape an eerie, lunar look.
Hot water after the impact. The heat of the impact drove a hydrothermal system inside the crater, with hot water circulating through cracked rock for thousands of years and depositing minerals. Similar systems may have existed in craters on Mars, so Haughton helps scientists think about where signs of past life might be found there. Today, microbes live inside the porous shocked rocks of the crater, sheltered from the harsh Arctic conditions, another clue for those searching for life elsewhere.
A walking seal. After the impact, a lake formed in the crater, and its sediments preserved fossils of plants and animals from a warmer time. In 2007 scientists found the skeleton of a remarkable animal in these lake deposits. Named Puijila darwini, it was an early relative of seals, with legs and probably webbed feet, which lived partly on land and partly in fresh water. It was described in 2009 and helps show how seals evolved from land-dwelling ancestors.
Practising for Mars. Since 1997 the Haughton-Mars Project, a research programme involving NASA and other partners, has run field seasons at the crater. Researchers test spacesuits, rovers, drills, communication systems and ways of working that might be used by future astronauts on Mars. The crater's rocks, valleys and frozen ground offer conditions that are similar in some ways to the Martian surface, though of course with breathable air.
Visiting. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth, and Haughton is far from any settlement. It is reached by small aircraft, mainly by scientific expeditions in the short summer. The polar environment is very fragile, and visits need permits from the territorial authorities.
Did you know?
Fossils of Puijila, an early seal relative with legs, were found in the crater's old lake sediments.
NASA-linked researchers have tested Mars equipment at Haughton since 1997.
Devon Island, where the crater lies, is the largest uninhabited island on Earth.