Pingualuit
Key facts
- Country
- Canada
- Diameter
- 3.44 km
- Age
- about 1.4 million years
- Location
- 61.28° N, 73.66° W
A near-perfect circular crater about 3.4 km across, its rim rising some 160 m above the tundra, holding a deep, round lake of exceptionally clear water.
Pingualuit Crater, on the Ungava Peninsula in Nunavik, northern Quebec, is one of the most beautiful impact craters in the world. A perfectly round ring of rock rises from the flat Arctic tundra, and inside it lies a deep, circular lake of astonishingly clear, blue water. It is sometimes called the Crystal Eye of Nunavik.
The impact. About 1.4 million years ago, a meteorite struck the ancient granite and gneiss of the Canadian Shield, forming a crater about 3.44 km across. The rim rises about 160 m above the surrounding land, and the crater floor lies about 400 m below the rim. The lake filling it is nearly 250 m deep, making it one of the deepest lakes in North America.
Despite its age, the crater is remarkably well preserved. It has survived repeated advances of ice-age glaciers, which scoured much of the surrounding landscape. The hard rock and the crater's shape may have helped protect it.
Clear water. Pingualuit Lake has no rivers flowing into or out of it. Its water comes from rain and melted snow, and it loses water mainly by evaporation and seepage. With almost no sediment or nutrients entering, the water is extremely clear, among the clearest in the world. It is also very low in dissolved salts. Arctic char live in the lake, a surprise given that no streams connect it to other water.
A record of climate. Because the lake has existed through many glacial cycles, its bottom sediments contain a long record of past climate. In 2007 scientists collected sediment cores from the lake floor, which may hold one of the longest continuous climate records in north-eastern North America.
Discovery. The crater was spotted from the air by United States Army Air Forces pilots in 1943. In 1950 the prospector Fred Chubb, hoping it might be a diamond-bearing volcanic pipe, drew attention to it, and for a while it was known as Chubb Crater, and later New Quebec Crater. Expeditions in the 1950s confirmed it as an impact crater. Since 1999 it has been known by its Inuit name, Pingualuit.
Visiting. The crater is protected within Pingualuit National Park, created in 2004 and managed by the Kativik Regional Government. It is remote and reached by air, usually via the Inuit community of Kangiqsujuaq. Visitors can hike to the rim, and guided trips are offered in summer. The Arctic climate is harsh, so trips need careful planning with local guides.
Did you know?
Pingualuit Lake has no inflowing or outflowing rivers; it is fed only by rain and snow.
The crater was once called Chubb Crater after a prospector hoping to find diamonds there.
Its lake sediments may hold one of the longest climate records in north-eastern North America.