A Canadian man was shocked to learn that a mysterious hole he found on Google Maps could actually be a massive crater from an ancient meteorite.
Joël Lapointe was scouting sites in the Côte-Nord region of Québec, where he planned to go on a camping trip, but soon came across a “suspicious well.”
Using Google Maps, he was able to determine that the crater was about fifteen kilometers in diameter.
But something about the way the well curved seemed unnatural to him.
A Canadian man was shocked to learn that a mysterious hole he found on Google Maps could actually be a massive crater from an ancient meteorite.
Lapointe then noticed a ring of mountains about eight kilometers in diameter surrounding nearby Lake Marsal, another unusual feature for the area.
He handed over his findings to expert researchers, including French geophysicist Pierre Rochette, who revealed that the pit could be the site of an ancient meteorite fall.
“If you look at the topography, it’s very indicative of an impact,” Rochette said. CBC.
After receiving samples of material from the well, the geophysicist identified the presence of zircon, a mineral that preserves microscopic damage caused by the impact of a meteorite.
Although evidence suggests the crater was created by an ancient space rock, experts are waiting to conduct further tests before offering a final verdict.
If the pit is indeed the site of a meteorite crash, Rochette told the CBC, The discovery would be “significant” since the last such find occurred in 2013.
Using Google Maps, he was able to determine that the crater was about fifteen kilometers in diameter.
According to NASA, impact craters form when an object traveling at thousands of miles per hour hits the surface of a planet, releasing a series of shock waves that melt and recrystallize rock.
Some craters, possibly like this one, may date back millions or even 100 million years, said Tara Hayden, a postdoctoral associate at Western University. CBC.
Hayden added that meteorites can be composed of different substances, such as “ancient planets” and material from the birth of the solar system.
“It could tell us when it hit Earth,” he said. “That’s the wonderful thing about impact craters. We have the possibility of establishing a link between Earth and the outside universe.”
Gary Osinksi, a professor of Earth sciences at Western University, said the pit is a “strong candidate” for where a meteorite would crash.
Zircon, a mineral that preserves microscopic damage caused by a meteorite impact, was discovered in the mine.
The professor hasn’t traveled to identify a crater in more than a decade, and said the prospect of doing so now is “super exciting” because “it doesn’t happen very often.”
“Nowadays, with Google Earth, it is quite easy to find structures of circular or semicircular origin,” he explained. But “nine times out of ten, they are not craters.”
However, Osinksi believes this site could be an exception and has argued that the location is “promising” enough for scientists to study.
The earth sciences professor plans to examine the suspicious well next year.