Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe discovered a 25-kilometer-wide meteorite impact crater in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region using Google Maps while planning a camping trip in 2024. Researchers confirmed the 390-million-year-old structure, named Uhackatik, during a rugged 2025 scientific expedition that found rare shatter cones and impact melt rock.
Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe was using Google Maps in late 2023 to map out forest paths and trails through Quebec’s Côte-Nord region when he noticed a strange topographical ring centered around Lake Marsal.
When he checked existing crater databases and found no matching records, he reached out to academic experts. That initial curiosity eventually led to a formal investigation by international scientists, culminating in verification that the 15.5-mile-wide pit is the remnant of an ancient asteroid strike.
How Joël Lapointe Spotted a 390-Million-Year-Old Impact Crater on Google Maps
“For an amateur astronomer who loves to connect with space and loves meteorites, it was just amazing.”
Joël Lapointe, amateur astronomer
The tip eventually reached Gordon Osinski, a planetary geology professor at Western University in London, Ontario, who manages the crowdsourcing database Impact Earth. Osinski admits he initially felt skeptical about the claim.
“I get lots of messages from the public thinking they have found a crater and 99/100 turn out not to be the case. This is one of those rare examples that shows this is possible.”
Gordon Osinski, planetary geologist at Western University
An Arduous 2025 Expedition to Lake Marsal and the Discovery of Uhackatik
Accessing the remote landscape proved exceptionally difficult.
“This was one of the most arduous expeditions I’ve ever done — and I’ve done 25 expeditions to the Arctic and 6 continents. The terrain was incredibly rough and rugged, plus [there were] lots of bugs.”
Gordon Osinski, planetary geology professor at Western University
Operating from a float plane that had to drop the team 50 meters offshore, the researchers waded to land with their gear and immediately began documenting physical evidence of a high-energy impact. Because the structure spans roughly 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) in diameter, finding actual fragments of the impacting meteorite was unlikely. Instead, the team searched for rock deformations caused by immense shockwaves and thermal energy.
On the second day of fieldwork, researchers identified shatter cones—distinctive, cone-shaped grooves in rock layers formed exclusively by hypervelocity impacts or nuclear detonations. They also located extensive cliffs of impact melt rock, created when the collision’s extreme temperatures melt tens of cubic kilometers of the Earth’s crust before cooling into volcanic-like formations.
Consultation with the Ekuanitshit Innu Council and Global Significance
Following laboratory analysis of the collected rock samples, scientists dated the formation to 390 million years ago, placing the event in a period of Earth’s history when life was largely confined to primitive amphibians and predated dinosaurs and mammals. Following discussions with the Ekuanitshit Innu council, whose traditional lands encompass the region, the structure was officially named Uhackatik.
Yet, researchers note that finding a structure of this scale is highly unusual.
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