Meteorite Crater Discovered on Google Maps: 390-Million-Year-Old Impact in Quebec

An amateur astronomer planning a camping trip stumbled upon a geological discovery that had eluded experts for centuries. While scanning Google Maps in 2024 to plot hiking routes in Quebec's Côte-Nord region, Joël Lapointe noticed a large indentation centered on Lake Marsal. The ring-shaped feature, spanning roughly 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) across, looked to him like a meteorite crater.

Lapointe's initial reaction was self-doubt. “I told myself, ‘You haven’t discovered anything, Joël, it’s not possible, they must already know about this,’” he told the Canadian Press. But after searching through crater databases and finding no record of the feature, he submitted a report to Impact Earth, a crowdsourcing website for impact craters run by Western University in Ontario.

That report reached planetary geologist Gordon Osinski, who manages the Impact Earth database. Osinski was initially skeptical. But in October 2025, he co-led an expedition to the remote site. The terrain was punishing. “This was one of the most arduous expeditions I’ve ever done—and I’ve done 25 expeditions to the Arctic and six continents,” Osinski told Live Science. “The terrain was incredibly rough and rugged, plus [there were] lots of bugs.”

On the second day of the expedition, the team found the evidence they needed: shatter cones. These cone-shaped patterns in rock are created by the shock waves of a meteorite impact, and they point toward the point of collision. The team also discovered impact melt rock, confirming that the depression was not a natural geological formation but a scar from a cosmic collision roughly 390 million years ago.

The crater, named Uhackatik with approval from the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit in whose traditional lands it lies, is one of the largest impact structures discovered in recent years. Osinski noted that the last discovery of comparable scale was the Hiawatha structure in Greenland, spotted in 2018, which is approximately 19 miles (31 kilometers) wide. However, the Hiawatha feature is buried under ice and its origin remains debated. The Uhackatik crater, by contrast, leaves no doubt: the rocks show clear shock metamorphic effects, deformations induced by the intense heat and pressure of a meteorite strike.

The discovery highlights the growing role of citizen science in geological research. Lapointe, using a free mapping tool available to anyone, identified a feature that professional geologists had missed. His find underscores how satellite imagery and crowdsourced reporting platforms like Impact Earth can accelerate the pace of discovery. For context, similar tools have been used to identify other potential impact sites, and the intersection of technology and amateur observation continues to yield results.

Osinski's expedition also demonstrates the physical demands of field verification in remote terrain. The Côte-Nord region is rugged, with dense forest, swamps, and abundant insects. The team's success in confirming the crater required both satellite reconnaissance and old-fashioned fieldwork.

The Uhackatik crater joins a small but growing list of confirmed impact structures on Earth. While the planet's surface is constantly reshaped by erosion and plate tectonics, craters like this one provide a window into the solar system's history and the frequency of large impacts. The 390-million-year age places the event in the Devonian period, long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

For Lapointe, the discovery began as a simple camping trip planning session. For the scientific community, it is a reminder that the next major find could be hiding in plain sight on a satellite map. As Osinski put it, the crater is “probably one of the biggest discovered in recent years.” And it all started with a curious eye and a free app.