Photo by Charles O`Dale for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
April, 9, 2009
Exploring the Pingualuit Impact Crater
Introduction
The Pingualuit Impact Crater, located in northern Quebec at N 61° 16´ W 73° 40´, was the first structure in Canada for which an impact origin was proposed. The structure is classified as a simple crater, 2.8 km in diameter and 400 m deep. It is slightly larger than the smallest crater on the Moon that is observable from our planet (Meen 1951). The inner slopeof the 3.4-km-diameter rim averages 30° and the outer slope averages 10°. The rim extends to a diameter of ~4.6 km and continues gradually outward to merge with the surrounding terrain at ~6.6 km. The peak of the rim is ~160 m above the inner lake level and 120 - 150 m above the regional terrain. The lake within the crater, with a depth of over 250 m, is one ofthe deepest in North America. It is also one of the clearest in the world with a transparency of over 35 m. Dating using the isotope ratio 40Ar-39Ar (Grieve 2006) gives the impact structurean age of 1.4 ± 0.1 Ma. The Pingualuit Impact Crater was formerly named New Quebec Crater and, previous to that, Chubb Crater.
NOTE: Whole article is to be published soon and I will add more photos later.
