How a campsite search led scientists to Uhackatik

A circular shape on a map is a reason to investigate, not proof of a meteorite strike. For Uhackatik, the trail began when amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe was looking for a campsite in Quebec’s remote Côte-Nord region and noticed a ring-like depression near Lake Marsal. It ended with geologists examining the rocks on the ground.12

From a map to a field investigation

Lapointe contacted researchers about what he had seen. Scientists at Aix-Marseille University received his report, and French researchers raised the Lake Marsal area as a potential impact structure at a 2024 Meteoritical Society meeting. At that point, its shape was still only a clue: other geological processes can produce circular features.139

Most accounts place Lapointe’s observation in 2024, although one report says late 2023. The sequence is clearer than the precise date: he flagged the feature, and specialists set out to test the idea.17

Western University planetary geologist Gordon Osinski, initially sceptical, organised an expedition to the site in October 2025. The team travelled by floatplane and had difficulty reaching shore. Earlier geological mapping had interpreted fragmented rock in the area as volcanic, so a convincing case for an impact required evidence that could distinguish the two explanations.16

The evidence was in the rock

By the expedition’s second day, researchers had found shatter cones—distinctive fractures produced by extreme shock pressure. Their research abstract reports these structures in bedrock near the centre of the site. The team also reinterpreted a rock formation previously thought to be volcanic as impact-related melt rock.126

Those findings underpin the researchers’ conclusion that Uhackatik is an impact structure about 25 kilometres wide, formed roughly 390 million years ago.2 Shatter cones help establish what happened; they do not, by themselves, establish when. The supplied research summary does not provide enough detail to explain the dating method or its margin of error.25

The name Uhackatik was chosen after consultation with the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit.58 Researchers have described the site as a possible 11th known impact structure in Quebec. Their 2026 conference abstract presents the scientific finding, but does not itself show that every step of peer review or formal listing is complete.23

Lapointe’s contribution was not to confirm a crater from Google Maps. It was to notice something worth checking—and bring it to people who could test the idea against the rocks.12