[Rockhounds] An icy mystery deep in Arctic Canada

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

The plane banked to the right, hard. As we took a first sweep at the runway
– or, rather, the short stretch of bumpy land in the Arctic tundra that
would serve as one – an alarm sounded, the lights above the emergency exits
flashed red and the sound of the aircraft's engines roaring back into
action filled the main cabin. My stomach lurched.

It was an exhilarating introduction to the far north of Quebec, in a region
known as Nunavik. Comprising the top third of Canadian province (larger
than the US state of California and twice the size of Great Britain)
fringed by frayed edges of a peninsula known as Ungava, most people don't
even know it exists. But that wasn't always the case.

Back in 1950, this area was splashed across newspapers globally and pegged
as the eighth wonder of the world. Not because of the wilderness, and not
due to any manmade structure, but because of the distinct land feature I
was now flying over enroute to take another shot at the runway: Pingualuit
Crater.

One of the first people to be mesmerised by it was a prospector from
Ontario called Fred W Chubb. He was convinced the landmark was caused by a
volcano, which would likely mean diamonds lay within it. He asked the
advice of the then-director of the Ontario Museum, Dr Meen, who, equally
captivated, journeyed there with him to investigate (it's the reason that
for a short time Pingualuit was known as Chubb Crater) – but the volcano
theory was eventually dismissed.

"Now we know beyond doubt that it is a meteor crater," said Philie, as the
sun began to set over Manarsulik Lake, located about 2.5km from Pingualuit,
leaving the edge of the crater as faint as a watermark on the dazzling pink
horizon. "Tomorrow we shall see it."


https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220403-an-icy-mystery-deep-in-arctic-canada