Scientists Confirm 25-Km Uhaachatik Crater in Quebec, Dating Meteor Impact to 390 Million Years

Q: Will Quebec's ancient crater become a protected site or a new tourist destination?

There is no confirmed plan yet to make Quebec’s newly verified Uhaachatik Crater either a protected site or a tourist destination. What is clear is that the crater has strong scientific value. Researchers have now confirmed it as a 390 million-year-old impact structure through field evidence including shatter cones and impact melt rock, and its 25-kilometer size makes it unusually important. It was also named after discussions with the Ekuanitshit Innu council, which suggests any future decisions about access or status would likely involve Indigenous consultation. At the same time, the site’s geography argues against near-term tourism development. Reports describe it as extremely remote, about 100 kilometers north of Magpie, with rough terrain so difficult that the research team called it one of their hardest expeditions. Access required a plane landing and wading ashore with heavy equipment. That makes mass visitation or quick tourism infrastructure unlikely. A protected designation is more plausible than tourism in the short term, but there is no public announcement of such a move in the available reporting. For now, the focus remains on scientific study and presentation of the findings, not on conservation policy or visitor development. So the most evidence-based answer is that Uhaachatik Crater is currently a major scientific discovery, not yet a managed heritage attraction or formally protected public site.

3 articles · Updated · Livescience.com · Jul 16

A 25-kilometer ring around Quebec's Lake Marsal has been confirmed as the 390-million-year-old Uhaachatik meteor impact crater after fieldwork and lab analysis.
October 2025 expeditions found shatter cones and impact melt rock—diagnostic evidence of an asteroid or comet strike that earlier zircon samples alone could not prove.
Joël Lapointe first spotted the near-perfect circular pit on Google Maps in 2024 while planning a camping trail, then alerted researchers who investigated the site.
Canada now counts 31 known impact craters out of roughly 200 worldwide, and Osinski said a newly confirmed crater of this 25-km size is unusually rare.