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Pingualuit Crater
About 1.4 million years ago, The Pingualuit Crater was created by a meteorite impact that had the force of 8500 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. The crater is 3.44 km (2.14 miles) in diameter, which rises 160 meters (520 feet) above the surrounding tundra and is 400 meters (1,300 feet) deep. A 270 meter (890 feet) deep lake formed at the bottom of the crater which contains some of the purest water in the world.
There are no inlets or apparent outlets of the lake, so the water accumulates from rain and snow and is only lost through evaporation. In 1943, the crater was discovered by a US Air Force plane on a meteorological flight. In the local Inuit language, Pingualuit means “where the land rises”.
