Featured Image Credit: Google Maps
Topics: Canada, Google Maps, World News, Science, Nature, Space
Kit Roberts
Topics: Canada, Google Maps, World News, Science, Nature, Space
A man happened upon a strange image while browsing Google Maps.
Many of us have been there, browsing along only to come across something eerie or unusual picked up on the satellite imagery.
While it might sometimes turn out to be the Google Maps watermark on the map, in this case it was definitely not.
Joël Lapointe had been browsing the map over the Quebec's Côte-Nord in Canada when he happened on the anomaly.
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This was a large section of ground which was a noticeably different colour to that surrounding it, and seemed to form a shape.
There also appeared to be a small pool both in the centre of the feature, as well as one which curved around the edge of it.
And it was precisely this curving which caught Lapointe's attention while he was browsing through maps.
Not only that, but there was also a range of mountains surrounding the area which Lapointe thought was an unusual feature.
This had a diameter of around eight kilometres and was close to the Marsal Lake.
Lapointe was so intrigued by what he found that he decided to see what an expert had to say.
He sent the findings over to French geophysicist Pierre Rochette, who came back with some fascinating ideas about what could have caused the unusual geographical layout.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Rochette said: "Looking at the topography, it's very suggestive of impact."
Rochette said that the evidence could be suggestive of a meteor impact at some point in the distant past.
However, he clarified that further scientific tests would need to be carried out in order to confirm whether this was the case.
Nonetheless, he added that it would be a 'major' discovery if the site did turn out to be the remains of an impact crater.
The last time such a crater was discovered was back in 2013.
Even when they happened a long time ago, meteor impacts leave behind lasting signs, even aside from more obvious ones like a large crater.
Once you go back millions of years, there are other ways to determine if an impact has occurred.
One way is to look at the chemical make-up of the ground as it could contain certain minerals.
Postdoctoral associate at Western University, Tara Hayden explained that this could not only point to where a meteor hit, but even when it hit.
She told the CBC: "It could tell us about when it was delivered to Earth.
"That's the wonderful thing about impact craters. We get to have this link between Earth and the outside universe."