Haughton impact crater is located on

Devon Island Devon Island ( iu, ᑕᓪᓗᕈᑎᑦ, ) is an island in Canada and the largest uninhabited island (no permanent residents) in the world. It is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the largest members of the ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

in far

Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories an ...

. It is about in diameter and was formed 31-32 million years ago during the Early

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

. The impacting object is estimated to have been approximately in diameter. Devon Island itself is composed of

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

overlying

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...

. When the crater formed, the shale and siltstone were peeled back to expose the basement; material from as deep as has been identified.

Description

At 75° north latitude, it is one of the highest-latitude

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...

s known. The temperature is below the freezing point of water for much of the year, and the limited vegetation is slow-growing, leading to very little

weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs '' in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement ...

. For this reason Haughton retains many geological features that lower-latitude craters lose to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

. Because Haughton's geology and climatology are as close to Mars-like as can be had on Earth, Haughton and its environs have been dubbed by scientists working there as "Mars on Earth." For example, the centre of the crater contains impact

breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...

(ejected rock which has fallen back into the impact zone and partially re-welded) that is permeated with

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

, thus creating a close analogue to what may be expected at crater sites on a cold, wet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. The

Mars Institute The Mars Institute is an international non-governmental organization created with the goals of advancing the scientific study and exploration of Mars, conducting peer-reviewed research, and educating the public about Mars exploration. It was incor ...

and the

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

operate the

Haughton–Mars Project The Haughton–Mars Project (HMP) is an international interdisciplinary field research project being carried out near the Haughton impact crater on Canada's northern Devon Island. Human-centered computing (HCC) studies are aimed at determining ...

at this site, designed to test many of the challenges of life and work on Mars. The non-profit

Mars Society The Mars Society is a nonprofit organization that advocates for human Mars exploration and colonization, founded by Robert Zubrin in 1998. It is based on Zubrin's Mars Direct plan, which aims to make human mission to Mars as lightweight and ...

also operates the

Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is the first of two simulated Mars habitats (or Mars Analog Research Stations) located on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, which is owned and operated by the Mars Society. The station is a member ...

(

FMARS The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) is the first of two simulated Mars habitats (or Mars Analog Research Stations) located on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, which is owned and operated by the Mars Society. The station is a member ...

) at this site and conducts similar research.

References

External links

Devon Island & Haughton Crater – Arctic-Mars.org

Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), The Mars Society
{{Impact cratering on Earth Impact craters of Canada Impact craters of the Arctic Eocene impact craters Bartonian Stage Landforms of Qikiqtaaluk Region Devon Island