Manicouagan Reservoir

Manicouagan Reservoir in central Quebec is a vast ring-shaped lake formed in the 1960s when Hydro-Québec flooded earlier lakes during construction of the Daniel-Johnson Dam as part of a major hydroelectric development. Its striking circular form, often called the eye of Quebec, preserves the outline of an ancient impact crater created about 214 million years ago by an asteroid roughly 5 kilometers wide. René-Levasseur Island occupies the center, and Mount Babel is understood as the crater’s central uplift. The site is both scientifically important and economically significant, feeding downstream generating stations while preserving one of Earth’s largest confirmed impact structures.

Quebec · Canada