Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Pangnirtung (Jun 18/01) - In the middle of the ice covering Nauliniavik Lake there's a mystery that scientists and environmentalists are hard-pressed to explain.
The mystery is two large patches of jagged ice on the otherwise undisturbed lake 180 km north of Pangnirtung.
Robert Eno, one Nunavut's environmental protection officers, viewed the disturbances in April. They were discovered by fishers.
He suspects the two oval-shaped ice holes could have been caused by a meteor crashing to Earth.
A falling satellite and tidal movement have been ruled out.
"It looked like upended ice in an intertidal zone. The rest of the lake was flat as a pancake. The fisherman who found it said they'd never seen anything like it," Eno said.
There was no open water, suggesting the disturbance occurred days, even weeks, earlier.
When he was looking into the mysterious formations, Eno heard reports of a streak of light near Qikiqtarjuaq -- north of the lake in question.
It could have come from a meteor -- a chunk of space rock -- burning through the atmosphere.
"I've already got it in the back of my head this disturbance was caused by a meteor so I tend relate everything to the meteorite theory," he said.
As a rule, meteors are not Eno's department -- toxic waste and environmental hazards are. Having seen the site, though, and having brushed up on astral fallout, Eno remains on the case.
The next step is an underwater survey. The problem is funding. Not surprisingly, meteor diving expeditions are not a priority, not even with the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience office -- an office specializing in rock and physical formation exploration.
Dr. David Scott, chief geologist, said meteorites offer a rare and telling look at the universe's origins. In fact, a colleague accompanied Eno and several other government employees during their April survey.
If a meteorite surfaced in Nunavut, great, Scott said.
"Would we going fishing for it? Gosh no," he said.
Few meteors land on earth, either because they disintegrate en route or because they disappear into water (the Earth's surface is approximately 80 per cent water). Little is known about meteoric impacts on land -- even less on sea ice.
"It's fascinating. I'm still actively pursuing it, in some respects on my own time," Eno said.
"The only way to figure our what went on is to get a diver down there and even then, we may never know."
Cosmic Connection Meteor vs meteorite?
A meteor is a chunk of falling space matter. A meteorite is meteor reaching the earth's surface.COnnection
