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49-637: The Mingan River's source is in the Canadian Shield . It descends to sea level from an elevation of 579 m (1,900 ft) at its source, and is 117 km (73 mi) long. For most of its length it runs through a rocky (granite) valley lined with fir and spruce. Towards the end it flows between banks of sand and marble. The course of the river from its source is fairly straight, apart from two large meanders before it enters its large estuary. There are monumental falls about 9 km (5.6 mi) from its mouth, and other rapids further north. The river

98-575: A continental arc or by convergence yielding continental collisions. Generally, the evolution to granitoid magmas requires a thermal disturbance to ascent though continental crust.   Most granitoids are generated from crustal anatexis , the partial melting of the crust;  however the mantle may contribute both heat and material.   Granitoids can occur coeval with volcanic rocks that have equivalent chemical composition (granite– rhyolite , syenite– trachyte , granodiorite – dacite etc.) however, these extrusive rocks are often eroded so just

147-493: A complete and unique characterization of the origin, compositional evolution, and geodynamic environment for the genesis of a granitoid. Accordingly, multiple granitoid classification systems have been developed such as those based on: geochemistry , modal content, emplacement depth, and tectonic regime . There are several generalizations that apply to the majority of granitoids. Typically, granitoids occur where orogeny thickens continental crust either by subduction yielding

196-651: A deep, common, joined bedrock region in eastern and central Canada , the shield stretches north from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean , covering over half of Canada and most of Greenland ; it also extends south into the northern reaches of the continental United States . The Canadian Shield is a physiographic division comprising four smaller physiographic provinces: the Laurentian Upland , Kazan Region , Davis and James. The shield extends into

245-545: A mineral. The kimberlite eruptions then bring the diamonds from over 150 kilometres (93 mi) depth to the surface. The Ekati and Diavik mines are actively mining kimberlite diamonds. Granitoid A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz , plagioclase , and alkali feldspar . Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quartz-poor monzonites to quartz-rich quartzolites . As only two of

294-405: A myriad population of other birds, including ravens and crows , predatory birds and many songbirds . The Canadian Shield is one of the world's richest areas in terms of mineral ores . It is filled with substantial deposits of nickel , gold , silver , and copper . There are many mining towns extracting these minerals. The largest, and one of the best known, is Sudbury , Ontario. Sudbury

343-540: A series of 14 connected basins as well as a flow control channel. After completion the river above the first falls would provide 84% of the salmon potential in the river basin along 69 kilometres (43 mi) of the river. Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( French : Bouclier canadien [buklje kanadjɛ̃] ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau ,

392-425: Is 4 to 12 km (2.5 to 7.5 mi) wide and is relatively flat, with some low hills no more than 150 m (490 ft) high. The bedrock is mainly magmatic , including an anorthositic massif and a smaller area of granitoid rocks. The bedrock on the plateau and piedmont is covered by discontinuous areas of glacial till no more than 1 m (3 ft 3 in) deep. The bedrock often shows in outcrops on

441-535: Is a geologic shield , a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks . It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia) , the ancient geologic core of the North American continent. Glaciation has left the area with only a thin layer of soil , through which exposures of igneous bedrock resulting from its long volcanic history are frequently visible. As

490-595: Is a collage of Archean plates and accreted juvenile arc terranes and sedimentary basins of the Proterozoic Eon that were progressively amalgamated during the interval 2.45–1.24 Ga, with the most substantial growth period occurring during the Trans-Hudson orogeny , between c. 1.90–1.80 Ga. The Canadian Shield was the first part of North America to be permanently elevated above sea level and has remained almost wholly untouched by successive encroachments of

539-497: Is a submerged delta with multiple channels and shoals fed by erosion from the banks of the downstream part of the river. The annual average flow at the river mouth is estimated to be 66 m/s (2,300 cu ft/s), varying during the year from 16 to 149 m/s (570 to 5,260 cu ft/s). When flow is low the salt waters can travel up the estuary 1.5 km (0.93 mi) to the Quebec Route 138 bridge. The Mingan

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588-647: Is an exception to the normal process of forming minerals in the shield since the Sudbury Basin is an ancient meteorite impact crater . Ejecta from the meteorite impact was found in the Rove Formation in May 2007. The nearby but less-known Temagami Magnetic Anomaly has striking similarities to the Sudbury Basin. This suggests it could be a second metal-rich impact crater. In northeastern Quebec,

637-471: Is burnt trees and grasslands. It is an excellent river for salmon and trout. The savages visit it for hunting, and gather at Mingan when they return from hunting. This post is one of the most important of the North Shore. The Hudson's Bay Company has established a fur trading post there. Mingan harbor is also one of the best on the shore thanks to the islands that protect it against all winds. The ground

686-677: Is fed in the north by the Mingan Northwest and Mingan Northeast rivers. Tributaries include the Mitshem Kutshieu River, which drains the center-west of the basin, and the Manitou River, which drains the southwest of the basin and joins the Mingan about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from its mouth. A tributary that enters the east bank drains lakes Charles, Jérôme and Kleczkowski. Waterfalls on the Mingan river include

735-556: Is generally mature and virgin, with few fires and little forestry in recent decades, but there was a large infestation of hemlock looper moths ( Lambdina fiscellaria ) in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s that caused considerable defoliation of the fir trees in the center of the basin. There are three waterfowl conservation areas with IUCN category VI along the south of the watershed: the Mingan West Beach, Mingan River Beach and Île du Havre de Mingan. Innu have long used

784-413: Is navigable by light canoe to the foot of the large rapid about nine miles from its mouth. Beyond this navigation is interrupted by a series of rapids. The banks, from the sea to the foot of the first falls, for about five miles, are hills of clay on which there is a layer of sand mixed with black soil. Further on, for ten miles, the banks are granite rocks. For twenty miles from its mouth the only vegetation

833-648: Is navigable from its mouth to the rapids. When the river's flow is low, salt waters from the Gulf can reach over 1 km (0.62 mi) from the mouth. The river enters the Saint Lawrence opposite the Île du Havre de Mingan. This island is at the west end of the Mingan Archipelago . The river's mouth is just east of the Mingan Indian reserve. It is in the municipality of Havre-Saint-Pierre in

882-587: Is one of the world's best preserved mineralized Neoarchean caldera complexes, which is 2.7 Ga. The Canadian Shield also contains the Mackenzie dike swarm , which is the largest dike swarm known on Earth. The North American craton is the bedrock forming the heart of the North American continent, and the Canadian Shield is the largest exposed part of the craton's bedrock. The Canadian Shield

931-726: Is part of an ancient continent called Arctica , which was formed about 2.5 Ga during the Neoarchean era. Mountains have deep roots and float on the denser mantle much like an iceberg at sea . As mountains erode, their roots rise and are eroded in turn. The rocks that now form the surface of the shield were once far below the Earth's surface. The high pressures and temperatures at those depths provided ideal conditions for mineralization. Although these mountains are now heavily eroded, many large mountains still exist in Canada's far north called

980-490: Is suitable for farming near the river. Potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables do very well. The basin covers 2,330 km (900 sq mi). It is elongated along a NNE/SSW axis about 110 km (68 mi) long and 20–30 km (12–19 mi) wide, although the northernmost 25 km (16 mi) is only 10 km (6.2 mi) wide. It is bordered to the west by the basin of the Saint-Jean River and on

1029-472: The Arctic Cordillera . This is a vast, deeply dissected mountain range, stretching from northernmost Ellesmere Island to the northernmost tip of Labrador. The range's highest peak is Nunavut's Barbeau Peak at 2,616 metres (8,583 ft) above sea level. Precambrian rock is the major component of the bedrock. The current surface expression of the shield is one of very thin soil lying on top of

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1078-646: The Greenland section is included, the Canadian Shield is approximately circular, bounded on the northeast by the northeast edge of Greenland, with Hudson Bay in the middle. It covers much of Greenland, all of Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland , most of Quebec north of the St. Lawrence River , much of Ontario including northern sections of the Ontario Peninsula ,

1127-449: The ecological regions of Quebec shows the river in sub-regions 6j-T and 6m-T of the east spruce/moss subdomain. Forests are dominated by black spruce ( Picea mariana ) and balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ), with a greater ratio of spruce to fir further north. Other tree species include white spruce ( Picea glauca ), jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ), paper birch ( Betula papyrifera ) and trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides ). The forest

1176-416: The plutonic rocks outcrop.   Granitoids can form in all tectonic environments. There are numerous exceptions to these generalizations.   For example, granitoids can form in anorogenic environments , a granitoid source rock can be from the mantle (for example, at intraplate hotspots ) and the melting mechanism can be radiogenic crustal heat . This igneous rock -related article

1225-760: The Adirondack Mountains of New York , the northernmost part of Lower Michigan and all of Upper Michigan , northern Wisconsin , northeastern Minnesota , the central and northern portions of Manitoba , northern Saskatchewan , a small portion of northeastern Alberta , mainland Northwest Territories to the east of a line extended north from the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, most of Nunavut's mainland and, of its Arctic Archipelago , Baffin Island and significant bands through Somerset , Southampton , Devon and Ellesmere islands. In total,

1274-542: The Minganie Regional County Municipality. It is 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the village of Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan . A footpath runs up the river's east bank from the Quebec Route 138 bridge for 5 km (3.1 mi) to a relaxation and picnic area. The local Innu people call the river Ekuantshiht Hipu or Memekuauhekau Hipu . The name Mingan is thought to be of Breton origin, meaning "white stone". The bay at its mouth

1323-552: The Nakatshuan Mantu Hipis, Kakahtshekaut, Kastjekawt and Mingan Falls. The Mingan Falls are 9 km (5.6 mi) from the river's mouth. Water quality measurements in 1981-1985 at the Route 138 bridge showed the water was acidic but quality was satisfactory, the main problem being turbidity. The connected lakes André and Charles in the north of the basin cover 5.93 km (2.29 sq mi), Lake Kleczkowski in

1372-847: The United States as the Adirondack Mountains (connected by the Frontenac Axis ) and the Superior Upland . The Canadian Shield is a U-shaped subsection of the Laurentia craton signifying the area of greatest glacial impact (scraping down to bare rock) creating the thin soils. The age of the Canadian Shield is estimated to be 4.28 Ga . The Canadian Shield once had jagged peaks, higher than any of today's mountains, but millions of years of erosion have changed these mountains to rolling hills. The Canadian Shield

1421-426: The bedrock, with many bare outcrops . This arrangement was caused by severe glaciation during the ice ages that covered the shield and scraped the rock clean. The lowlands of the Canadian Shield have a very dense soil that is not suitable for forestation; it also contains many marshes and bogs ( muskegs ). The rest of the region has coarse soil that does not retain moisture well and is frozen with permafrost throughout

1470-592: The case of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), the shield area contains many of their denning locations, such as the Wapusk National Park . The many lakes and rivers on the shield contain a plentiful quantity of different sports fish species, including walleye , northern pike , lake trout , yellow perch , whitefish , brook trout , arctic grayling , and many types of baitfish. The water surfaces are also home to many waterfowl , most notably Canada geese , loons and gulls . The vast forests contain

1519-578: The coastal plain. There are few wetlands in plateau or piedmont, which have few flat areas suitable for their formation. However, there is a 2 km (0.77 sq mi) peat bog about 10 km (6.2 mi) north of the confluence of the Mingan Northwest River. The Rivière-Saint-Jean weather station, 23 km (14 mi) from the mouth of the river, reports an annual average temperature of 1.4 °C (34.5 °F) and annual average rainfall of 1,094 mm (43.1 in). A map of

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1568-579: The east by the basin of the Romaine River . The river basin is in the Minganie Regional County Municipality . It is partly in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jérôme (71.1%) and partly in the municipalities of Havre-Saint-Pierre (16.5) and Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan (11.6). A small part of the basin is in the Mingan reserve (0.78%). The bulk of the watershed is on a high plateau that is slightly inclined towards

1617-617: The exposed area of the shield covers approximately 8,000,000 km (3,100,000 sq mi). The true extent of the shield is greater still and stretches from the Western Cordillera in the west to the Appalachians in the east and as far south as Texas , but these regions are overlaid with much younger rocks and sediment. The Canadian Shield is among the oldest geologic areas on Earth, with regions dating from 2.5 to 4.2 billion years. The multitude of rivers and lakes in

1666-511: The giant Manicouagan Reservoir is the site of an extensive hydroelectric project (Manic-cinq, or Manic-5). This is one of the largest-known meteorite impact craters on Earth , though not as large as the Sudbury crater. The Flin Flon greenstone belt in central Manitoba and east-central Saskatchewan "is one of the largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulfide ( VMS ) districts in

1715-413: The most northerly parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Hydrologic drainage is generally poor, the soil compacting effects of glaciation being one of the many causes. Tundra typically prevails in the northern regions. Many mammals such as beaver , caribou , white-tailed deer , moose , wolves , wolverines , weasels , mink , otters , grizzly bear , polar bears and black bears are present. In

1764-443: The northwest covers 9.16 km (3.54 sq mi), Lake Cugnet in the center-south covers 3.8 km (1.5 sq mi), the connected lakes Manitou, Gros Diable and Petit Diable in the south cover 29.2 km (11.3 sq mi) and Lake Patterson in the south covers 3.39 km (2.11 mi). Water bodies cover 8.73% of the watershed in total. Wetlands cover 1.81% of the watershed and are mainly ombrotrophic peatlands in

1813-650: The plateau during the Cenozoic Era. During the Pleistocene Epoch, continental ice sheets depressed the land surface (creating Hudson Bay ) but also tilted up its northeastern "rim" (the Torngat ), scooped out thousands of lake basins, and carried away much of the region's soil. The northeastern portion, however, became tilted up so that, in northern Labrador and Baffin Island , the land rises to more than 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) above sea level. When

1862-597: The plateau the rivers mostly flow in straight courses through old V-shaped valleys formed in the last glacial period. The larger rivers in the center flow in more winding courses through U-shaped glacial valleys, and in places meander. In its last section the Mingan River again follows a rectilinear course cut through the loose coastal sediments, then makes two large meanders before entering the Saint Lawrence. The river has an estuary 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long with an average width of 420 m (1,380 ft). The estuary

1911-446: The region is classical example of a deranged drainage system , caused by the watersheds of the area being disturbed by glaciation and the effect of post-glacial rebound . The shield was originally an area of very large, very tall mountains (about 12,000 m or 39,000 ft) with much volcanic activity, but the area was eroded to nearly its current topographic appearance of relatively low relief over 500 Ma. Erosion has exposed

1960-713: The river declined during the early 2000s, indicating a declining population. In November 2015 it was reported that the North Shore Atlantic Salmon Habitat Enhancement Program was contributing CDN$ 565,000 to the Ekuanitshit Innu Council and the Manitou-Mingan Outfitters for work to give the salmon easier access to spawning sites upstream from the falls, which the salmon struggle to mount. The first phase had been started, and included

2009-586: The roots of the mountains, which take the form of greenstone belts in which belts of volcanic rock that have been altered by metamorphism are surrounded by granitic rock. These belts range in age from 3.6 to 2.7 Ga. Much of the granitic rock belongs to the distinctive tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite family of rocks, which are characteristic of Archean continental crust . Many of Canada's major ore deposits are associated with greenstone belts. The Sturgeon Lake Caldera in Kenora District , Ontario,

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2058-558: The sea upon the continent. It is the Earth's greatest area of exposed Archean rock. The metamorphic base rocks are mostly from the Precambrian (between 4.5 Ga and 540 Ma) and have been repeatedly uplifted and eroded. Today it consists largely of an area of low relief 300–610 m (980–2,000 ft) above sea level with a few monadnocks and low mountain ranges (including the Laurentian Mountains ) probably eroded from

2107-503: The slopes and hilltops. The main valleys hold glaciofluvial sediments and some eskers . The coastal plain has large amounts of clay and silt deposited by the Goldthwait Sea after the glaciers retreated. These fine sediments were then covered by coarser sandy deltaic and estuarine sediments. The valleys of the streams and rivers conform to fractures in the hard bedrock, with straight-line sections intersecting at right angles. In

2156-481: The south and is deeply incised by alluvial valleys. The highest point is 814 m (2,671 ft) above sea level. The sides of the river valleys can rise 250–350 m (820–1,150 ft) above the river and include escarpments more than 100 m (330 ft) high. The piedmont area between the inland plateau and the coastal plain is about 20 km (12 mi) wide. It contains rounded rocky hills and rises to 300 m (980 ft) of elevation. The coastal plain

2205-882: The territory for hunting and fishing, and Europeans have been fishing for salmon since the start of the 19th century. The Pourvoirie du Lac Allard et Rivière Mingan, which does not have exclusive rights, manages fishing on part of the river. The river is known for Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ), and also has rainbow smelt ( Osmerus mordax ), brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis ), Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus ), northern pike ( Esox lucius ), lake whitefish ( Coregonus clupeaformis ) and brown trout ( Salmo trutta ). Other species include round whitefish ( Prosopium cylinraceum ), lake trout ( Salveninus namaycush ), burbot ( Lota lota ), alewife ( Alosa pseudoharengus ), American shad ( Alosa sapidissima ), Atlantic tomcod ( Microgadus tomcod ) and American eel ( Anguilla rostrata ). The number of salmon caught in

2254-454: The three defining mineral groups (quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar) need to be present for the rock to be called a granitoid, foid -bearing rocks, which predominantly contain feldspars but no quartz, are also granitoids. The terms granite and granitic rock are often used interchangeably for granitoids; however, granite is just one particular type of granitoid. Granitoids are diverse; no classification system for granitoids can give

2303-481: The world, containing 27 copper - zinc -( gold ) deposits from which more than 183 million tonnes of sulfide have been mined." The portion in the Northwest Territories has recently been the site of several major diamond discoveries. The kimberlite pipes in which the diamonds are found are closely associated with cratons, which provide the deep lithospheric mantle required to stabilize diamond as

2352-523: The year. Forests are not as dense in the north. The shield is covered in parts by vast boreal forests in the south that support natural ecosystems as well as a major logging industry. The boreal forest area gives way to the Eastern Canadian Shield taiga that covers northern Quebec and most of Labrador. The Midwestern Canadian Shield forests that run westwards from Northwestern Ontario have boreal forests that give way to taiga in

2401-593: Was called the Grande Rade de Meigan in 1735 by the hydrographer Richard Testu de La Richardière. The navigator James Cook called it the Baye de Mingan in 1784. The river is identified on the 1775 map by John Mitchell. According to the Dictionnaire des rivières et lacs de la province de Québec (1914), This is one of the most beautiful rivers of the region. According to the surveyor C.-E. Forgues (1885) it

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