Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Niapiskau island, boats at anchor in a bay, limestone monoliths, Gulf of St. Lawrence
Map showing the location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Map showing the location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve in Canada
Map showing the location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Map showing the location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve
Location of Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve in Quebec
LocationHavre-Saint-Pierre / Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Minganie Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada
Nearest citySept-Îles, Quebec
Coordinates50°13′N 63°10′W / 50.217°N 63.167°W / 50.217; -63.167
Area151 km2 (58 sq mi)
Established1984
Visitors28,862 (in 2007)
Governing bodyParks Canada
Official nameSite patrimonial de l'Archipel-de-Mingan
TypeDeclared heritage site
Designated1978-11-15

Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve or Mingan Archipelago Heritage Site bathes in the waters of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, in the administrative region of Côte-Nord, in the municipality of Havre-Saint -Pierre, facing Anticosti Island.

Accessible by sea or by air, the reserve protects a thousand islands, islets of rocks, cays and limestone reefs in a mosaic of several ecosystems coexisting on small island surfaces.

The reserve is home to the largest concentration of erosion monoliths in Canada, important fossil sites, unique ecological environments, alpine arctic flora, including the Mingan thistle, seabirds with the largest concentrations of Arctic terns, Common terns and Common eiders of the St. Lawrence.[1]' [2]' [3]' [4]

Geology

The area of the Mingan islands and part of the mainland to the north of them is underlain by Ordovician sedimentary rocks. The Mingan Islands sequence is composed of two formations — the Romaine below and the Mingan above.

The exposed parts of the Romaine formation consist of dolomite and a little shale. There may be a sandstone at the base. Beds are generally thick and more or less rough in appearance, and in some places they appear kneaded together. The thickness is placed at about 260 feet.

The Mingan formation is composed of conglomerate, sandstone, and shale. These clastic strata are overlain by limestones. These strata contain much fragmentary fossil material and locally are poorly cemented. The larger part of the formation consists of finegrained limestones of which some have semi-lithographic texture. Fossils are locally common and frequently abundant. The exposed thickness is estimated not to exceed 155 feet.[5]' [6][7]' [8]

History

St Lawrence River

The river that the Native Americans called "the way that walks" is feared, and rightly so. On the route of conquerors, explorers, fishermen, hunters, adventurers, and other navigators, it is by entering the waters of the river that the most difficult operation of the journey begins. Shallow channels, estuary reefs, shoals, diagonal currents, fog and narrow, winding channels, winter and ice are the challenges that must be overcome.

In North America, during the French regime (1534-1763), several shipwrecks marked the history of navigation on the St. Lawrence River.

A path of discovery, a route of transport and settlement, an axis of trade and development, a privileged navigable route, little known, perilous and difficult, sailors did not venture on the St. Lawrence at nightfall, neither before the beginning of May nor after the end of November.[9]' [10]

Route 138, from Moisie River to Havre-Saint-Pierre

At the beginning of the 20th century, the first routes of what would become Route 138 (formerly Route 15) were laid in the vicinity of Sept-Îles. In 1961, a section was added from the Franquelin region to the tip of the Moisie River, some 20 kilometres east of Sept-Îles.

On the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, until 1976, there was no continuous route to go further east than the Moisie River. Only bits of paths here and there connect a few coastal villages to each other, Natashquan connects to Aguanish by a dirt road (1959).

Route 138, from Moisie River to Havre-Saint-Pierre, opened in the spring of 1976, from there access to the islands of the Mingan Archipelago by sea.

In 1984, to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Jacques Cartier's arrival in New France, the Commission de toponymie gave this name to the part of Route 138 located east of the Saguenay River, that is, the part that extends from Tadoussac to Havre-Saint-Pierre.[9]' [11]

Fauna

Animals that inhabit this national park are beavers, river otters, muskrats, silver foxes, red squirrels, snowshoe hares, red foxes, ermines, certain species of bats and a number of small rodents. Occasionally, black bears and moose can be found on certain islands near the coast. Birds found on the islands include warblers, buntings, bald eagles, ospreys, passerines, eiders, terns, puffins, razorbills, and shorebirds. Marine animals that inhabit offshore are grey seals, minke whales, dolphins, harbour seals, humpback whales, porpoises, fin whales, and harp seals.

Photos

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2015-01-03. Retrieved 2024-01-12. Oddly shaped rock pillars sculpted by wind and sea create the unique islandscape of the natural reserve
  2. ↑ "Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve". Government of Canada. 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2024-01-10. Several animal and plant species present on the islands of the Mingan Archipelago and the surrounding landscape are endangered or at risk
  3. ↑ Michael Melford photograph. "Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve". Quebec, Canada: National Geographic. Retrieved 2024-01-10. close to a thousand islands and islets sprinkled along 93 miles from east to west, 24,711 acres
  4. ↑ Zach Baranowski, photograph. "The Mingan Archipelago,". St Lawrence golf: Canadian Geographic. Retrieved 2024-01-10. the shoreline at low tide reveals seemingly endless tide pools full of barnacles, green sea urchins, sea stars and other small invertebrates.
  5. ↑ G. W. Waddington (1950). "Limestone deposits of the Mingan Islands area, Saguenay county" (PDF). Énergie et Ressources naturelles Québec. Geological surveys branch. Retrieved 2024-01-15. On the west side of Niapisca island there is a good exposure of limestone in a cliff along the south shore of a small bay
  6. ↑ Frederick C. Shaw and Thomas E. Bolton (14 July 2015). "Ordovician trilobites from the Romaine and Mingan formations (Ibexian-late Whiterockian), Mingan Islands, Quebec" (abs). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2024-01-15. Mingan trilobites provide critical information on late Whiterockian trilobite distributions in Laurentia
  7. ↑ D. LAVOIE, G. CHI, P. BRENNAN-ALPERT, A. DESROCHERS, R. BERTRAND (December 2005). "Hydrothermal dolomitization in the Lower Ordovician Romaine Formation" (PDF). Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. p. 19. Retrieved 2024-01-15. This study deals with the diagenetic evolution of dolostones of the Romaine Formation, from cores and outcrops on Anticosti and Mingan islands{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "Mingan Islands and Adjacent Coast" (PDF). Geology and economie minerals of Canada. 1947. pp. 190 of 370. Retrieved 2014-01-15. Anticosti Island was visited in 1856 by H.Richardson, who collected many fossils. Geology of Canada, 1863, contains the result of Logan's observations on the island.
  9. 1 2 The Ages of Exploration. "Jacques Cartier". The Mariners' Museum and ParK. Retrieved 2024-01-13. Jacques Cartier is credited with discovering and claiming the land now known as Canada for France.
  10. ↑ Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press (2016-09-19). "Quebec researchers work to document lost shipwrecks of the St. Lawrence". CTV News. Retrieved 2024-01-16. To create a list of all the shipwrecks on the St. Lawrence's north shore between Tadoussac and Anticosti Island, a 500-kilometre stretch of shoreline where she believes more than 800 boats went down.
  11. ↑ Pierre Frenette (2009). "North Shore, a land of convergence" (PDF) (in French). Les Éditions Histoire Québec. p. 8. Retrieved 14 January 2024. Logger-farmers swapped axes, harrows, and horses for saws, truck steering wheels, and bulldozer levers
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve.


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