The Lac Jacques-Cartier massif is a massif and the highest

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

of the

Laurentian Mountains The Laurentian Mountains ( French: ''Laurentides'') are a mountain range in southern Quebec, Canada, north of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River, rising to a highest point of at Mont Raoul Blanchard, northeast of Quebec City in the Laurentid ...

, in the Canadian province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Located between the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

and the Saguenay Graben, the altitude of its plateau varies between 800 and 900 meters while its highest point, Mount Raoul Blanchard, reaches of altitude.

Toponymy

The massif owes its name to the

Jacques-Cartier Lake The lac Jacques-Cartier, main source of the Jacques-Cartier River, is a glacial lake located in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, about 90 km to the north of the city of Quebec, in the unorganized territory of Lac-Jacques-Cartier, in the La ...

, a

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

located in its geographic center.

Geography

Location

The massif roughly covers the entire region of Capitale-Nationale (with the exception of the banks of the

) as well as the extreme south of the region of

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the first part of "Saguenay" and th ...

Topography

The Jacques-Cartier Lake massif is one of the geographical features of the

. With the Valin Mountains, its altitude exceeds by several hundred meters the rest of the peaks of the chain. The presence of hundreds of lakes and a few glacial valleys (such as the Jacques-Cartier River valley) represents another distinctive facet of the massif. The main peaks are: * Mount Raoul Blanchard (); *

Mount Belle Fontaine The Mont Belle Fontaine (''in English: Mount beautiful fountain''), culminating at of altitude, is the highest summit of the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve. Toponymy The summit owes its name to Lac Belle Fontaine located to the west.

(); * Mont de la Québécoise (); * Mont François-De Laval (); *

Mont Jean-Hubert Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, Sa� ...

(); *

Montagne des Érables The Montagne des Érables, also known as Mont des Érables (translation: ''Maple Mountain''), is a massif located in the Charlevoix-Est regional county municipality in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada. It lies in the Hautes-Gorges-de-l ...

(); *

Mont Élie Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, Sa� ...

(); * Mont Francine-C.-McKenzie (); *

Mont du Lac des Cygnes Mont du Lac des Cygnes ("Swan Lake Mountain") is a mountain of the Jacques-Cartier Massif (Laurentian Mountains chain), located within the Grands-Jardins National Park in Quebec, Canada. Its summit culminating at above sea level and overlooking ...

(); * Mont du Dôme (); * Mont du Lac à Moïse (); *

Mount Apica Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

(); * Mountain in Liguori (). This list is incomplete and in several sectors of the territory the altitude exceeds without having a physiognomy of mount. In addition, not all high peaks have been officially named as a mountain.

Ecosystem

The massif has an ecosystem

boreal Boreal may refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch *Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...

that cannot be found elsewhere at this

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

. Being part of the domain of white birch fir (sector 5ef), the most common tree species is

black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...

. The massif is home to one of the last herds of forest caribou in southern Quebec, the Charlevoix herd.

History

Environmental protection

The massif is one of the last wilderness areas in southern Quebec. Almost entirely public territory, it is covered among others by the

Laurentides Wildlife Reserve Réserve faunique des Laurentides (), also known by its former name of parc des Laurentides, is a wildlife reserve in Quebec, Canada, located between Quebec City and the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. This reserve is part of the network of ...

Jacques-Cartier National Park Jacques-Cartier National Park (french: Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier) is a provincial park located north of Quebec City. The park aims to protect wildlife in the Laurentian massif. It lies within the Eastern forest-boreal transition ecoregi ...

Grands-Jardins National Park Grands-Jardins National Park is a provincial park, located in the Unorganized Territory of Lac-Pikauba, Quebec, Lac-Pikauba, in the Charlevoix Regional County Municipality, an administrative region of Capitale-Nationale, in Quebec, Canada. The Gr ...

and

Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie National Park The Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie National Park is a provincial park in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada. Centring on the Malbaie River Gorge, it is the centrepiece of the UNESCO Charlevoix biosphere reserve. It is administered by ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lac Jacques-Cartier, massif Mountains of Quebec Landforms of Capitale-Nationale Landforms of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Laurentides Wildlife Reserve