Mont Albert ( en, Mount Albert) is a mountain in the Chic-Choc range in the

Gaspésie National Park Gaspésie National Park (french: Parc national de la Gaspésie) is a provincial park located south of the town of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada in the inland of the Gaspé peninsula. The park contains the highest peak of the Appalachian Mo ...

in the Gaspé Peninsula of eastern

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 ...

, Canada. At , it is one of the highest mountains in southern Quebec, and is popular for hiking. Mount Albert was named in honour of

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...

, husband of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

, because geologist Alexander Murray made the first recorded ascent of the mountain on the Prince's birthday, 26 Aug. 1845.

Geography

The summit of Mount Albert is a plateau across called ''La Table à Moïse'', or Moses's Table. It includes two summits, Albert North () and Albert South (). Each of the summits is situated at either side of the plateau. The principal component of Mont Albert is an unusual kind of bedrock called serpentine; this originated as

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic ...

and was then uplifted during the

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

about 480 million years ago. The nearly flat serpentine tableland on the mountain's summit is an alpine tundra area above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

, and supports a quite distinctive flora with many kinds of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

and highly disjunct plants. The ascent of Mount Albert from near sea level is challenging, but popular with hikers, offering a view of the St. Lawrence and the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (, ; ; land area ) is the second-largest administrative region by land area in Quebec, Canada, after Nord-du-Québec. It covers much of the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence past Tadous ...

, the river's north shore, part of the ancient bedrock of the Canadian Shield.

Gallery

Mont-Albert.jpg, Plateau at the summit of Mount Albert Grande Cuve du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Grande Cuve of Mount Albert Lac situé sur le plateau au sommet du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Lake on the plateau at the summit of Mount Albert Manteau neigeux et chute dans la Grande Cuve du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Snowpack and waterfall, Grande Cuve, Mount Albert Arbustes sur le plateau au sommet du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Shrubs on the plateau at the summit of Mount Albert Flore sur le Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Flora on Mount Albert Flore retrouvée dans la Grande Cuve du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Flora, Grande Cuve, Mount Albert Plante retrouvée dans la Grande Cuve du Mont-Albert, Parc de la Gaspésie, Québec, Canada.jpg, Flora, Grande Cuve, Mount Albert

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert Landforms of Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine One-thousanders of Quebec Tourist attractions in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine