The Nicolet River (french: Rivière Nicolet) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is a tributary of the

Saint 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, connectin ...

on its southern shore and flows into

Lake Saint Pierre Lake Saint Pierre (; abe, Nebesek) is a lake in Quebec, Canada, a widening of the Saint Lawrence River between Sorel-Tracy and Trois-Rivières. It is located downstream, and northeast, of Montreal; and upstream, and southwest, of Quebec City. Th ...

. It is named in honor of the pioneer

Jean Nicolet Jean Nicolet (Nicollet), Sieur de Belleborne (October 1642) was a French ''coureur des bois'' noted for exploring Lake Michigan, Mackinac Island, Green Bay, and being the first European to set foot in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Ea ...

. It has several tributaries including the River Bulstrode and the Nicolet River Southwest. Its watershed is mainly in the Centre-du-Québec region although the Southwest Nicolet rises in

Estrie Estrie () is an administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 per cent francophone. Angl ...

. The city of Nicolet is near its mouth on the

lake Saint-Pierre Lake Saint Pierre (; abe, Nebesek) is a lake in Quebec, Canada, a widening of the Saint Lawrence River between Sorel-Tracy and Trois-Rivières. It is located downstream, and northeast, of Montreal; and upstream, and southwest, of Quebec City. Th ...

which is crossed to the northwest by the St. Lawrence River.

Geography

Hydrology

The Nicolet River begins its course from at an altitude of approximately in lake Nicolet, at Saints-Martyrs-Canadiens. It then flows in a northwesterly direction to Nicolet where it flows into

lac Saint-Pierre Lake Saint Pierre (; abe, Nebesek) is a lake in Quebec, Canada, a widening of the Saint Lawrence River between Sorel-Tracy and Trois-Rivières. It is located downstream, and northeast, of Montreal; and upstream, and southwest, of Quebec City. T ...

. Its watershed has an area of . Its modulus is . Its main tributaries are, from upstream to downstream, the rivers des Vases, des Pins, des Rosiers, Bulstrode and Nicolet Southwest. The latter, which joins the Nicolet at , drains half of the basin. The basin includes 40 lakes, the most important of which are lake Nicolet (), les Trois Lacs (Les Sources) () and the Beaudet reservoir ().

Geology

The part upstream of Saint-Léonard-d'Aston is part of the Appalaches. The subsoil is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s folded and metamorphosed ( shale, slate and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...

s (

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

) and

ultramafic rock Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are composed ...

s ( Serpentine and asbestos). As for the section downstream from Saint-Léonard-d'Aston, it is composed of sedimentary rocks (

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

) in horizontal strata of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. The unconsolidated deposits of the Quaternary of the St. Lawrence Lowlands are composed of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

and gravel from the retreat of the Champlain Sea and

peatland A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...

s. The Appalachian sector is composed of

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

s from the retreat of the

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s and

fluvioglacial deposits Glaciofluvial deposits or Glacio-fluvial sediments consist of boulders, gravel, sand, silt and clay from ice sheets or glaciers. They are transported, sorted and deposited by streams of water. The deposits are formed beside, below or downstream ...

composed of sand and gravel.

Population

The basin was inhabited by 96665 inhabitants in 2003. The territory is included in 37 municipalities. The main towns in the basin are

Victoriaville Victoriaville is a town in central Quebec, Canada, on the Nicolet River. Victoriaville is the seat of Arthabaska Regional County Municipality and a part of the Centre-du-Québec (Bois-Francs) region. It is formed by the 1993 merger of Arthabaska, ...

(39799 inhabitants), Nicolet (7963 inhabitants) and Asbestos (6627 inhabitants).

Toponymy

The river was initially baptized Rivière Du Pont by Samuel de Champlain in

1609 Events January–June * January – The Basque witch trials begin. * January 15 – One of the world's first newspapers, ''Avisa Relation oder Zeitung'', begins publication in Wolfenbüttel (Holy Roman Empire). * January 3 ...

to honor his friend François Gravé, sieur du Pont. It also bore the name of Gast river, in honor of

Pierre Dugua de Mons Pierre Dugua de Mons (or Du Gua de Monts; c. 1558 – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Calvinist, he was born in the Château de Mons, in Royan, Saintonge (southwestern France) and founded the first permanent French set ...

(general of New France) and Monet River, in honor of Pierre Monet, sieur de Moras. As for its current name, it owes it to the explorer

. They also bore the name of the first lords of Nicolet, namely Laubia and Cressé. The Abenakis call it ''Pithiganitekw'', which means 'river of the entrance', due to the fact that it flows near the outlet of

. The toponym "rivière Nicolet" was made official on December 5, 1968 at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.Commission de toponymie du Québec - Place name bank - Toponym: "Rivière Nicolet"

References

External links

Corporation pour la promotion de l'environnement de la rivière Nicolet, COPERNIC
{{Authority control Rivers of Centre-du-Québec Tributaries of the Saint Lawrence River