The Rivière de Puvirnituq (English: Puvirnituq River; formerly the Rivière de Povungnituk) 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 wate ...

in Kativik,

Nord-du-Québec Nord-du-Québec (; en, Northern Quebec) is the largest, but the least populous, of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With nearly of land area, and very extensive lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsula ...

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 ...

. Shows the course of the river highlighted on a topographic map. The river flows from its source at an unnamed lake to

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

at the village of

Puvirnituq Puvirnituq ( iu, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 2,128 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Of all oth ...

. Its watershed encompasses . The name of the river comes from the

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

"smells like rotten meat." The "Povungnituk River" crosses for 40.9 km from east to west the northern limit of the Pingualuit National Park which is characterized by the

Pingualuit crater The Pingualuit Crater (french: Cratère des Pingualuit; from Inuit "pimple"), formerly called the "Chubb Crater" and later the "New Quebec Crater" (french: Cratère du Nouveau-Québec), is a relatively young impact crater located on the Ungava Pe ...

. This crater is located 16.7 km south of the "Puvirnituq River". The surface of the Puvirnituq River is generally frozen annually from October to June (sometimes until July). In the summer, a supply boat moves into the bay for about , to the village of

; barges are then used to connect the boat and the dock. Sometimes during the spring flood, ice jams form on the river. Sport fishing is popular at the foot of the first (about ), second (about ) and third (about ) falls from the confluence of this river and

Geography

The surrounding hydrographic slopes of the Puvirnituq River are: * north side: Qikirtaluup Kuunga River,

Little Puvirnituq River Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

; * east side:

Ungava Bay Ungava Bay (french: baie d'Ungava, ; iu, ᐅᖓᕙ ᑲᖏᖅᓗᒃ/) is a bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is considered to be a marginal sea of the ...

; * south side: North River (Hudson Bay), Lac Guillaume-Delisle, Péloquin Lake, Vachon River, Nantais Lake, Manarsulik Lake (formerly named "Lake Laflamme"),

; * west side:

. '' 'Course of the river from the head' '' (segment of ) The "Puvirnituq River" originates from a small unnamed lake (elevation: ) of mountain located west of the watershed between the

watershed,

and

Hudson Strait Hudson Strait (french: Détroit d'Hudson) links the Atlantic Ocean and Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and ...

. This head lake (length: ; width: ) is surrounded by mountains of more than in altitude on the south side, on the north-west side and on the east side. This lake is located at northeast of Rinfret Lake which flows into the Deception River East (which is part of the

), north of Raglan Lake and west of the northern village of Kangiqsujuaq located on the west shore of

. From the mouth (located to the south) of the lake, the water flows into the "Puvirnituq River" which flows south through some lakes formed by the lake. flare of the river. From there, the river branches off to the west where it flows over to cross a river coming from the north. Then the river flows south on to the outlet of Lake Saint-Germain (coming from the south), the northern limit of Pingualuit National Park. The latter lake is located northeast of Manarsulik Lake (formerly Lacflamme Lake), which is the head lake of the Vachon River, a tributary of the Arnaud River. The latter flows north-east to spill over the western coast of

. The Pingualuit crater is located south of Manarsulik Lake at . From the outlet of Lake Saint-Germain, the "Puvirnituq River" flows westward ( to the outlet of

lake Nantais A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

. Then the river resumes its course on a last segment of , crossing Lake Natirnaaliup Tasinga and another lake until pouring on the northeast shore of Lake Lallemand. '' 'Course downstream of Lake Lallemand' '' (segment of ) The Puvirnituq River takes its headwaters from Lallemand Lake (length: in the north–south direction, width: ). This complex form of water has some dozens of islands, many peninsulas and bays. This lake receives on the northeastern side the waters of the

. South of the lake, the mouth is a strait of long, crossing several bodies of water. The river flows south on crossing a body of water formed by the widening of the river. Then the river continues south ( to the north shore of

Chamberlaine Lake Chamberlaine is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *John Chamberlaine (1745–1812), antiquary and acted as keeper of George III's drawings, coins and medals from 1791 until his death in 1812 *Nicholas Chamberlaine (1632–1715), p ...

, which flows westward on (including the strait that connects Chamberlaine Lake to the following body of water). Puvirnituq Bay is located on

; it has a secondary bay stretching over inland until the first which is formed by the Avarqutaak Islands. Going up these falls and the Kuukallak pass, one reaches the

Puvirnituq lake Puvirnituq ( iu, ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik, on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 2,128 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Of all oth ...

which is crossed by the Puvirnituq river. The village of

is located on the north shore of the latter bay, facing Fat Island and Qikirtaaluk Island. The

Formal River Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal attire ...

(coming from the South-East) flows to the south shore of this bay, ie from the entrance to the bay. The main tributaries of the Puvirnituq River are: *

which flows almost straight to the southwest parallel to the upper part of the Puvirnituq River, to discharge on the north shore of the German Lake. The latter lake is the main body of water in the Puvirnituq River; * Decoumte River, coming from the southeast. While flowing to the southwest, the river flows through Papittukaaq Lake and Puvirnituq Lake before spilling over the eastern shore of

at the height of the village of

Toponymy

The term "Puvirnituq" is used to refer to the northern village, lake, river, small river, mountains and national park reserve. This term comes from the word "puvirniq" meaning "rotten meat" because the animal swelled and rotted before being opened. The toponym "rivière de Puvirnituq" was formalized on February 23, 1995 at the

Commission de toponymie du Québec The Commission de toponymie du Québec (English: ''Toponymy Commission of Québec'') is the Government of Québec's public body responsible for cataloging, preserving, making official and publicize Québec's place names and their origins according ...

.Commission de toponymie du Quebec - Bank of Place Names - Toponyme: "Rivère de Puvirnituq"
/ref>

References

External links

Commission de toponymie - Québec

Geography

Toponymy

References

External links

See also