Richmond Gulf
Encyclopedia
Richmond Gulf is a large triangular-shaped inland bay
located on east side of Hudson Bay
just above 56th parallel north
in Quebec
, Canada.
In 2008, regional councilors asked the Commission de toponymie du Québec to rename Richmond Gulf officially as Lac Tasiujaq.
A vast area surrounding the gulf, Clearwater Lakes
(Lacs à l'Eau-Claire), and Iberville Lake (Lac D'Iberville) is being studied for inclusion in a new Quebec park, Lacs-Guillaume-Delisle-et-à-l'Eau-Claire National Park. This proposed park of 15549 square kilometres (6,003.5 sq mi) would become Quebec's largest park (excluding wilderness reserves).
of the Richmond Gulf is the consequence of two geological faults running parallel to the coast
. The resulting dislocation has given rise to the cliff
s that dominate the western shore of the Gulf.
The western shore
is guarded by the steep ramparts of sedimentary rock
that rise abruptly out of the brackish water
s. This unusual coastal relief of asymmetrical hills are the Hudsonian Cuesta
s and the highest system of cuestas found in Quebec. There is only one narrow breach in these fortifications at the extreme southwest end, called "Le Goulet" (French meaning "narrows" or "bottleneck"), which is a cataclinal valley 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long, 300 to 600 m (984.3 to 1,968.5 ft) wide and fringed by cliffs 200 metres (656.2 ft) high. A large volume of water surges through it with the rise and fall of the tides, creating water level differences of about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). Consequently this passage
does not freeze in the winter.
The eastern shore rises more gradually and is largely Canadian Shield
rock
, overlain in many places by basalt
. Several large rivers enter Richmond Gulf in boisterous rapids or sheer falls
(e.g. Clearwater River
).
Point Pamiallualuk is a narrow spur of rock that juts out some 2 km into Hudson Bay
, just north of Le Goulet. Here, the north-flowing tidal
current
of Hudson Bay
collides with weaker counter-current to produce a lot of agitation, which is further enhanced by the strong wind
.
On the south shore, there are the remnants of an abandoned Hudson's Bay Company
trading post, called Fort Richmond, which operated from 1750 to 1759 and from 1921 to 1927.
, entered the lake and named it "Sir Atwell's Lake", most likely in honour of HBC Deputy Governor Sir Atwell Lake, whose surname "Lake" became a source of confusion. Mitchell also recorded that same year the Cree name "Winipeq" for this location. The map of William Coats (1749) identified the lake under the Cree name "Artiwinipeck" and in English as "Sir Atwell's Lake".
In 1750, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a trading post on an island known as Factory Island off the south shore of the lake. But its low profitability led to its closure in 1759. Later on this body of water would be given several other names, particularly "Winipeke Bay", "Hazard Gulf", "Gulf of Richmond," and "Richmond Bay" until the Geography Commission of Canada accepted Richmond Gulf in 1905. The reason for this choice is not clear: it may refer to the Duke of Richmond
or the name of Thomas Mitchell's small vessel.
In 1962, the Quebec Government decided to give French names to places in the northern Quebec and changed the name to "Lac Guillaume-Delisle", in honour of renowned cartographer and First Royal Geographer of France, Guillaume Delisle
(1675-1726).
s flowing into Richmond Gulf make its water brackish but a healthy habitat for brook trout
and whitefish
, beluga and seal
. Many species of birds, such as common loons, eider ducks and peregrine falcons, find summer shelter and nest here.
There are few scattered black spruce
and larch
in the surrounding tundra
. The area has a flora of more than 415 vascular plant species, of which 65% (271 species) can be found on the so-called Hybrid Archipelago within the Gulf.
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
located on east side of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
just above 56th parallel north
56th parallel north
The 56th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 56 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada.
In 2008, regional councilors asked the Commission de toponymie du Québec to rename Richmond Gulf officially as Lac Tasiujaq.
A vast area surrounding the gulf, Clearwater Lakes
Clearwater Lakes
The Lac à l'Eau Claire , also called the Clearwater Lakes in English, Wiyasakami in Cree and Allait Qasigialingat by the Inuit, are a pair of circular lakes on the Canadian Shield in Quebec, Canada, near Hudson Bay.The lakes are actually a single body of water with a sprinkling of islands forming a...
(Lacs à l'Eau-Claire), and Iberville Lake (Lac D'Iberville) is being studied for inclusion in a new Quebec park, Lacs-Guillaume-Delisle-et-à-l'Eau-Claire National Park. This proposed park of 15549 square kilometres (6,003.5 sq mi) would become Quebec's largest park (excluding wilderness reserves).
Geography
The topographyTopography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
of the Richmond Gulf is the consequence of two geological faults running parallel to the coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
. The resulting dislocation has given rise to the cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s that dominate the western shore of the Gulf.
The western shore
Shore
A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore,...
is guarded by the steep ramparts of sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
that rise abruptly out of the brackish water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
s. This unusual coastal relief of asymmetrical hills are the Hudsonian Cuesta
Cuesta
In structural geology and geomorphology, a cuesta is a ridge formed by gently tilted sedimentary rock strata in a homoclinal structure. Cuestas have a steep slope, where the rock layers are exposed on their edges, called an escarpment or, if more steep, a cliff...
s and the highest system of cuestas found in Quebec. There is only one narrow breach in these fortifications at the extreme southwest end, called "Le Goulet" (French meaning "narrows" or "bottleneck"), which is a cataclinal valley 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long, 300 to 600 m (984.3 to 1,968.5 ft) wide and fringed by cliffs 200 metres (656.2 ft) high. A large volume of water surges through it with the rise and fall of the tides, creating water level differences of about 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). Consequently this passage
Strait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
does not freeze in the winter.
The eastern shore rises more gradually and is largely Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...
rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, overlain in many places by basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. Several large rivers enter Richmond Gulf in boisterous rapids or sheer falls
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...
(e.g. Clearwater River
Clearwater River (Quebec)
The Clearwater River is a river in northern Quebec, Canada, that drains Clearwater Lake into Richmond Gulf....
).
Point Pamiallualuk is a narrow spur of rock that juts out some 2 km into Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
, just north of Le Goulet. Here, the north-flowing tidal
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
current
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
of Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
collides with weaker counter-current to produce a lot of agitation, which is further enhanced by the strong wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
.
On the south shore, there are the remnants of an abandoned Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
trading post, called Fort Richmond, which operated from 1750 to 1759 and from 1921 to 1927.
History
In 1744, Thomas Mitchell, captain of a small ship in service of the Hudson's Bay CompanyHudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
, entered the lake and named it "Sir Atwell's Lake", most likely in honour of HBC Deputy Governor Sir Atwell Lake, whose surname "Lake" became a source of confusion. Mitchell also recorded that same year the Cree name "Winipeq" for this location. The map of William Coats (1749) identified the lake under the Cree name "Artiwinipeck" and in English as "Sir Atwell's Lake".
In 1750, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a trading post on an island known as Factory Island off the south shore of the lake. But its low profitability led to its closure in 1759. Later on this body of water would be given several other names, particularly "Winipeke Bay", "Hazard Gulf", "Gulf of Richmond," and "Richmond Bay" until the Geography Commission of Canada accepted Richmond Gulf in 1905. The reason for this choice is not clear: it may refer to the Duke of Richmond
Duke of Richmond
The title Duke of Richmond is named after Richmond and its surrounding district of Richmondshire, and has been created several times in the Peerage of England for members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families...
or the name of Thomas Mitchell's small vessel.
In 1962, the Quebec Government decided to give French names to places in the northern Quebec and changed the name to "Lac Guillaume-Delisle", in honour of renowned cartographer and First Royal Geographer of France, Guillaume Delisle
Guillaume Delisle
Guillaume Delisle was a French cartographer who lived in Paris.His father, Claude Delisle studied law and then later settled in Paris as private teacher in geography and history, and afterwards filled the office of royal censor...
(1675-1726).
Flora and fauna
The many riverRiver
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s flowing into Richmond Gulf make its water brackish but a healthy habitat for brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
and whitefish
Freshwater whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...
, beluga and seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
. Many species of birds, such as common loons, eider ducks and peregrine falcons, find summer shelter and nest here.
There are few scattered black spruce
Black Spruce
Picea mariana is a species of spruce native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, and south to northern New York, Minnesota and central British Columbia...
and larch
Larch
Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Growing from 15 to 50m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south...
in the surrounding tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
. The area has a flora of more than 415 vascular plant species, of which 65% (271 species) can be found on the so-called Hybrid Archipelago within the Gulf.