The Torngat Mountains are a

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 ...

on the

Labrador Peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, or Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by the Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the sout ...

at the northern tip of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

and 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 ...

. They are part of the Arctic Cordillera.Park Wardens - Arctic Cordillera
The mountains form a peninsula that separates

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 ...

from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Etymology

The name ''Torngat'' is derived from an Inuktitut word meaning ''place of spirits'', sometimes interpreted as ''place of evil spirits''.

Geography

The Torngat Mountains have a substantial geographical extent. About 56% of the range is located in

, 44% is in

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, and the remainder, less than 1%, is located on

Killiniq Island Killiniq Island (English: ''ice floes'') is a remote island in southeastern Nunavut and northern Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located at the extreme northern tip of Labrador between Ungava Bay and the Labrador Sea, it is notable in that it ...

in Nunavut. At least 2% of the mountain chain is under water, and poorly surveyed. The Torngat Mountains cover , including lowland areas and extend over from

Cape Chidley Cape Chidley is a headland located on the eastern shore of Killiniq Island, Canada, at the northeastern tip of the Labrador Peninsula. Cape Chidley was named by English explorer John Davis on August 1, 1587, after his friend and fellow explorer ...

in the north to Hebron Fjord in the south. The Torngat Mountains have the highest peaks of eastern continental

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 ...

. The highest point is

Mount Caubvick Mount Caubvick (known as Mont D'Iberville in Quebec) is a mountain located in Canada on the border between Labrador and Quebec in the Selamiut Range of the Torngat Mountains. It is the highest point in mainland Canada east of the Rockies. The m ...

(also known as Mont D'Iberville) at . There are no trees in the Torngat Mountains because the mountains lie in an

arctic tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

climate and are therefore 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 ...

. Permafrost is continuous on the Quebec side of the border, and it is extensive but discontinuous on the eastern Atlantic side. The

terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin wo ...

is over above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

and is predominantly rocky desert.

Geology

Precambrian

gneisses Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

that comprise the Torngat Mountains are among the oldest on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and have been dated at roughly 3.6 to 3.9 billion years old. Geologists recognize the gneisses of the Torngats as a part of the Canadian Shield or

Laurentian Upland The Laurentian Upland (or Laurentian Highlands) is a physiographic region which, when referred to as the "Laurentian Region" or the Grenville geological province, is recognized by Natural Resources Canada as one of five provinces of the larger ...

, which, composing the very old

North American Craton North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, split from the continent of Rodinia roughly 750 million years ago to form the geologic core of North America. However, the mountain-building or orogeny of the Torngats took place much more recently, and is characteristic of the folding and faulting that defines the series of geological events known as Arctic Cordillera. This, according to some, makes the Torngats, as mountains, "distinct compared to the surrounding Precambrian Canadian Shield," though they are ultimately composed of shield rock. Evidence of this dramatic cordilleran folding and faulting characterizing the Torngat Mountains can be seen distinctly in rocks where the North American Craton long ago collided with the Nain Craton, later exposed in cross-section by glacial scouring, especially at Saglek Fjord.

Glaciation

The ranges of the Torngat Mountains are separated by deep

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

and finger lakes surrounded by sheer rock walls. The fjords were produced by glaciation. The

Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million year ...

covered most of the mountains at least once, however during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

the coverage was more limited. Currently, there are over 100 active small mountain glaciers in the Torngat Mountains with a total of about 195 ice masses in the region.

Ecology

Flora

The Torngat Mountain

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

is characterized by sparse cover of arctic

sedges The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

, grass, lichen, and moss. Patches of mixed arctic evergreen and deciduous shrubs can be found on sheltered south-facing slopes, increasing in prevalence as one moves south.

Fauna

The tundra provides seasonal habitat for caribou,

polar bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

, and the only tundra-dwelling black bears in the world. In addition, the coastal area of this ecoregion lies along the Atlantic migratory flyway.

Conservation

The

Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve Torngat Mountains National Park () is a Canadian national park located on the Labrador Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The park encompasses of mountainous terrain between Northern Quebec and the Labrador Sea. It is the l ...

was announced on 1 December 2005. It aims to protect wildlife (caribou, polar bears, peregrine falcon and golden eagle among others), while offering wilderness-oriented recreational activities.

In popular culture

In the CBC Series ''Geological Journey'' the Torngat mountains are feature

Notably, a billion-year-old coal seam (based on algae, not peat swamps) was discovered in the Torngat mountains on the Newfoundland Coast as part of the filming of the series. ''Backcountry Magazine'' ran a feature story written by Drew Pogge in 2009 on steep skiing in the Torngat Mountains, notably first descents in Nachvak and Saglek fjords, as well as on the Caubvick massif.

References

External links

Torngat MountainsGreat photos of the mountain rangeTales from the Torngats, August 2004Alexander Forbes Collection: Aerial photo survey of Labrador from 1931, 1932, and 1935 expeditions
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries Digital Collections
Torngat Mountains: Canada's newest national park
{{Authority control Labrador Mountain ranges of Newfoundland and Labrador Mountain ranges of Quebec Arctic Cordillera Physiographic sections Landforms of Nord-du-Québec