The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

region of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. The river originates in the Manicouagan Reservoir and flows approximately south, emptying into the Saint Lawrence River near Baie-Comeau. The reservoir, also known as Lake Manicouagan, lies within the remnant of an ancient eroded impact crater ( astrobleme). It was formed following the impact of a diameter

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

which excavated a crater originally about wide, although erosion and deposition of sediments have since reduced the visible diameter to about . The Manicouagan impact structure is the sixth-largest confirmed impact crater known on earth.

Name

The river's name is believed to come from a Montagnais name meaning "Place where Tree Bark is Found". However the Innu of Betsiamites call it ''Menukuanistuk Shipu'', meaning "River of the Cup".

Tributaries

The major tributaries of the Manicouagan River are in upstream order: * Toulnustouc River ** Isoukustouc River ** Fontmarais River * Lemay River * Manicouagan Reservoir ** Mouchalagane River ** Seignelay River ** Hart Jaune River ** Themines River ** Petite Riviere Manicouagan

History

At the end of August 1535,

Jacques Cartier Jacques Cartier (; 31 December 14911 September 1557) was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first Europeans, European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, wh ...

, while sailing south, noted the mouth of this large river but gave it no name. In June 1664, Jesuit Henri Nouvel was the first missionary to travel upstream of the "Grand Manikouaganistikou River that the French call ''rivière Noire'' because of its depth". The next year, he "returned to the mouth of the Manicoüagan in June." The river's spelling has remained fairly constant from then on. In the early 1950s, the Manicouagan River attracted

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

's attention for hydro-electric development because of the deep and fast running waters. In 1956, a dam was built at the mouth of Lake Sainte-Anne to regulate the Toulnustouc River, the main left tributary that empties in the Manicouagan between the Manic-2 and Manic-3 dams. Four years later, the main construction work began on the dams and power stations of the Manicouagan River and its neighbor to the west, the Outardes River. By 1978, this project, with a total power supply 4672 MW, was completed.

Hydro-electric dams

There are a number of hydroelectric power plants on the Manicouagan, part of the Manic-Outardes Project:Ministry of Natural Resources of Quebec and Hydro-Québec * McCormick generating station - 335 MW, owned by

and Alcoa. * Manic 1 generating station - 184 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. * Jean-Lesage generating station, formerly Manic-2 Power Station - 1024 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. * René-Lévesque generating station, formerly Manic-3 Power Station - 1244 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. * Manic 4 - Abandoned project * Daniel-Johnson Dam: ** Manic-5 generating station - 1592 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec. ** Manic-5-PA generating station - 1064 MW, operated by Hydro-Québec.

References

External links

*
Hydro-Québec Manicouagan map
{{Authority control Manicouagan-Outardes hydroelectric project Rivers of Côte-Nord Tributaries of the Saint Lawrence River