Lac Saint-Jean

2025-09-01T21:50:20Z

2001:56B:3FFB:8BCF:0:2B:3A0B:C501: /* History */"had" to "hosted"

{{About||the current federal electoral district|Lac-Saint-Jean|the current provincial electoral district|Lac-Saint-Jean (provincial electoral district)}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name = Lac Saint-Jean
| native_name ={{native name|moe|Piekuakamu}}
| other_name = '''Lake St. John'''<ref name="Sinclair1953a"/>
| image = Lac St-Jean 71.94640W 48.69243N.jpg
| caption =
| pushpin_map = Canada Quebec
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Quebec
| location = [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]] region, [[Quebec]]
| coords = {{coord|48|35|40|N|72|01|48|W|region:CA_type:waterbody_source:CGNDB_scale:500000|display=inline,title}}
| type = [[rift valley]] lake<ref name="TremblayOthers2013a"/>
| inflow = [[Ashuapmushuan River|Ashuapmushuan]], [[Mistassini River|Mistassini]], [[Peribonka River|Peribonka]], [[Des Aulnaies River|Des Aulnaies]], [[Métabetchouan River|Métabetchouan]], [[Ouiatchouane River|Ouiatchouane]]
| outflow = [[Saguenay River]]
| catchment = {{convert|71947|km2|abbr=on}}
| basin_countries = [[Canada]]
| length = {{convert|43.8|km|abbr=on}}
| width = {{convert|24|km|abbr=on}}
| area = {{convert|1053|km2|abbr=on}}
| depth = {{convert|11.4|m|abbr=on}}
| max-depth = {{convert|63.1|m|abbr=on}}
| volume = {{convert|11.9|km3|abbr=on}}
| residence_time =
| shore =
| elevation = {{convert|99.6|m|abbr=on}}
| islands =
| cities =
| reference = <ref name=ILEC>{{cite web|title=LAC SAINT-JEAN (LAKE SAINT-JOHN)|url=http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/nam/nam-10.html|publisher=ILEC-Logo International Lake Environment Committee|access-date=31 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306015739/http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/nam/nam-10.html|archive-date=6 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}

'''Lac Saint-Jean''' ({{IPA|fr|lak sɛ̃ ʒɑ̃|lang}}, {{IPA|fr-CA|lak sẽ ʒã|label=[[Quebec French]] pronunciation:}}) is a large, relatively shallow [[lake]] in south-central [[Quebec]], Canada, in the [[Laurentian Highlands]]. It is situated {{convert|206|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of the [[Saint Lawrence River]], into which it drains via the [[Saguenay River]]. It covers an area of {{convert|1053|km2|abbr=on}}, and is {{convert|63.1|m|abbr=on}} at its deepest point. Its name in the [[Innu]] [[Cree language|language]] is '''Piekuakamu'''.<ref name="Innu-aimun.ca">{{Cite web |url=http://www.innu-aimun.ca/dictionary/Words |title=Innu-aimun.ca: Piekuakamu |access-date=2015-12-20 |archive-date=2018-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407030723/http://www.innu-aimun.ca/dictionary/Words |url-status=dead }}</ref> Lac Saint-Jean has been also been mapped and known as '''Lake St. John'''.<ref name="Sinclair1953a">Sinclair, G.W., 1953. ''Middle Ordovician beds in the Saguenay valley, Quebec''. ''American Journal of Science'', 251(12), pp.841-854.</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Lac Saint-Jean.jpg|thumb|left|Lac Saint-Jean from [[Saint-Gédéon, Quebec|Saint-Gédéon]]]]

The lake is fed by dozens of small rivers, including the [[Ashuapmushuan River|Ashuapmushuan]], the [[Mistassini River|Mistassini]], the [[Peribonka River|Peribonka]], the [[Des Aulnaies River|Des Aulnaies]], the [[Métabetchouane River|Métabetchouane]], and the [[Ouiatchouane River|Ouiatchouane]]. The towns on its shores include [[Alma, Quebec|Alma]], [[Dolbeau-Mistassini]], [[Roberval, Quebec|Roberval]], [[Normandin, Quebec|Normandin]], and [[Saint-Félicien, Quebec|Saint-Félicien]]. Three [[Regional County Municipalities]] lie on its shores: [[Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality|Lac-Saint-Jean-Est]], [[Le Domaine-du-Roy Regional County Municipality|Le Domaine-du-Roy]], and [[Maria-Chapdelaine Regional County Municipality|Maria-Chapdelaine]].

==History==
The lake is named Piekuakami by the [[Innu]], the Indigenous people who occupied the area at the time of European arrival. It was given its French name by [[Jean de Quen]], a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] missionary who in 1647 was the first European to reach its shores.

Industry on the lake was dominated by the [[fur trade]] until the 19th century. Colonization began in the [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]] region in the early 19th century and continued intensively until the early 20th century. Industry was mainly forestry and agriculture. In the 20th century, [[pulp and paper industry|pulp and paper]] mills and [[aluminum]] smelting rose to importance, encouraged by [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] dams at Alma and on the Péribonka River. Lac Saint-Jean also has an important summer resort and sport-fishing industry.

The area is featured in the classic French-language novel [[Maria Chapdelaine]] by [[Louis Hémon]] published in 1914 and subsequently translated into twenty languages.

In the 1940s, during World War II, Lac Saint-Jean, along with various other regions within Canada, such as the [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean|Saguenay]], [[Saint Helen's Island]] and [[Hull, Quebec]], hosted [[prisoner-of-war camp]]s.<ref name="Tremblay">Tremblay, Robert, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, et al. "Histoires oubliées – Interprogrammes : Des prisonniers spéciaux" Interlude. Aired: 20 July 2008, 14h47 to 15h00.</ref> Lac Saint-Jean's was numbered and remained unnamed just like most of Canada's other war prisons.<ref name="Tremblay"/><ref>'''Note:''' See also [[List of POW camps in Canada]].</ref> The ''prisoners of war'' ([[POW]]s) were classified into categories including their nationality and [[civilian]] or military status.<ref name="Tremblay"/> By 1942 this region had two camps with at least 50 POWs. Prisoners worked the land, including lumbering and assisting in the production of [[pulp and paper]].<ref name="Tremblay"/>

==Geology==
The [[bedrock]] of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region consists largely of [[Precambrian]] [[igneous]] and [[metamorphic]] rocks. They are mostly composed of high-grade metamorphic rocks, [[amphibolite]] to [[granulite]] [[gneiss]], that are intruded by [[anorthosite]], [[mangerite]], [[charnockite]], and [[granite]] [[plutonic]] rocks. The Lac Saint-Jean anorthosite is the major [[mafic]] [[intrusion]] present in the area. These rocks comprise the [[Grenville Province]] of southern Quebec. It consists of fragments of [[island arc]]s and [[continental crust]] accreted to the south-eastern edge of Precambrian North American, [[Laurentia]].<ref name="TremblayOthers2013a">Tremblay, A., Roden-Tice, M.K., Brandt, J.A. and Megan, T.W., 2013. ''Mesozoic fault reactivation along the St. Lawrence rift system, eastern Canada: Thermochronologic evidence from apatite fission-track dating''. ''Geolgoical Society of America Bulletin'', 125 (5-6), pp.794-810.</ref><ref name="RouleauOthers2011a">Rouleau, A., Walter, J., Daigneault, R., Chesnaux, R., Roy, D.W., Germaneau, D., Lambert, M., Moisan, A. and Noël, D., 2011. ''Un aperçu de la diversité hydrogéologique du territoire du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (Québec)''. In ''GeoHydro 2011, Joint Meeting of the Canadian Quaternary Association and the Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists''. pp. 28-31.</ref><ref name="WalterOthers2018a">Walter, J., Rouleau, A., Chesnaux, R., Lambert, M. and Daigneault, R., 2018. ''Characterization of general and singular features of major aquifer systems in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region''. ''Canadian Water Resources Journal/Revue canadienne des ressources hydriques'', 43(2), pp. 75-91.</ref>
[[File:Geologic History Lac Saint Jean.jpg|thumb|Schematic geologic cross section of Lac Saint Jean and enclosing Saguenay Graben illustrating the major stages in their geologic developement]]

Lac Saint-Jean lies within an elongated [[rift valley]] that is known as the ''Lac Saint-Jean Lowlands''. These lowlands are an elongated flat-bottomed basin formed by the [[Saguenay Graben]] by the displacement of Grenville [[crystalline rock]]s. This basin is {{convert|250|km|mi|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide. This basin is bounded by [[Fault (geology)|normal faults]] running parallel to its length. It extends from just west of Lac Saint-Jean along the Saguenay River to the [[St. Lawrence River|Saint Lawrence Valley]] where is it truncated by St. Lawrence rift system.<ref name="TremblayOthers2013a"/><ref name="RouleauOthers2011a"/><ref name="WalterOthers2018a"/>

Preserved within the down-faulted interior of the Saguenay Graben are two large eroded, isolated patches, known as ''[[outlier]]s'', of [[Paleozoic]], Middle [[Ordovician]], [[sedimentary]] rock composed of [[limestone]]s and [[shale]]s overlying Precambrian [[Basement (geology)|basement]]. The Lac-Saint-Jean outlier rests against the south wall of the graben south of Lac Saint-Jean and extends to the west of the lake. The Chicoutimi (Saguenay) outlier rests against the north wall of the graben and extends southward to a few kilometers from the Saguenay River north of Chicoutimi. These Middle Ordovician sedimentary rocks consist of [[sandstone]]s, [[micrite|micritic]] limestones and highly [[fossil]]iferous, alternating beds of limestones and shales. These rocks have been preferentially eroded by repeated [[glaciation]]s exhuming the Saguenay Graben.<ref name="RouleauOthers2011a"/><ref name="WalterOthers2018a"/><ref name="DesbiensOthers1989a">Desbiens, S. and Lespérance, P.J., 1989. ''Stratigraphy of the Ordovician of the Lac Saint-Jean and Chicoutimi outliers, Quebec''. ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'', 26(6), pp.1185-1202.</ref>

The Saguenay Graben that undelies Lac Saint-Jean Lowlands has controlled the deposition and the accumulation of [[Quaternary]] deposits ([[sand]], [[gravel]], [[silt]], and [[clay]]), which can reach up to {{convert|180|m|ft|abbr=on}} in thickness beneath the central lowlands. The Quaternary [[sediment]]s include [[glacial]], [[Marine clay|marine]], [[Glaciofluvial deposits|glaciofluvial]] sediments and post-glacial [[Alluvium|alluvial]] and [[River delta|delta plain]] sediments.<ref name="WalterOthers2018a"/><ref name="UrgelesOthers2011a">Urgeles, R., Locat, J., Lee, H.J. and Martin, F., 2002. ''The Saguenay Fjord, Quebec, Canada: integrating marine geotechnical and geophysical data for spatial seismic slope stability and hazard assessment.'' ''Marine Geology'', 185(3-4), pp.319-340.</ref>

The area was covered by [[ice sheet]]s several times throughout the [[Pleistocene]]. The valley formed by the Saguenay Graben being oriented more or less parallel to the glacial flow, became a preferred path for ice flow and resulted in deep excavation of the bedrock.The glaciers cut into the graben and widened it in some places as well as making it considerable deeper in others. At the time of retreat of the last ice sheet, the region had been depressed below contemporaneous sea level. As a result, as the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, the Saguenay Graben was flooded by marine waters to form the Laflamme Sea. As the land rose in response to considerable [[Post-glacial rebound]], the bottom of the Saguenay Graben was blanketed by the Saguenay River with deltaic and terrestrial fluvial sediments to form the modern day Lac Saint-Jean Lowlands.<ref name="RouleauOthers2011a"/><ref name="WalterOthers2018a"/><ref name="UrgelesOthers2011a"/>

==Notable people==
* [[Jean Ratelle]], NHL Hall of Famer and Team Canada 1972 member
* Mario Chevrette, Ph.D. of Molecular and Cell Biology and McGill Professor
* [[Guillaume Côté]], [[National Ballet of Canada]] principal dancer

==See also==
*[[List of lakes of Quebec]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Lac Saint-Jean}}
*{{Wikivoyage inline|Lac-Saint-Jean}}
* [http://traversee.qc.ca/en/the-traversee/history-and-stats/a-brief-history/ History of the annual crossing swim]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Lakes of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean|Saint-Jean]]

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Lac Saint-Jean