Lake Quatre Lieues | |
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Lac Quatre Lieues ( French) | |
Location | Lac-Walker, Côte-Nord, Quebec |
Coordinates | 50°06′27″N 67°08′31″W / 50.107395°N 67.141997°W |
Surface elevation | 116 metres (381 ft) |
References | EHTVV |
Lake Quatre Lieues ( French: Lac Quatre Lieues; Four-League Lake) is a lake in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is set in a wilderness area and may be used for relaxation, fishing or hunting.
The name Quatre Lieues refers to the location of the lake, which is four leagues, or 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the west of Shelter Bay, Quebec. [1]
Lake Quatre Lieues is in the unorganized territory of Lac-Walker in the Sept-Rivières Regional County Municipality of the Côte-Nord administrative region of Quebec. [1] It is in the extreme south of the proposed Lake Walker National Park. [2] The MacDonald River flows through the northern end of Lake Quatre Lieues and continues east to join the Aux Rochers River to the south of Lake Walker. [3] The lake is about 116 metres (381 ft) above sea level. [4]
The northern part of the lake is 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) long and 390 metres (1,280 ft) wide. [5] It lies in a slender lacustrine basin 5.2 kilometres (3.2 mi) long by 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide with bays and sandbanks, an extension of the Lake Walker basin. The surrounding terraces are formed of sandy materials of deltaic origin. [6] These deposits were laid down during glacial decay in the Holocene. [7] The southern extension forms a narrow and winding basin 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long cut into the plateau. [5]
The Cartier Railway owned by ArcelorMittal runs along the northeast shore of the lake before turning west along the MacDonald River valley. [8] The railway links the Mont Wright iron mine near Fermont to Port-Cartier. [5]
NASA images indicate that the lake is in a region mostly covered in coniferous forests. [9] The district is in the boreal climate zone under the Köppen climate classification. [10] A map of the Ecological regions of Quebec places the lake in the 6J-T ecological subregion, part of the eastern spruce/moss domain of the boreal zone. [11] The average annual temperature in the region is 0 °C (32 °F). The warmest month is July, when the average temperature is 16 °C (61 °F) and the coldest is January with an average of −17 °C (1 °F). [12] Average annual rainfall is 1,014 millimetres (39.9 in), of which 361.5 millimetres (14.23 in) falls as snow. [6]
The lake is a magnificent place for relaxation, fishing, hunting and boating. [5] The Port-Cartier–Sept-Îles Wildlife Reserve offers chalet rentals for hunting and fishing in the Quatre-lieues area. The hunting area is about 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi) with hardwood forests about 50 years old and mature spruce. [13] In 2013 fishing for atlantic salmon was prohibited. Angling or fly fishing for other species was allowed from 11 May 2012 to 3 September 2012. [14]