Seas And Oceans Codexery

Gulf of St. Lawrence

Large Canadian gulf linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic.

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The International Hydrographic Organization defines the gulf's northeastern extent by a line from Cape Bauld to the East extreme of Belle Isle and on to the Northeast Ledge.[1] The Gulf of St. Lawrence links the Great Lakes system to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the St. Lawrence River, and its waters border five Canadian provinces—Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador—as well as the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, which are territories of France.[2]

Key facts and history

The gulf has provided a historically important marine fishery for First Nations that have lived on its shores for millennia.[3] Whether this water body should be classified hydrographically as a gulf or an estuary remains a matter of debate.[4] During earlier ice ages, the Laurentian Channel—a gulf floor feature measuring roughly 290 m in depth and 1250 km in length—was carved out when the Continental Shelf underwent erosion.[5] At the continental slope, deep waters ranging from 2 to 6.5 °C flow into the gulf and are then gradually transported up the channel through estuarine circulation.[5]

The earliest recorded European exploration of these waters occurred in 1534, undertaken by the French navigator Jacques Cartier.[6][7] Cartier applied the name "The Country of Canadas" to the shores, deriving it from an indigenous term that translates to "village" or "settlement."[6][7] In 1530, Basque whalers from Saint-Jean-de-Luz journeyed into the gulf and set up a base on the Strait of Belle Isle.[8] During the months of January and February, the entire gulf is covered by ice.[9]

What the cited sources add

The socio-cultural and economic well-being of coastal communities depends heavily on the goods and services provided by the gulf's aquatic ecosystem.[10] The Great Lakes Commission states that the St. Lawrence River can be divided into three sections: the freshwater river, the estuary, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[11] The St. Lawrence Seaway, completed in 1959, connects Duluth, Minnesota, with the head of the Gulf of St. Lawrence through a system of lakes, rivers, and canals.[11] The "Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence" planning area, managed by the Government of Canada, spans roughly 240,000 km² and features some of the warmest surface water temperatures in Atlantic Canada throughout the summer.[10]

Under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, Canada's first Migratory Bird Sanctuaries were created in 1919 on Bonaventure Island, the Bird Rocks of the Magdalen Islands, and Percé Rock.[12][13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gulf of St. Lawrence", Limits of Oceans and Seas, 1953, p. 14 of 42; "Strait of Belle Isle", Gouvernement of Quebec, 13 December 1988 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Therriault, "The Gulf od St. Lawrence: Small Ocean or Big Estuary", Fischeries and Oceans Canada, 2012, p. 359; "St. Lawrence River and Seaway", Great Lakes Commission; "St Lawrence River", The Canadian Encyclopedia; Loiselle, "The Environmental Atlas of the St. Lawrence", Environnement Canada, Geography department, December 1997, p. 34 of 67; "Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence", Government of Canada, 2023-01-27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A Brief History of the Gulf Region", Fisheries Peches and Ocean Canada, 1991, p. 14; "Action River, Discovering the St. Lawrence", Government of Canada, 24 November 2015, p. 7 of 32; "Iroquoians in the St. Lawrence River Valley before European Contact", 9 July 2017, p. 18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "History of French Canada since the Discovery", Fides, Montreal and Paris, 1960, p. 16 of 404; Therriault, "The Gulf of St. Lawrence: Small Ocean or Big Estuary", Fisheries and Oceans Canada, p. 359; "Gulf of St. Lawrence", Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024-02-20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galbraith, P.S., Pettipas, R.G., Chassé, J., Gilbert, D., Larouche, P., Pettigrew, B., Gosselin, A., Devine, L. and Lafleur, C. 2009. Physical Oceanographic Con; Gilbert, D., B. Sundby, C. Gobeil, A. Mucci and G.-H. Tremblay. 2005. A seventy-two-year record of diminishing deep-water oxygen in the St. Lawrence estuary: Th (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "French navigator Jacques Cartier sails the St. Lawrence River", A&E Television Networks, 9 February 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "French navigator Jacques Cartier sails the St. Lawrence River", A&E Television Networks, 9 February 2010. facts only, no text reused. history.com
  8. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Red Bay National Historic Site", 9 February 2022; "Strait of Belle Isle", Gouvernement of Quebec, 13 December 1988 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O'Bonsawin, "The secrets of the Saint-Laurent, marine weather guide", Environnement Canada, 3 April 2013, p. 89, 90 of 100 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence", Government of Canada, 2023-01-27. facts only, no text reused. dfo-mpo.gc.ca
  11. "St. Lawrence River and Seaway", Great Lakes Commission. facts only, no text reused. glc.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Gulf of St. Lawrence" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Migratory bird sanctuaries across Canada", Government of Canada, 22 February 2011 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. "Migratory bird sanctuaries across Canada", Government of Canada, 22 February 2011. facts only, no text reused. canada.ca

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gulf of St. Lawrence (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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