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The Parks / Québec / La Mauricie National Park

About one billion years ago, the uplifting of deeply buried sedimentary rock formed the Laurentian Mountains. Hundreds of millions of years later, erosion uncovered the substrate, composed almost entirely of metamorphic rock, and formed cracks in its surface where rivers flowed, washing away the debris left by erosion. Four periods of glaciation smoothed the relief, flattened the topography, deepened the valleys and created a multitude of small lakes and scattered moraine. The park lies in the Laurentian Mountains in the southern part of the Canadian Shield forming a link between the Laurentian Plateau and the St. Lawrence Lowlands. The park's rocky landscape of rolling hills and network of waterways that makes up 7% of its surface area, are all evidence of the last ice age. Around 20 000 years ago, the park was completely covered by a glacier ten times higher than the surrounding mountains. As it slowly moved southeast, the shape of valleys was transformed, meltwater left lakes with sandy beaches; deposits of erosion debris dammed the largest valley creating and separating Lakes Wapizagonke and Anticagamac.