THE LA URENTIAN PENEPLAIN 03 I 



In the present attitude of the peneplain the highest part is found 

 in central Labrador, where, to the south of Lake Nichikun, it 

 reaches an elevation of approximately 2,400 feet above sea-leveL 

 The plain slopes outward from central Labrador toward Hudson 

 Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the margins of the plain proper, 

 near the coasts, being at considerable elevations. 



In his report on explorations in James Bay and in the country 

 east of Hudson Bay, drained by the Big, Great Whale, and Clear- 

 water Rivers, Low describes the interior of this part of the 

 peneplain as a 



rough table-land having an elevation of about 700 feet above sea-level near 

 its edge, and slowly rising inland to over 2,000 feet at its highest. The edge 

 of this table-land leaves the coast to the north of Cape Jones, and runs in a 

 S. S. E, direction, so that to the southward there is an interval varying from 

 ten to thirty miles between it and the coast. In this portion the general level 

 is not much over 100 feet above the sea, and the soil is of Post-Pliocene clays 



and sands, with alluvium The land is rolling and broken by low 



rocky Archaean hills, which make up about one third of the entire area. 

 (23, p. 16). 



The same writer describes the area of country stretching from 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence northwestward to Hudson Bay as 



a low-lying plateau of Archaean rocks. The height of this plateau averages 

 about 1,500 ft. above sea-level, and rising slowly from about 1,000 ft. near the 

 edge to about 2,000 ft. in the interior. The surface of this plateau is by no 

 means flat, being covered by the low rounded hills, which are roughly arranged 

 in a series of ridges more or less parallel to themselves and the general strike 

 of the rocks. These hills are the stubs of extensive and elevated mountain 

 chains which, from exposure to subaerial denudation, for countless ages, and 

 from having been subjected to glacial action of later geological times, have 

 been ground down to their present unimposing state. In the interior the 

 difference of level between these ridges and the valleys separating them is 

 small, the hills seldom rising 100 ft. above the general level. As the coast is 

 approached the difference is more marked, the long action of ancient rivers 

 having deeply cut out the principal valleys below the surrounding country, 

 thus causing a more marked contrast in level, and at the same time much 

 finer scenery. (24, p. 14.) 



Summing up the statement of a series of levels in different 

 parts of the Labrador area Low writes : 



The interior of the peninsula is almost flat, so that in an area of 200,000 

 square miles, there is not a difference of general level of more than 300 or 



