FR:

La climatologie de la péninsule Labrador-Ungava vient de nous apparaître dans une nouvelle perspective grâce à des recherches récentes sur le bilan calorifique et hygrométrique à la surface du sol ainsi que sur les divers types de courants atmosphériques en rapport avec les conditions météorologiques locales.

Le bilan énergétique du Labrador-Ungava, bien que typique de ces latitudes, témoigne de températures beaucoup plus basses que celles que Von rencontre habituellement dans des régions semblables. Au cours de l’été, on a observé un rayonnement net quotidien de 0.258k cal/cm ² en moyenne. Durant la saison végétative, l'évapotranspiration utilise à peine 40% du rayonnement net ; ceci permet de penser qu'une part considérable de l'énergie disponible peut être utilisée dans les mouvements convectifs de réchauffement. Ainsi s'expliquerait le développement si répandu de cumulus typiques de l'ensemble de la région en été.

On est moins renseigné sur le bilan hygrométrique. Les précipitations sont abondantes et au cours de la période de fonte des neiges, en mai et en juin, le ruissellement est considérable. Il semble probable que le déficit total en eau est de loin inférieur a celui des bassins forestiers situés plus au sud. On n'a guère étudié la climatologie synoptique de l’ Ungava-Labrador, mais l'auteur fait mention des rapports qui auraient pu exister entre les courants atmosphériques et l'accumulation de la neige pendant la dernière glaciation.

FR:

L'histoire de l'exploration des eaux côtières de la péninsule Québec-Labrador remonte très loin dans le temps, mais c'est vraiment l'Année polaire internationale de 1882 qui marqua les débuts des premières recherches sérieuses. Les progrès les plus considérables des recherches océanographiques ont cependant été réalisés depuis la II^e guerre mondiale, grâce surtout aux travaux entrepris dans l'Arctique oriental par le Bureau des recherches sur les pêcheries.

L'auteur s'étend d'abord sur l'océanographie physique de la région ; il étudie successivement la bathymétrie, la répartition et les caractères des principales masses d'eau, les courants, les glaces et les marées. Suit une analyse de la biologie marine, qui souligne en particulier l'importance d'un facteur : l'absence de brassage vertical des eaux. La répartition de la faune marine indique que si les régions dominées par les eaux arctiques sont riches en mammifères, celles où l'influence atlantique est forte sont de beaucoup les plus poissonneuses. L'auteur insiste sur l'importance des ressources biologiques de la mer dans l'économie alimentaire des Esquimaux.

De même qu'il existe des preuves d'oscillations climatiques à courte période, on peut aussi conclure à un réchauffement des eaux depuis le début du siècle, bien que cette tendance soit moins évidente depuis quelques années.

EN:

This study concerns the section of the trans-Shield route between Lake Simcoe and the boundary of Manitoba. The data were obtained from the Ontario Department of Highways for the period from 1958 to January 1965 and by personalinquiry carried out in May 1965. To what extent does this section link the two principal cores of the Canadian ecumene, that is, the Lower Great Lakes - St. Lawrence area and southern Alsama ?

After having briefly presented the geographic environment in which the route is situated, the author presents a number of statistics. The annual average daily traffic outside the towns is light : 3,000 vehicles in the more popular sectors and less than 1,000 in the less frequented parts. There is a decrease in the intensity of traffic from east to west as jar as Dryden. For the entire 1,200 miles of highway, three fourths of the vehicles have Ontario license plates. East of Sault St. Marie, the vehicles from outside Ontario come mainly from the U.S.A. whereas in the Kenora area they are principally from Manitoba. Traffic is three to Jour times heavier in summer than in winter. In the winter season the number of non-Ontario cars is very small and there are relatively more trucks than in summer. In the month of May the situation is more similar to that in winter than to that in summer. In the last jive years the frequentation of the route bas greatly increased ; at Dinorwic the number of vehicles in July bas multiplied five times. From a regional point of view, three sectors should be recognized : (1) from Lake Simcoe to Sault St. Marie, (2) from Sault St. Marie to Dryden, and (3) extreme western Ontario.

Economically, the Ontario section of the Trans-Canada Highway is not a profitable enterprise. Furthermore, this route appears to be much less transcontinental than the parallel rail line. In several ways the trans-Shield corridor presents a greater obstacle to the continuity of the Canadian population ecumene than the Rocky Mountains, or even the Appalachian barrier. Nevertheless, central Ontario is a part of the ecumene but it is only an « ecumene of liaison » with low intensity of occupance. An office of Trans-Canadian traffic should be created.

EN:

In recent years, the face of much of rural Québec bas undergone a series of important transformations : vast areas of marginal farmland have either been abandoned or reforested ; large tracts of cleared land in the Saint Lawrence lowlands have been converted from general farming to specialty crops ; several of these areas of specialty crops are now being swallowed up by urban expansion ; the Laurentide hills and large sections of the Eastern Townships area are rapidly being transformed into sprawling tourist playgrounds. With the aid of 1964 air photos and 1965 land use data the authors record and briefly discuss some of the more striking trends in the evolution of rural land use patterns in the area between Montréal and Québec City, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River.

EN:

The author recently made a detailed investigation of the talus accumulations which mantle the steep slopes of the valley of the rivière du Nord, in the Laurentide hills, 45 miles north of Montréal, Québec. In postglacial times the lower section of the valley was occupied by an arm of the Champlain sea, and thick deposits of sand and clay were laid down in this estuary. The writer describes the various types of contacts which exist between the Champlain sea deposits and the talus accumulations — for example, certain talus slopes were completely covered by marine sediments and remain « fossilized  » ; others have been stripped of their cover of unconsolidated materials and are consequently described as « exhumed  ». The writer has also attempted to distinguish between those talus accumulations which antedate the Champlain incursion and those which postdate it. Most of the talus slopes appear to have formed immediately prior to or during the Champlain period, but a few have developed, at least in part, since that time. Frost-shattering (gelifraction) is the principal process contributing to the formation of these talus accumulations at the present time, although landslides also play an important role. The writer wonders whether these talus slopes of the valley of the rivière du Nord should not be classified as periglacial landforms.

EN:

Fossil cryoturbation forms in Southern Québec are reported for the first time. About sixty ice-wedges were observed in unconsolidated Late Pleistocene and Lower Holocene deposits. Other cryoturbation forms such as injections, standing pebbles and strata deformations are also reported. These forms indicate the existence of a periglacial climate, during the Late Wisconsin, in the Appalachian region of Southeastern Québec between 12,500 and 10,000 years (B P )