LAURENTIAN MOUNTAINS

French Les Laurentides, mountains forming the Quebec portion of the Canadian Shield, particularly the area partially bounded by the Ottawa, St. Lawrence, and Saguenay rivers. It is one of the oldest mountain regions in the world and consists of Precambrian rocks (those more than 540 million years old). The range was gradually scoured and worn down and now forms a rocky peneplain (a vast erosional plain) with relatively uniform crests of 3,000 feet (900 m) and a maximum elevation of 3,905 feet (1,190 m). The heavily forested area, with its innumerable lakes and swift rivers, supports large-scale lumbering, pulp and paper-milling, and mining operations, hydroelectric installations, and an important tourist industry. Two provincial parks, Laurentides and Mont Tremblant, are popular vacation areas easily accessible from Montreal and Quebec. The name Laurentian is also sometimes applied to the Canadian Shield (Laurentian Shield), which extends over most of eastern Canada and of which this range is part.