What are the Appalachian Mountains in Canada?

The Appalachian Mountains are the major mountain range of eastern North America, running from Alabama in the south through the eastern United States and into Canada. The Canadian Appalachian region covers eastern Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River, all of New Brunswick, all of Nova Scotia, all of Prince Edward Island, and the western half of Newfoundland. The Canadian Appalachians are the northeastern terminus of the range, ending at Belle Isle Strait between Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, formed about 480 to 250 million years ago during the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous periods through several rounds of continental collision (the Taconic, Acadian, and Alleghanian orogenies). The Canadian Appalachian rocks are extensively eroded and were further reshaped by Pleistocene glaciation. The mountains are dominantly metamorphic and igneous (granite, gneiss, schist, slate, marble) and contain economically important mineral deposits including iron in Labrador, nickel-copper at Voisey's Bay, gold and base metals at Bathurst, NB, and tin and tungsten in Nova Scotia.

Major Canadian Appalachian sub-ranges include the Notre Dame Mountains and the Chic-Choc Mountains in the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec; the New Brunswick Highlands; the Cobequid Hills of Nova Scotia; and the Long Range Mountains of western Newfoundland. The Long Range Mountains are protected within Gros Morne National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1987). The Torngat Mountains of northern Labrador rise to Mount Caubvick (1,652 metres, called Mont d'Iberville on the Quebec side), the highest peak in eastern Canada and the highest peak of the Canadian Appalachians and are within the broader Appalachian system. Mount Carleton in New Brunswick (820 metres) is the highest peak in the Maritime provinces.

The International Appalachian Trail (created 1994) extends the iconic Appalachian Trail from its traditional terminus at Mount Katahdin, Maine north through New Brunswick, the Gaspe Peninsula, and the Notre Dame Mountains to Cap-Gaspe at Forillon National Park. Subsequent extensions (the IAT-NL in Newfoundland, the IAT-NS in Nova Scotia) have brought the trail across the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands and to the Labrador Sea coast. The Canadian Appalachian region is the homeland of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Peskotomuhkati First Nations on the mainland and the Beothuk (extinct after 1829) on Newfoundland.