What are the key geographic features of Newfoundland and Labrador?

Newfoundland and Labrador is Canada's most easterly province, comprising two distinct landmasses: the island of Newfoundland (108,860 square kilometres) and the larger Labrador mainland (294,330 square kilometres) on the northeast coast. The province has a population of about 540,000, the smallest of the four Atlantic provinces, with about 95 per cent of residents on the island. The province joined Canadian Confederation on March 31, 1949, the most recent province to join.

The island of Newfoundland is geologically distinctive. Gros Morne National Park on the west coast contains the Tablelands, a section of exposed Earth mantle pushed up about 470 million years ago in the closing of the Iapetus Ocean. The park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 for its geological value. The Avalon Peninsula in the southeast contains the provincial capital St. John's and most of the population. Cape Spear, just south of St. John's, is the easternmost point in North America (excluding Greenland) at longitude 52.62 west.

Labrador is part of the Canadian Shield and shares geology with Quebec to the south and west. The Torngat Mountains in northern Labrador rise to 1,652 metres at Mount Caubvick (Mont d'Iberville on the Quebec side) and form the highest peaks east of the Rocky Mountains. The Churchill River in central Labrador is one of the largest rivers in eastern Canada, with Churchill Falls hosting the 5,428-megawatt hydroelectric station (the second-largest underground power station in the world when built in 1971). The Labrador-Quebec boundary, fixed by the 1927 Privy Council ruling in Re Labrador Boundary, has never been formally accepted by Quebec sovereigntist governments.

The province's economy combines fisheries (the Grand Banks south of Newfoundland is one of the world's most productive cold-water fishing areas, though the cod fishery collapsed in 1992), offshore oil and gas (Hibernia, White Rose, Hebron, and Terra Nova fields produce about 200,000 barrels per day), iron-ore mining at Labrador City and Wabush, and hydroelectricity. The Lower Churchill Project at Muskrat Falls (824 megawatts, online 2021) and Gull Island (planned) supply additional hydroelectric capacity. The province operates on Newfoundland Standard Time (UTC minus 3:30), the only North American jurisdiction with a 30-minute offset from neighbouring time zones.