- Rivière aux Mélèzes
, to the south.
The English name "Larch River" probably comes from the
larch trees found in the sheltered valley of the river, which is, in less sheltered locations, as much as "400 kilometres" beyond the northern limit of tree growth. Most of the basin is covered by sparsetundra and is remains uninhabited, even byInuit . Owing to the intenseglaciation , the basin is generally flat and does not rise to elevations beyond three hundred metres abovesea level even after majorpost-glacial rebound . Theclimate is polar (Köppen "ET") with temperatures ranging from about -20 °C in January to 8 °C in July.The river probably flowed into
Hudson Bay before thePleistocene . However, the fact that for ninety percent of theQuaternary Nunavik has been covered with glacial ice up to four kilometres thick has meant that, during the very brief deglaciations,ice dam s and/ormoraine s have tended to prevent the river from flowing westwards. Hence, during the brief periods of deglaciation (generally only the "latter half" of interglacials), the river has flowed into theKoksoak River .
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