Gros Morne National Park is a Canadian national park and a World Heritage Site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. It covers an area of 1,805 square kilometers (697 square miles), making it the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada. Torngat Mountains National Park is larger, with an area of 9,700 square kilometers (3,700 square miles).

The park is named after a mountain peak, which is the second-highest in Newfoundland. This peak stands 806 meters (2,644 feet) tall. The French name "Gros Morne" means "large mountain standing alone" or "great sombre." Gros Morne is part of the Long Range Mountains, a branch of the Appalachian Mountains that runs along the west coast of the island. These mountains are the leftover parts of a range that formed 1.2 billion years ago. In 1987, UNESCO gave the park World Heritage Site status because it shows a rare example of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and mantle rocks are exposed.

The Gros Morne National Park Reserve was created in 1973. It officially became a national park on October 1, 2005.

A short film about the park was included in the 2011 National Parks Project.

Geology

The park's rock formations, made famous by Robert Stevens and Harold Williams, include oceanic crust and mantle rock that were exposed by the movement of Earth's plates, as well as sedimentary rock formed during the Ordovician period, Precambrian granite, and Palaeozoic igneous rocks. The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Tremadocian stage and the entire Ordovician system is located in the Green Point section of this park.

The park is located on the Great Northern Peninsula of Western Newfoundland. This area is called the Humber Zone, a Miogeocline, and its Highlands contain the largest external basement massif of the Grenville Orogeny in the Appalachian Orogen. This Precambrian basement is known as the Long Range Inlier, Long Range Complex, or Basement Gneiss Complex. It consists of quartz-feldspar gneisses and granites that are up to 1,550 million years old. Mt. Gros Morne and Mt. Big Level are found within this Inlier. The western edge of the Inlier, along Western Brook Pond, St. Pauls Inlet, and south of Portl Creek Pond, includes Devonian and Ordovician thrust faults, where crystalline rocks were pushed over Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate rocks and the Lower Paleozoic Humber Arm Allochthon. The Rocky Harbour mélange is a Lower–Middle Ordovician mix of greywacke, quartzite, dolomite shale, chert, and limestone blocks within a black, green, and red scaly shale matrix. This formation occurs along the shore from West Brook Pond to Humber Arm (Bay of Islands). The southern part of the park, including Table Mtn. (Tablelands) and North Arm Mtn., contains Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician ophiolites known as the Bay of Islands Complex, Little Post Complex, and Old Man Cove Formation. Finally, a Pleistocene ice cap spread outward across the island, creating fjords such as Bonne Bay.

The Tablelands, located between Trout River and Woody Point in the southwest of Gros Morne National Park, appear more like a desert than typical Newfoundland. This is because the area is made up of ultramafic rocks, such as peridotite and serpentinite, which are types of rocks from deep within Earth's mantle. These rocks were pushed up to the surface during a plate collision hundreds of millions of years ago. Ultramafic rocks lack nutrients needed for most plant life and have a harmful quality, which is why the Tablelands look barren. These rocks are also rich in iron, giving them a brownish, rusted color. Beneath the weathered surface, the unweathered rock has a dark green color.

Soils

The park has many different types of soil because they formed on various kinds of bedrock. In the northeast, the Silver Mountain soil association is most common. These soils are very stony and sandy, and they developed on glacial till that lies over granite, granitic gneiss, and schist. Similar rock types are found under the St. Paul’s Inlet association farther west.

In the southeast, sedimentary rocks, including areas of dolomitic limestone, support the North Lake association, which is also made up of stony sandy loam. Near the coast, a narrow and uneven area of mostly shallow loam called the Cox’s Cove association lies over shale, slate, limestone, and sandstone.

North of Bonne Bay, the coastal strip is dominated by peat-rich soils of the Gull’s Marsh association and the coarser soils of the Sally’s Cove association. One exception is the area around Rocky Harbour, where clay-based soils of the Wood’s Island association occur.

South of Bonne Bay, the park’s ultramafic tablelands have stony, nutrient-poor soils belonging to the Serpentine Range association. Related soils also occur on nearby mafic uplands, where they are somewhat more fertile and able to support forest growth.

Western Brook Pond – Fjord

Western Brook Pond is a freshwater fjord formed by glaciers during the last ice age, between 25,000 and 10,000 years ago. When the glaciers melted, the land, which had been pressed down by the heavy ice, rose upward. This movement blocked the pond’s connection to the sea. Over time, the 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) long, narrow pond filled with fresh water. The water in the fjord is extremely clean and has the highest purity rating given to natural water sources. Pissing Mare Falls, the tallest waterfall in eastern North America and the 199th tallest in the world, flows into Western Brook Pond. Sedimentary rocks, some containing calcium, form the westernmost shoreline. In other areas, granitic gneiss is the main type of rock.

Nature and wildlife

Gros Morne has many types of land and ocean animals that live in its coastal, forest, bog, and mountain areas.

Moose are very common in the park. They were brought to Newfoundland from the Maritimes around 1900. Studies by Parks Canada show that there are five to 20 times more moose in Gros Morne than in similar areas in other parts of Canada. Other large animals include Newfoundland’s caribou (Rangifer tarandus terranovae), which is found only in Newfoundland; Newfoundland black bears (Ursus americanus hamiltoni); and Canada lynx.

Smaller mammals in the park include Arctic foxes, beavers, red foxes, red squirrels, river otters, and snowshoe hares.

Harbour seals are often seen in St. Pauls Inlet. During early summer, when capelin are plentiful, several types of whales and dolphins may be found offshore. These include Atlantic white-sided dolphins, fin whales, harbour porpoises, humpback whales, killer whales, minke whales, and pilot whales.

The park is home to many bird species. These include shorebirds along the coast, as well as birds that live in bogs and forests. Alpine areas are home to rock ptarmigan and willow ptarmigan.

World Heritage Site

In 1987, the park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its important geological history and beautiful natural views. The park's geology helps explain how Earth's crust moves and has helped scientists learn more about how Earth's surface changes over time.

Because of its important role in helping scientists understand how Earth's crust moves, the Mohorovičić discontinuity at Gros Morne was added by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) to a list of 100 special "geological heritage sites" around the world. This list was published in October 2022.

Trails

Hiking the trails is a common activity at Gros Morne National Park. There are approximately 20 marked trails available for day trips, allowing visitors to explore both the coastal and inland areas of the park. One of the most challenging day hikes is the 16-kilometer trail over Gros Morne Mountain. This trail is also known as the James Callaghan Trail, named after a former British Prime Minister who visited the park in 1976 to honor his work in protecting natural areas. A small issue occurred when Callaghan did not visit the trail that was named in his honor.

The interior of the park can also be reached, especially through the multi-day Long Range Traverse, which connects Western Brook Pond to Gros Morne Mountain.

Arts and culture

The park hosts several arts festivals, such as Gros Morne Theatre Festival, Writers at Woody Point, Gros Morne Summer Music, and Trails, Tales and Tunes.