| Lake Athabasca | |
|---|---|
 Ice breakup on Lake Athabasca (June 9, 2002)[1] | |
  Lake Athabasca Location in Saskatchewan Show map of Saskatchewan Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (Canada) Show map of Canada | |
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| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 59°16′00″N109°27′00″W / 59.266666666667°N 109.45°W /59.266666666667; -109.45[2] |
| Lake type | Glacial |
| Part of | Mackenzie River drainage basin |
| Primary inflows |
|
| Primary outflows | Rivière des Rochers, which meets with thePeace to form theSlave |
| Catchment area | 271,000 km2 (105,000 sq mi)[3] |
| Basin countries | Canada |
| Max. length | 283 km (176 mi) |
| Max. width | 50 km (31 mi) |
| Surface area | 7,849 km2 (3,031 sq mi)[4] |
| Average depth | 20 m (66 ft)[5] |
| Max. depth | 124 m (407 ft)[5] |
| Water volume | 204 km3 (49 cu mi) |
| Shore length1 | ≈2,140 km (1,330 mi)[5] |
| Surface elevation | 213 m (699 ft)[4] |
| Settlements | |
| 1 Shore length isnot a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Athabasca (/ˌæθəˈbæskə/ATH-ə-BASK-ə; French:lac Athabasca; fromWoods Cree:ᐊᖬᐸᐢᑳᐤ[6]aðapaskāw, "[where] there are plants one after another")[7] is in the north-west corner ofSaskatchewan and the north-east corner ofAlberta between58° and60° N in Canada. The lake is about 30% in Alberta and 70% in Saskatchewan.[8]
The lake is fed by theAthabasca River and other rivers, and its water flows northward via theSlave River to theMackenzie River system, eventually reaching theArctic Ocean.
The name in theWoods Cree language originally referred only to thePeace–Athabasca Delta formed by the confluence of the Peace and Athabasca rivers at the southwest corner of the lake. Prior to 1789,Sir Alexander Mackenzie explored the lake.[9][10] In 1791,Philip Turnor, cartographer for theHudson's Bay Company, wrote in his journal, "low swampy ground on the South side with a few willows growing upon it, from which the Lake in general takes its name Athapison in the Southern Cree tongue which signifies open country such as lakes with willows and grass growing about them".[11]Peter Fidler originally recorded the name for the river in 1790 asthe Great Arabuska. By 1801, the name had gained a closer spelling to the current name—Athapaskow Lake. By 1820,George Simpson referred to both the lake and the river as "Athabasca".[12]
The lake covers 7,849 square kilometres (3,031 sq mi) or 7,935 square kilometres (3,064 sq mi) including islands,[4] is 283 kilometres (176 mi) long, has a maximum width of 50 kilometres (31 mi), and a maximum depth of 124 metres (407 ft), and holds 204 cubic kilometres (49 cu mi) of water, making it the largest and one of the deepest lakes in both Alberta and Saskatchewan (nearbyTazin Lake is deeper), and the eighth largest in Canada.[8] Water flows northward from the lake via theSlave River andMackenzie River systems, eventually reaching theArctic Ocean.
Fort Chipewyan, one of the oldest European settlements in Alberta, is on the western shore of the lake, where theRivière des Rochers drains the lake and flows towardSlave River, beginning its northward journey along the eastern boundary ofWood Buffalo National Park. The eastern section of the lake narrows to a width of about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) near the community ofFond du Lac on the northern shore then continues to its most easterly point at the mouth of the Fond du Lac River.
Fidler Point on the north shore of Lake Athabasca is named forPeter Fidler, a surveyor and map maker for theHudson's Bay Company.[13]
Along with other lakes such as theGreat Bear Lake andGreat Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca is a remnant of the vastGlacial Lake McConnell.
Tributaries of Lake Athabasca include (going clockwise):[14][15]
First Nations have lived in the area for more than 2,000 years. In the era of theNorth American fur trade, the lake was a pivotal point, since it was as far west as canoes could travel from the east and still return before freeze-up. The first European settlement on Lake Athabasca isFort Chipewyan, founded as aNorth West Company (NWC) trading post in 1788. Its original location was Old Fort Point, on the southwest shore west of the Old Fort River. In 1798, Fort Chipewyan was relocated to its current site on the north shore.[5][8]
In fall 1790, Malcolm Ross,Peter Fidler,Philip Turnor, and others, all working for theHudson's Bay Company (HBC), travelled fromCumberland House toÎle-à-la-Crosse, and on to Lake Athabasca the following spring. They established a HBC fur trade post on the south-west shore of the lake, opposite Fort Chipewyan. The HBC post, also called Athapescow Lake, was abandoned in 1792.[16]
In 1802, the HBC set up another post on English Island at the lake's outlet, called Nottingham House, but was abandoned in 1806. In 1815, the HBC tried competing again with the NWC and founded Fort Wedderburn on Coal or Potato Island. When the HBC and NWC merged in 1821, Fort Wedderburn was also abandoned by moving all operations to Fort Chipewyan.[17]
Uranium and gold mining along the northern shore resulted in the birth ofUranium City, Saskatchewan, which was home to mine workers and their families. While the last mine closed in the 1980s, the effects of mining operations had already heavily contaminated the northern shores. The largeoil sands mining nearby is suspected to have added to the current pollution levels in the lake.[18]
On October 31, 2013, one ofObed Mountain coal mine's pits failed, and between 600 million and one billion litres ofslurry poured into the Plante and Apetowun Creeks.[19] The plume of waste products then joined the Athabasca River, travelling downstream for a month before settling in Lake Athabasca nearFort Chipewyan, over 500 kilometres (310 mi) away.[19]
TheLake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest activesand dunes in the world north of 58°, are adjacent to the southern shore in Saskatchewan. The dunes were designated aProvincial Wilderness Park in 1992.[20]
Lake Athabasca contains 23 species of fish, with a world recordlake trout of 46.3 kilograms (102 lb) caught from its depths in 1961 by means of agillnet.[21] Other fish species includewalleye,yellow perch,northern pike,goldeye,lake whitefish,cisco,Arctic grayling,burbot,white sucker, andlongnose sucker.[22]
Canadian researchers have used the mud at the bottom of lakes like a time machine to show that tar sands oil production in Alberta, Canada, is polluting remote regional lakes as far as 50 miles from the operations.
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