Great Slave Lake

Infobox_lake
lake_name = Great Slave Lake
image_lake = Great Slave Lake Sat.jpg
caption_lake = False-Color photo of the Great Slave Lake
image_bathymetry =Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca 6.pngcaption_bathymetry = Map of Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca
location = Northwest Territories
coords = coord|61|40|N|114|00|W|region:CA-NT_type:waterbody_scale:10000000|display=inline,title
type = remnant of a vast glacial lake
inflow = Hay River, Slave River
outflow = Mackenzie River
catchment = convert|971000|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on
basin_countries = Canada
length = 480 km (298 mi)
width = 109 km (68 mi)
area = convert|27200|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on
depth = convert|41|m|ft|abbr=on
max-depth = convert|614|m|ft|abbr=on
volume = convert|1580|km3|cumi|abbr=on
residence_time =
shore = convert|3057|km|mi|abbr=on
elevation = convert|156|m|ft|abbr=on
islands =
cities =

Great Slave Lake (French: "Grand lac des Esclaves") is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada (behind Great Bear Lake), the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,015 ft), and the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is 480 km (298 mi) long and 19 to 109 km (12 to 68 mi) wide. It covers an area of 28,400 km² (11,000 sq mi) in the southern part of the territory. Its volume is 2,090 km³ (501.7 cu mi,1.694 billion acre feet). The lake was named for the Slavey North American Indians and has nothing to do with slavery.

The Hay and Slave Rivers are its chief tributaries. It is drained by the Mackenzie River. Though the western shore is forested, the east shore and northern arm are tundra-like. The southern and eastern shores reach the edge of the Canadian Shield. Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear and Athabasca, it is a remnant of a vast post-glacial lake.

The East Arm of Great Slave Lake is filled with islands, and the area is within Thaydene Nene National Park. The Pethei Peninsula separates the East Arm into McLeod Bay in the north and Christie Bay in the south. The only community in the East Arm is Lutselk'e, a hamlet of about 350 people, largely Chipewyan aboriginals of the Dene Nation.

History

First Nations were the first settlers around the lake, building communities including Dettah, which still exists today.

British fur trader Samuel Hearne explored the area in 1771 and crossed the frozen lake, which he initially named Lake Athapuscow (after an erroneous French speaker's pronunciation of Athabaska).

In the 1930s, gold was discovered there, which led to the establishment of Yellowknife, the territory's capital.

In 1967, an all-season highway was built around the lake, originally an extension of the Mackenzie Highway but now known as Highway 3.

On January 24, 1978, a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite, named Cosmos 954, built with an on board nuclear reactor fell from orbit and landed in the lake. With all the ice and snow on the lake the satellite exploded on impact causing its nuclear fuel to fall over the area. The nuclear fuel was picked up by a group called Operation Morning Light formed with both American and Canadian members. [cite web|url=http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gamma/ml_e.php|title=Operation Morning Light|author=Natural Resources Canada|authorlink=Natural Resources Canada|accessdate=2007-01-24]

General Information

Other towns around the lake include: Yellowknife, Fort Providence, Hay River and Fort Resolution.

The lake is at least partially frozen during an average of eight months of the year. During winter, the ice is thick enough for semi-trailer trucks to pass over. Until 1967, when an all-season highway was built around the lake, goods were shipped across the ice to Yellowknife, located on the north shore. Goods and fuel are still shipped across frozen lakes up the winter road to the diamond mines located near the headwaters of the Coppermine River, Northwest Territories. A ferry is required to access Yellowknife during spring when the ice is not present in a solid sheet along Highway 3 where it crosses the Mackenzie River.

The main western portion of the lake forms a moderately deep bowl with a surface area of 18,500 km² and a volume of 596 km³. This main portion has a maximum depth of 187.7 m and a mean depth of 32.2 m. [Citation|last=Schertzer| first=W. M.| date=2000| title=Digital bathymetry of Great Slave Lake| series=NWRI ContributionNo. 00-257, 66 pp.] To the east, McLeod Bay and Christie Bay are much deeper, with a maximum recorded depth in Christie Bay of 614 m.Citation|last=Hebert|first=Paul| date=2007| contribution=Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories| title=Encyclopedia of Earth |access_date=2007-12-07| url=http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Slave_Lake,_Northwest_Territories| publisher=Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment | publication_place=Washington, DC]

South of Great Slave Lake, in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, is the nesting site of a remnant flock of whooping cranes, discovered in 1954. [cite web| url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciornithology/19/ |author=University of Nebraska |authorlink=University of Nebraska| title=Whooper Recount| accessdate=2007-01-20]

ee also

* List of lakes by area (9)
* List of lakes by depth (6)
* List of lakes by volume (10)

References

Further reading

* Canada. (1981). "Sailing directions, Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River". Ottawa: Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans. ISBN 0660110229
* Gibson, J. J., Prowse, T. D., & Peters, D. L. (2006). Partitioning impacts of climate and regulation on water level variability in Great Slave Lake. "Journal of Hydrology". 329 (1), 196.
* Hicks, F., Chen, X., & Andres, D. (1995). Effects of ice on the hydraulics of Mackenzie River at the outlet of Great Slave Lake, N.W.T.: A case study. "Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering". Revue Canadienne De G̐ưenie Civil. 22 (1), 43.
* Kasten, H. (2004). "The captain's course secrets of Great Slave Lake". Edmonton: H. Kasten. ISBN 097366410X
* Jenness, R. (1963). "Great Slave Lake fishing industry". Ottawa: Northern Co-ordination and Research Centre. Dept. of Northern Affairs and National Resources.
* Keleher, J. J. (1972). "Supplementary information regarding exploitation of Great Slave Lake salmonid community". Winnipeg: Fisheries Research Board, Freshwater Institute.
* Mason, J. A. (1946). "Notes on the Indians of the Great Slave Lake area". New Haven: Published for the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, by the Yale University Press.
* Sirois, J., Fournier, M. A., & Kay, M. F. (1995). "The colonial waterbirds of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories an annotated atlas". Ottawa, Ont: Canadian Wildlife Service. ISBN 0662238842