Wollaston Lake

BW

Lies on the watershed and is drained via two different river systems in different oceans

The Wollaston Lake is a glacial lake arisen in northeastern Saskatchewan in Canada.

It covers an area of ​​2286 km ² ( including the islands even 2681 km ²) and is the largest lake in the world that drains naturally in two different directions. The Fond du Lac River leaves the lake in the northwest and flows into the Athabasca. This in turn drained by the river system of the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean. The Cochrane River entfließt the lake on the northeast side and empties into the Reindeer Lake. From there, the water over the Churchill River flows into Hudson Bay. The lake is thus located exactly on the watershed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.

The lake has an average depth of 20.6 m and a maximum water depth of 71 m. Its content is estimated at 75 km ³. The water table is at an altitude of 398 m and its shores length is 1475 km. The catchment area of ​​the lake is 23,310 km ². The lake is frozen from November to June.

The only settlement on its banks is called after the lake: Wollaston Lake. Approximately 800 residents live here. With the outside world, the place is connected by a landing strip ( Wollaston Lake Airport ). A year round paved road, the Saskatchewan Highway 905 leads on the western shore of the lake over to La Ronge. The connection to the lying on the eastern shore place takes place in winter, when the lake is frozen over and the ice in the summer by a ferry.

The Wollaston Lake was discovered about the year 1800 by the explorer Peter Fidler and was used by fur traders for connection between the waterways of Churchill and the Mackenzie, which thereby saved himself a tedious Portage. In 1821, the explorer John Franklin named the lake after the English chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston.

Among the fish species living in the lake include the pike as well as lake trout, Arctic grayling and walleye.

Treated leachate from the mine Rabbit Lake uranium is introduced into the Hidden Bay on the southwest shore of the lake.

Swell

• LakeNet
• International Lake Environment Committee Foundation - Statistical data on the lake
• Natural Resources Canada
• Brief description of the place
• Environmental protection program

• Lake in North America
• Lake in Saskatchewan
• River system Fond du Lac River ( Mackenzie River)
• River system Churchill River (Hudson Bay)