A lake of central mainland Northwest Territories, Canada. The Great Bear River, about 113 km (70 mi) long, flows westward from the lake to the Mackenzie River.
Great Bear Lake
| Dictionary: Great Bear Lake |
A lake of central mainland Northwest Territories, Canada. The Great Bear River, about 113 km (70 mi) long, flows westward from the lake to the Mackenzie River.
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Great Bear Lake, largest lake of Canada and fourth largest of North America, c.12,275 sq mi (31,800 sq km), c.190 mi (310 km) long and from 25 to 110 mi (40-177 km) wide, Northwest Territories, on the edge of the Canadian Shield. It is drained to the W by the Great Bear River (c.100 mi/160 km long), which flows into the Mackenzie River. Even though it is one of North America's deepest (1,356 ft/413 m) lakes, its waters are open only about four months each year. The lake was explored (c.1800) by traders of the North West Company, and a trading post was later established there. Déline (formerly Fort Franklin), on the southwest shore, was built by Sir John Franklin, a British explorer, in 1825. Discoveries of rich radium ores, which are now exhausted, on the eastern side of the lake in 1930 caused much mining activity in the years immediately following; the Eldorado Mines, at Port Radium, were located there.
| Wikipedia: Great Bear Lake |
| Great Bear Lake | |
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| Location | Northwest Territories |
| Coordinates | 66°N 121°W / 66°N 121°WCoordinates: 66°N 121°W / 66°N 121°W |
| Primary outflows | Great Bear River |
| Catchment area | 114,717 km² (44,293 mi²)[1][2] |
| Basin countries | Canada |
| Surface area | 31,153 km² (12,028 mi²)[1][2] |
| Average depth | 71.7 m (235 ft)[1][2] |
| Max. depth | 446 m (1,463 ft)[1][2] |
| Water volume | 2,236 km3 (536 cu mi)[1][2] |
| Residence time | 124 years[1] |
| Shore length1 | 2,719 km (1,690 mi) (plus 824 km (512 mi) island shoreline)[1][2] |
| Surface elevation | 186 m (610 ft) |
| Islands | 26 main islands, totaling 759.3 km² in area[1] |
| Settlements | Deline, Echo Bay |
| References | [1][2] |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Great Bear Lake (Slavey: Sahtú, French: Grand lac de l'Ours) is the largest lake entirely within Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron straddling the Canada-US border are larger), the third largest in North America, and the seventh largest in the world.[3] The lake is situated on the Arctic Circle between 65 and 67 degrees of northern latitude and between 118 and 123 degrees western longitude, 186 m (610 ft) above sea level.
The lake has a surface area of 31,153 km² (12,028 mi²) and a total volume of 2,236 km³ (536 mi³). Its maximum depth is 446 m (1,463 ft) and its average depth 71.7 m (235 ft). The total shoreline is 2,719 km (1,690 mi) and the total catchment area of the lake is 114,717 km² (44,293 mi²).
The lake empties through the Great Bear River (Sahtúdé) into the Mackenzie River. The only community on the lake is Deline, Northwest Territories at the southwest end.
In 1930, Gilbert LaBine discovered uranium in the Great Bear Lake region.
The Sahtú Dene people took their name from the lake.
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Prehistory
Great Bear Lake lies between two major physiographic regions: the Kazan Uplands portion of the Canadian Shield and the Interior Plains. Originally it was part of preglacial valleys that were reshaped by erosional effects of ice during the Pleistocene. Since then, the lake has undergone various changes resulting from rebound following the melting of the ice.
Precambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield form the eastern margin of the McTavish Arm. These rocks of the Precambrian are made up of sedimentary and metamorphic deposits supplemented by igneous intrusions forming dikes and sills.
Climate
Great Bear Lake is covered with ice from late November to July.[2] Between 1950 and 1974, this climatic data was collected at Port Radium:
| Month | Temperature (°C) |
Precipitation (mm) |
Bright sunshine (hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | –27.0 | 11 | 0.19 |
| Feb | –27.0 | 8 | 1.82 |
| Mar | –19.1 | 14 | 7.57 |
| Apr | –10.7 | 6 | 16.03 |
| May | +1.2 | 14 | 21.76 |
| Jun | +9.0 | 14 | 23.16 |
| Jul | +12.0 | 35 | 18.54 |
| Aug | +10.6 | 43 | 11.97 |
| Sep | +5.3 | 25 | 6.20 |
| Oct | –3.2 | 27 | 2.85 |
| Nov | –14.8 | 25 | 0.39 |
| Dec | –23.0 | 14 | 0.00 |
| Average | –7.2 | 10 | |
| Total | 236 |
Ice Road
Great Bear Lake has one ice road, Deline ice road. It is used for few weeks out of the year to deliver supplies to the remote community of Deline, Northwest Territories. The speed on the ice road is 70 kph just like the Tuktoyaktuk ice road because there are no portages or stretches of land within the lake. The ice road on the lake are used mostly by semi trucks and the road usually can handle 64,500 kg. The road is subjected to closure early in late March due to warm weather.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Johnson, L. (1975), "Physical and chemical characteristics of Great Bear Lake", J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 32: 1971-1987 quoted at Great Bear Lake (World Lakes Database)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hebert, Paul (2007), "Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories", Encyclopedia of Earth, Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment, http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Bear_Lake,_Northwest_Territories, retrieved 2007-12-07
- ^ Great Bear Lake. The Canadian Encyclopedia.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Great Bear Lake |
Learn More
 | Fort Smith (region of southwest Northwest Territories) |
| Horton (river, Canada) |
| Norman Wells (city, Canada) |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Great Bear Lake". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Fort Smith (region of southwest Northwest Territories)
- Horton (river, Canada)
- Norman Wells (city, Canada)
- Port Radium (city, Canada)
- uraninite
- silver
- Sir John Franklin (English-Canadian explorer)
- Nunavut (territory, Canada)
- Red-winged blackbird
- gummite
- Great Bear Lake Airport
- Great Bear Lake Water Aerodrome
- Echo Bay Mines Ltd.
- Fort Confidence, Northwest Territories
