Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories
Published: August 29, 2008, 7:46 pm
Updated: August 29, 2008, 7:46 pm
This article has been reviewed by the following Topic Editor:
Mark McGinley Physical Attributes
- Altitude: 156 m above sea level
- Surface Area: 27,200 sq. km
- Mean Depth: 41 m
- Maximum Depth: 614 m
- Volume: 1,580 cu. km
- Shoreline Length: 3057 km
- Drainage Basin: 971,000 sq. km
General Description
Great Slave Lake is an enormous, complex body of water. It is the fourth largest lake in Canada and was formed as a result of glacial scouring. The lake has a large, open western basin and a narrow eastern arm with many islands. Great Slave Lake is drained by the MacKenzie River and has many inflows, of which the Slave River from Lake Athabasca is the largest. Each day in the summer, the Slave River dumps 54,000 metric tons of dissolved minerals and 36,000 metric tons of silt into the southern part of the main lake basin, which has a mineral content of 160 ppm. The eastern arm and northern shore of the main basin have a lower dissolved mineral content (22-82 ppm) as a result of dilution by stream inflow off the Pre-Cambrian Shield. The large bays of the eastern arm are extremely deep (e.g. Christie Bay 614 m) and permafrost covers most of the north shore. This extremely oligotrophic lake has low standing planktonic crops, a limited benthic invertebrate community (six species), and sparse populations of fish. The short summer in this subarctic climate is reflected by the condensed two-week period of yearly growth in whitefish during August.
Watershed
Great Slave Lake receives much of its water from the Rocky Mountains via the Slave, Peace and Athabasca Rivers, as well as from the Taiga Plain.
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Citation
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Paul D. N. Hebert (Lead Author);Mark McGinley (Topic Editor) "Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth August 29, 2008; Last revised Date August 29, 2008; Retrieved May 24, 2013 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Slave_Lake,_Northwest_Territories>
The Authors
The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to improving the understanding of biodiversity at all scales, from the genetic to the macroecological. Based at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, BIO is host to more than 30 university faculty and their research groups representing a wide range of biological expertise. BIO also includes specialized support staff and unique research and outreach capabilities designed to foster both academi ... (Full Bio)
After receiving his Ph.D. in genetics at Cambridge University in 1972, Paul Hebert took up a Rutherford Fellowship at the University of Sydney. He returned to Canada in 1976, accepting a position at the University of Windsor where he was a professor in Biological Sciences and Director of the Great Lakes Institute. He moved to the University of Guelph in 1990 as Chair of the Department of Zoology. He has been a visiting professor at the Australian National University, the Czech Academy of Scienc ... (Full Bio)
Physical Attributes
- Altitude: 156 m above sea level
- Surface Area: 27,200 sq. km
- Mean Depth: 41 m
- Maximum Depth: 614 m
- Volume: 1,580 cu. km
- Shoreline Length: 3057 km
- Drainage Basin: 971,000 sq. km
General Description
Great Slave Lake is an enormous, complex body of water. It is the fourth largest lake in Canada and was formed as a result of glacial scouring. The lake has a large, open western basin and a narrow eastern arm with many islands. Great Slave Lake is drained by the MacKenzie River and has many inflows, of which the Slave River from Lake Athabasca is the largest. Each day in the summer, the Slave River dumps 54,000 metric tons of dissolved minerals and 36,000 metric tons of silt into the southern part of the main lake basin, which has a mineral content of 160 ppm. The eastern arm and northern shore of the main basin have a lower dissolved mineral content (22-82 ppm) as a result of dilution by stream inflow off the Pre-Cambrian Shield. The large bays of the eastern arm are extremely deep (e.g. Christie Bay 614 m) and permafrost covers most of the north shore. This extremely oligotrophic lake has low standing planktonic crops, a limited benthic invertebrate community (six species), and sparse populations of fish. The short summer in this subarctic climate is reflected by the condensed two-week period of yearly growth in whitefish during August.
Watershed
Great Slave Lake receives much of its water from the Rocky Mountains via the Slave, Peace and Athabasca Rivers, as well as from the Taiga Plain.
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(Source: Biodiversity Institute of Ontario)
(Source: Biodiversity Institute of Ontario)
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