longest river in canada This is the Mackenzie River. It is a river that has the largest basin in all of Canada and passes through both sparsely populated spectacular landscapes and more populated areas. Its characteristics are worth knowing because it is one of the most important rivers in North America.
In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the longest river in Canada, its origin, history, features and much more.
Main characteristics
The Mackenzie River flows from Great Slave Lake through northwestern Canada for 1,075 km, or 4,240 km if the Finley and Peace Rivers are included in the system. With a total area of ​​1,841,000 km2, the watershed is the largest in Canada. The river flows through sparsely populated areas with spectacular natural features and snowpack that cause widespread flooding during the snowmelt season.
The Mackenzie River flows primarily from southeast to northwest. The Liard, Peace, and Athabasca Rivers that form their headwaters irrigate the Forest Plain region of northeastern British Columbia and northern Alberta. Great Slave Lake, after crossing the Mackenzie River receives some short currents A channel flowing through the Canadian Shield on the right and the northern Rocky Mountains (or Rocky Mountains) on the left. The Great Bear and Athabasca lakes also belong to this system. After passing through the Northwest Territories, it empties into the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean.
Source and geography of Canada’s longest river
Canada’s longest river originates from Great Slave Lake, passes through northeastern Canada and It flows southeast through Inuvik and Fort Smith. The sources of the Mackenzie Rivers are the Liard, Peace, and Athabasca Rivers. These rivers irrigate the forested plains of northeastern British Columbia and northern Alberta.
Crossing Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River receives the above-mentioned tributaries on its right bank, in an area known as the Canadian Shield.
on its right side, The river that originates in the Rocky Mountains is its tributary., Lakes known as Big Bear Lake and Lake Athabasca are also part of the lake system that drains into the Mackenzie River.
The Mackenzie River runs through wooded areas for most of its length, cutting through sparsely populated boreal forests where fur trappers, Eskimos and illegal loggers live.
After crossing the Canadian Northwest Territories, the Mackenzie River empties into the Arctic Ocean, but first forms a delta in the Beaufort Sea between Alaska, the Canadian Northwest Territories, and the Yukon Territory.
Wealthy Governance and Economy
Although little is known about its position and only sporadic data have been collected at Fort Simpson and Nordman, its hydrologic behavior can be predicted with reasonable certainty. On the one hand, its mountain tributaries give it a neoglacial status, especially through its tributary the Liard, which has led to The flow is maximum in June and minimum in March., On the other hand, the presence of a large lake on the right bank with an area of ​​vast water reserves, resulting in a load effect (low seasonal fluctuations in flow), gives Canada’s longest river a pristine character among Arctic rivers. .
Available data confirms this. Since the difference between the maximum and minimum values ​​is 7,890 m3/s. From the few records available, it is estimated that its discharge into the estuary is about 15,000 m3/s. in flood season.
The river crosses areas covered with Udichya forest and sparsely populated areas. This is the territory of the Eskimos, fur trappers and loggers. Rich pitchblende deposits have recently been discovered near Great Bear Lake and uranium deposits have been found around Lake Athabasca, resulting in population centers.
Geology of the longest river in Canada
By the last Ice Age, about 30,000 years ago, much of northern Canada was largely buried under the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The enormous erosional forces of the Laurentide and its predecessors completely buried the Mackenzie Basin under miles of ice and flattened the eastern side of the basin to the greatest extent. When the last ice cap melted, left behind Lake McConnell, a 1,100 kilometer long post-glacial lake, Including Big Bear, Great Slave and Athabasca Lakes.
The current Mackenzie River is geologically very young: Its channel was not formed until a few thousand years ago, when the ice sheet had receded. Before the Ice Age, only one tributary of the Peel River flowed into the Arctic Ocean through the Mackenzie Delta. Other tributaries of the Mackenzie River join to form the Bell River, which flows east into Hudson Bay. During glacial periods, the weight of the ice sheet suppressed the topography of northern Canada to such an extent that as the ice receded, the Mackenzie system took over the low elevations in the northwest, causing the current direction of flow to be towards the North Pole. And got established.
River sediments and other evidence of erosion suggest that at the end of the Pleistocene, about 13,000 years ago, The Mackenzie Strait was drained by a flood of one or more large glacial lakes. Due to Lake Agassiz, west of the current Great Lakes formed by melting ice. This event is thought to have changed the currents in the Arctic Ocean, causing an abrupt change in temperature over 1,300 years, known as the Younger Dryas period.
The Mackenzie carries a large amount of sediment, sending about 128 million tons per year into its delta. The Liard River alone accounts for 32 percent of the total, and Peel River about 20 percent. Essentially all the sediment came from the area downstream of Fort Providence as the upstream sediment was trapped in Great Slave Lake.
I hope that with this information you can know more about the longest river in Canada and its features.
