| Wollaston Lake | |
|---|---|
| |
 NASA image of Wollaston Lake | |
  Wollaston Lake Location of Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan  Wollaston Lake Wollaston Lake (Canada) | |
| Location | Northern Saskatchewan Administration District |
| Coordinates | 58°15′N 103°20′W / 58.250°N 103.333°W |
| Type | Glacial lake |
| Primary inflows | Geikie River |
| Primary outflows | Fond du Lac River (10%) Cochrane River (90%)[1] |
| Catchment area | 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Canada |
| Surface area | 2,681 km2 (1,035 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 20.6 m (68 ft) |
| Max. depth | 97 m (318 ft) |
| Water volume | 39.8 km3 (32,300,000 acre⋅ft) |
| Shore length1 | 1,475 km (917 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 398 m (1,306 ft) |
| Islands |
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| Settlements | Wollaston Lake |
| References | [2][3][4][5][6] |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Wollaston Lake[7] (Woods Cree: ᒌᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᓂᕽ, romanized: cîkahikan sâkahikanihk, lit. 'at hatchet/axe lake') is a lake in north-eastern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is about 550 kilometres (340 mi) north-east of Prince Albert. With a surface area of 2,286 square kilometres (883 sq mi) (excluding islands; 2,681 square kilometres (1,035 sq mi) if islands are included),[6] it is the largest bifurcation lake in the world – that is, a lake that drains naturally in two directions.[8]
About 10% of the lake's water drains into the Fond du Lac River, which flows out of the lake to the north-west, where it drains into Lake Athabasca, which ultimately drains into the Arctic Ocean via the Mackenzie River system. The rest of the water drains into the Cochrane River, which flows out of the north-eastern side of the lake and into Reindeer Lake, which drains via the Churchill River system into Hudson Bay.[1]
Wollaston Lake's main inflow is the Geikie River which flows from the south-west into the south-west section of the lake. If Hudson Bay is considered an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, then the Geikie is the largest river in the world to flow naturally into two oceans.
Wollaston Lake is also the largest lake entirely within Saskatchewan, although the Saskatchewanian portions of Lake Athabasca and Reindeer Lake are both larger.
Samuel Hearne learned of the lake in 1770 and David Thompson noted in 1796 the dual outlets as "perhaps without parallel in the world".[9] In 1807, Peter Fidler named the lake after William Hyde Wollaston.
The only settlement on its shores is also named Wollaston Lake. The settlement includes the northern hamlet of Wollaston Lake with a population of 129[10] and the adjacent village of Wollaston Post of the Hatchet Lake Dene Nation with a population of 1,251.[11][12][13]
