Lake Chelan
| Lake Chelan | |
|---|---|
Lake Chelan with Stehekin on the lower left corner of picture.
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| Location |
Chelan County, Washington, United States |
| Coordinates | 47°50′28″N 120°02′47″W / 47.84111°N 120.04639°WCoordinates: 47°50′28″N 120°02′47″W / 47.84111°N 120.04639°W |
| Type | Fjord |
| Primary inflows | Stehekin River, Railroad Creek |
| Primary outflows | Chelan River |
| Catchment area | 924 sq mi (2,390 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 50.5 mi (81.3 km) |
| Surface area | 52.1 sq mi (135 km2) Average width: 1.8 mi (2.9 km) |
| Average depth | 474 ft (144 m) |
| Max. depth | 1,486 ft (453 m) |
| Water volume | 15,800,000 acre feet (1.95×1010 m3) |
| Residence time | 10.6 years |
| Shore length1 | 109.2 mi (175.7 km) |
| Surface elevation | 1,100 ft (340 m) |
| Settlements | see #Cities |
| References | |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Chelan is a narrow, 50.5 miles (81.3 km) long lake in Chelan County, north-central Washington state, U.S. It is the largest natural lake in the state by any measure. Upon the completion of Lake Chelan Dam in 1927, the elevation of the lake was increased by 21 feet (6.4 m) to its present maximum-capacity elevation of 1,100 feet (340 m). Two communities lie on the southern end of the lake, and a third sits at the far north end, providing a gateway to the North Cascades National Park.
The name Chelan is a Salish Indian word, "Tsi - Laan," meaning 'Deep Water'.
On an annual basis, an average of 2,200 cf per second flow into the lake. Approximately seventy-five percent of the water that flows into the lake comes from two tributaries. The Stehekin River alone contributes 65% of all water to Lake Chelan, averaging 1,041 cf per second annually. The other major tributary, Railroad Creek, averages 202 cf per second annually. The remaining water is added via a number of smaller tributaries as well as direct rain and snowfall.
With a maximum depth of 1,486 feet (453 m), Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the United States, and the 28th deepest in the world. At its deepest, the lake bottom is 388 feet (118 m) below sea level. The total watershed of the lake is a modest 924 square miles (2,390 km2) More than 90% of the watershed is forested land. The remainder of the basin is composed of the lake itself (5.6%) and agriculture (3.5%).
Lake Chelan is composed of two basins. The lower basin, Wapato, is shallower and approximately a fourth the total length of the lake. The upper basin, Lucerne, is much deeper and extends for the remainder of the length of the lake. The two basins are separated by a sill rising to within 122 feet of the surface, at a point known as the narrows, at which the lake is only 0.35 miles (0.56 km) wide. The two basins were created by two independent glaciers that met and then formed the sill when they retreated. First, the Chelan glacier came down from the Stehekin valley and scoured the valley, potentially as far as the Columbia River. Later, the Okanogan lobe came up the Chelan Valley as far as Wapato Point. As the Okanogan lobe retreated, it left huge amounts of debris in the valley originally scoured by the Chelan glacier.
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Wikipedia