Lake Temagami

Lake Temagami
The lake with its many branches, bays and islands
Location	Temagami, Ontario
Coordinates	46°57′N 80°05′W / 46.950°N 80.083°W / 46.950; -80.083Coordinates: 46°57′N 80°05′W / 46.950°N 80.083°W / 46.950; -80.083
Part of	Lake Huron drainage basin
Primary inflows	Anima Nipissing River
Primary outflows	Temagami River
Basin countries	Canada
Max. length	47 km (29 mi)
Islands	ca. 1,259 (Temagami Island)

Lake Temagami, formerly spelled as Lake Timagami, is a lake in Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada, situated approximately 80 km north of North Bay. The lake's name comes from Te-mee-ay-gaming, which means "deep water by the shore" in the Ojibwa language.

The lake is irregularly shaped with long north, northeast and southwest arms, shorter northwest and south arms and several smaller bays. The town of Temagami is located at the end of the northeast arm of the lake. It extends almost 50 km from north to south and about 35 km from east to west. There are approximately 1,259 islands, the largest of which is Temagami Island. The lake's outflow is the Temagami River which in turn flows into the Sturgeon River. A number of peninsulas are associated with the lake, such as the McLean, Cynthia and Joan peninsulas, as well as Sand Point, which separates the Northwest Arm from the rest of the lake.

The lands surrounding the lake are part of the Canadian Shield, one of the largest single exposure of Precambrian rocks in the world which were formed after the Earth's crust cooled. Part of Lake Temagami lies in the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, an egg shaped geologic structure stretching from Lake Wanapitei in the west to Bear Island. It has striking similarities to the Sudbury Basin, which is one of the richest mining camps in the world. The hills in the Temagami area are remnants of the oldest mountain ranges in North America, that date back during the Precambrian era. These enormous mountains were taller than any that exist today. The uplifting was accomplished as enormous pressure caused the earth to buckle in a process called folding. Other processes, such as volcanic activity and geologic faulting in which the earth cracks open also contributed to the formation of these mountains. Over millions of years, these enormous mountains were gradually eroded to the land as we know it today in Temagami.