Wollaston Lake

Wollaston Lake
NASA image of Wollaston Lake
Wollaston Lake Location of Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan
Location	northeastern Saskatchewan
Coordinates	58°15′N 103°20′W / 58.250°N 103.333°W / 58.250; -103.333Coordinates: 58°15′N 103°20′W / 58.250°N 103.333°W / 58.250; -103.333
Type	Glacial lake
Primary inflows	Geikie River
Primary outflows	Fond du Lac River,(10%) Cochrane River(90%)
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)
Settlements	Wollaston Lake, Saskatchewan
References
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Wollaston Lake is a lake in northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is 550 kilometres (340 mi) northeast of Prince Albert. With a surface area of 2286 km² (excluding islands; 2681 km² if islands are included), it is the largest bifurcation lake in the world that drains naturally in two directions.

The Fond du Lac River flows out of the lake to the northwest, where it drains into Lake Athabasca, which ultimately drains into the Arctic Ocean via the Mackenzie River system. The Cochrane River flows out of the northeastern side of the lake and into Reindeer Lake, which drains via the Churchill River system into Hudson Bay. If Hudson Bay is defined to be part of the Atlantic Ocean, and if the Arctic Ocean is not defined to be part of the Atlantic, then Wollaston Lake drains into two oceans. For similar cases see List of unusual drainage systems.

Wollaston Lake's main inflow is the Geikie River which flows from the southwest into the southwest section of the lake. If the aforementioned oceanic definitions are used, 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.” In 1807, Peter Fidler named the lake after George Hyde Wollaston.