MORE GEOGRAPHY: THE MACKENZIE RIVER

      So I've been thinking about Canadian rivers lately. The huge Mackenzie river runs into the Arctic ocean.

     The Mackenzie river is 1025 miles (1650 km) long. It leaves Great Slave lake which is a huge body of water.

     There are several very large rivers which join the Mackenzie. The Peace river which runs across northern Alberta is 1925 km long. It empties into Athabaska lake. The Bear River takes this water to Great Slave Lake. Another large river (The Peace) runs across northern Alberta and does the same as the Athabaska. It empties into lake Athabaska and then the Bear River takes it to Great Slave lake. 

   There are many smaller rivers in the system such as the Liard River and the Hay River. 

    So there's an enormous amount of water in the Mackenzie River running to the Arctic ocean. The Mackenzie river varies along it's path Sometimes it's very wide. At Point Separation where the Mackenzie delta starts the river is 10 miles wide. At this point the current slows down. The Mackenzie delta is vast and some of the islands very large as is Richards island.     

   This is a navigable river as northern freight is carried on huge barges. Just think about how much fuel is needed . Huge storage barrels are filled each summer. Today a road has been built to the Arctic coast but it is no way large enough for trucks to haul all the fuel needed.   

    Being a navigable river means that it is charted and dredging is done each season to be sure that there is a channel for tugs and barges.   

    Since the Mackenzie runs from south to north it has a crazy spring break up. Ice melts in the south and water begins to push north. So the water explosively breaks the ice and the river is full of ice. Lots of the ice is pushed up on shore. People try to be there when this happens but you have to be lucky to time it right.