page_title: Lake Athabasca
section_title: Geography and natural history
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Athabasca / Geography and natural history
caption_attribution_description: Approximate extent of the Mackenzie River watershed Longest river in Canada, the Mackenzie River.
context_page_description: Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N. The lake is 26% in Alberta and 74% in Saskatchewan.
context_section_description: The lake covers 7,850 km² (3,030 sq mi), is 283 km (176 mi) long, has a maximum width of 50 km (31 mi), and a maximum depth of 124 m (407 ft), and holds 204 km³ (49 cu mi) of water, making it the largest and deepest lake in both Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the eighth largest in Canada. Water flows northward from the lake via the Slave River and Mackenzie River systems, eventually reaching the Arctic Ocean.
  Fort Chipewyan, one of the oldest European settlements in Alberta, is located on the western shore of the lake, where the Rivière des Rochers drains the lake and flows toward Slave River, beginning its northward journey along the eastern boundary of Wood Buffalo National Park. The eastern section of the lake narrows to a width of about 1 km (.6 miles) near the community of Fond du Lac located on the northern shore then continues to its most easterly point at the mouth of the Fond du Lac River.
  Fidler Point on the north shore of Lake Athabasca is named for Peter Fidler, a surveyor and map maker for the Hudson's Bay Company.
  Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca is a remnant of the vast Glacial Lake McConnell.
caption: Mackenzie River drainage basin showing Lake Athabasca's position south of Great Slave Lake
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