Geikie River is a river in the northern part of the
Canadian province
Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...
of
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
.
The river's source is
Costigan Lake, which is near the uranium producing areas around the
Key Lake mine
The Key Lake mine is a former uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is north of Saskatoon by air on the southern rim of the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin. Key Lake was initially developed to open-pit mine two nearby uranium ore deposits: the ...
in the
Athabasca Basin
The Athabasca Basin is a region in the Canadian Shield of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium.
The basin i ...
. It flows in a north-easterly direction and flows into
Wollaston Lake
Wollaston Lake () is a lake in the north-eastern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is about north-east of Prince Albert. With a surface area of (excluding islands; if islands are included), it is the largest bifurcation lake ...
.
As the primary inflow of Wollaston Lake, the largest natural
bifurcation lake
A lake bifurcation occurs when a lake (a ''bifurcating lake'') has Outflow (hydrology), outflows into two different drainage basins. In this case, the drainage divide cannot be defined exactly, as it is situated in the middle of the lake.
Exampl ...
in the world, the Geikie River's most unusual feature is that it straddles a major
drainage divide
A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a single ...
which separates waters flowing into
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...
from those flowing into the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
.
From Wollaston Lake, waters from the Geikie River can flow into either the
Fond du Lac River which flows out of the lake to the north-west where it drains into
Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...
which ultimately drains into the Arctic Ocean via the
Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...
system, or into the
Cochrane River which flows out of the north-eastern side of the lake and into
Reindeer Lake which drains via the
Churchill River system into Hudson Bay. If Hudson Bay is defined as part of the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
then the Geikie River is the largest river in the world that drains naturally into two oceans.
Geikie River Recreation Site
Geikie River Recreation Site (), also called Geikie River Campground, is a
provincially run park on the north side of the Geikie River, near its
mouth
A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...
. The campground features eight free campsites, a boat launch, and a fish cleaning station. It is located along
Highway 905 at the highway's 184-kilometre mark, south of
Wollaston Lake Landing and north of the community of
Southend
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...
.
See also
*
List of rivers of Saskatchewan
This is a list of rivers of Saskatchewan, a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada.
The largest and most notable rivers are listed at the start, followed by rivers listed by drainage basin and then alphabetically.
Principa ...
*
Hudson Bay drainage basin
The Hudson Bay drainage basin is the drainage basin in northern North America where surface water empties into the Hudson Bay and adjoining waters. Spanning an area of about and with a mean discharge of about , the basin is almost entirely wi ...
References
External links
Geikie River description from Big Sandy Lake to Wollaston Lake
{{Authority control
Rivers of Saskatchewan
Tributaries of Hudson Bay