Tagish Lake is a
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
in
Yukon
Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
and northern
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada. The lake is long and averages wide with an area of , about two thirds of which is in British Columbia.
The average depth is and maximum depth is .
It has two arms, the Taku Arm in the east which is very long and mostly in British Columbia and Windy Arm in the west, mostly in Yukon. The
Klondike Highway runs along Windy Arm south of Carcross.
Bennett Lake flows into Tagish Lake, so the northern portion of Tagish Lake was part of the route to the Klondike used by gold-seekers during the
Klondike Gold Rush.
The meteorite
On January 18, 2000, a
carbonaceous chondrite
Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small propo ...
meteorite
A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...
now known as "
Tagish Lake", fell on the frozen surface of the Taku Arm. A number of fragments were recovered and studied by researchers from the
University of Calgary
{{Infobox university
, name = University of Calgary
, image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
, former ...
,
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...
, and
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
; the meteorite currently resides in the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...
meteorite collection.
The name
The lake is named for the
Tagish people. ''Tagish'' means ''fish trap'' in the
Tagish language, an
Athabascan
Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...
language.
Other sources translate ''Tagish'' as "it (spring ice) is breaking up".
Fauna
Tagish lies in the path of migratory
swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
s that come every spring to wait out the melting of the more Northern Lakes.
Tagish is also home to the Southern Lakes with trophy fishing.
See also
*
List of lakes of British Columbia
This is an incomplete list of lakes of British Columbia, a province of Canada.
Larger lake statistics
*
List of lakes
1
*101 Mile Lake
*103 Mile Lake
*105 Mile Lake
*108 Mile Lake
A
*Adams Lake
*Albreda Lake
*Alouette Lake
*Alic ...
References
{{authority control
Atlin District
Lakes of British Columbia
Lakes of Yukon
Yukon River