Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River (French :Fleuve Mackenzie) originates in Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, and flows north into the Arctic Ocean. It is the longest river in Canada at 1738 kilometres (1080 mi) and, together with its headstreams the Peace and the Finlay, the second longest river in North America at 4241 kilometres (2635 mi) in length. The Mackenzie and its tributaries drain 1,805,200 square kilometers. Its mean discharge is 10,700 cubic metres per second.

History

The Mackenzie (previously Disappointment) River was named after Alexander Mackenzie, who traveled the river while trying to reach the Pacific Ocean in 1789. In the Dene languages it is called Deh Cho.

The Royal Canadian Mint honored the 200th anniversary of the naming of the Mackenzie River with the issue of a silver commemorative dollar in 1989.

Mallik methane hydrate field

In 2008, Canadian and Japanese researchers extracted a constant stream of natural gas from a test project at the Mallik methane hydrate field in the Mackenzie Delta. This was the second such drilling at Mallik: the first took place in 2002 and used heat to release methane. In the 2008 experiment, researchers were able to extract gas by lowering the pressure, without heating, requiring significantly less energy. The Mallik gas hydrate field was first discovered by Imperial Oil in 1971-1972.

Geography

The river is navigable for approximately five months of the year. It freezes over in October and the ice on the river breaks up in May. During the winter months, sections of the river are used as an ice road.

During the ice-free period the river is navigable over its entire length. Barge traffic from an intermodal hub at the railhead at Hay River serves much of the Western Arctic.

The divide between the Mackenzie basin and the basin of the Yukon River to the west forms the central portion of the boundary between Northwest Territories and the Yukon. One of river major tributaries, the Great Bear River drains Great Bear Lake and inflow in Mackenzie lower course.

Communities on the Mackenzie

From south to north the communities along the river are: Fort Providence
Jean Marie River
Fort Simpson
Wrigley
Tulita
Norman Wells
Fort Good Hope
Tsiigehtchic

Also in the Mackenzie delta are: Aklavik
Inuvik

Wildlife and vegetation

There are a variety of flora and fauna species within the Mackenzie River Basin. Some of the dominant trees are White Spruce, Engelmann Spruce and Black Spruce; for Black Spruce, this watershed is at the approximate northwest tip of that tree's distribution.

The large marshy delta of the Mackenzie River provides habitat for migrating Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, and Brant as well as breeding habitat for other waterfowl. The estuary is a popular birthing area for Beluga whales.

Tributaries

From origin to mouth, the Mackenzie River receives the waters of the following rivers:

Translation

The phrase "Mackenzie River" occurs as such in the following languages: English, German.

Translation(s) in other languages: Amharic: ማኬንዚ ወንዝ, Arabic: نهر ماكينزي, Bulgarian: Маккензи, Catalan: Riu Mackenzie, Czech: Mackenzie, Estonian: Mackenzie jõgi, Spanish: Río Mackenzie, Esperanto: Makenzio, Basque: Mackenzie, French: Mackenzie (fleuve), Galician: Río Mackenzie, Korean: 매켄지 강, Inuktitut: ᒫᑭᓐᓯ ᑰᒃ/maakinsi kuuk, Italian: Mackenzie, Hebrew: מקנזי (נהר), Swahili: Mto Mackenzie, Lithuanian: Makenzis, Lombard: Mackenzie, Dutch: Mackenzie (rivier), Japanese: マッケンジー川, Norwegian (Bokmål): Mackenzie (elv), Polish: Mackenzie (rzeka), Portuguese: Rio Mackenzie, Romanian: Fluviul Mackenzie, Russian: Макензи (река), Serbian: Макензи, Finnish: Mackenzie, Swedish: Mackenziefloden, Turkish: Mackenzie Nehri, Ukrainian: Макензі (річка), Chinese: 馬更些河.