This is a list of lakes of Alberta, Canada.
Most of Alberta's lakes were formed during the last glaciation, about 12,000 years ago. There are many different types of lakes in Alberta, from glacial lakes in the Canadian Rockies to small shallow lakes in the prairies, brown water lakes in the northern boreal forest and muskeg, kettle holes and large lakes with sandy beaches and clear water in the central plains.
Distribution of the lakes throughout the province of Alberta is irregular, with many water bodies in the wet boreal plains in the north, and very few in the semi-arid Palliser's Triangle in the southeast. __TOC__
River basins Most of Alberta's waters are drained in a general north or northeastern direction, with six major rivers forming four major watersheds collecting the water and removing it from the province:Alberta Environment - Alberta's River Basins The Peace River and Athabasca River flow north and east, meeting in the massive Peace–Athabasca Delta, eventually feeding the Mackenzie River in south-central Northwest Territories and draining into the Arctic Ocean The North and South Saskatchewan Rivers flow east and form the Saskatchewan River in central Saskatchewan, flowing into Lake Winnipeg, which drains into Hudson Bay on the Arctic/North Atlantic oceans There is an endorheic area between the North and South Saskatchewan basins, the Sounding Creek system, where most of the water drains to Manitou Lake (not to be confused with the more famous Little Manitou Lake) and evaporates. The smaller Beaver River in east-central Alberta flows east into the Churchill River in north-central Saskatchewan and then drains into Hudson Bay The smaller Milk River in southeast Alberta flows south into the Missouri River in northeastern Montana, which joins the Mississippi River and drains into the Gulf of Mexico
As with other basins on the planet, the topographical highlights in the drainage divides between these basins can be difficult to discern. For example, there is little elevation change in the short of land between Lac la Biche and Beaver Lake, yet the former is in a watershed that drains north into the Arctic Ocean, while the latter is in a watershed that drains east into Hudson Bay.
Largest lakes Lake Athabasca is the largest lake in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. This lake has of its surface area in Alberta and in Saskatchewan.
The largest lake completely within Alberta is Lake Claire, at . Lake Claire is just west of Lake Athabasca, with both located in the remote Peace-Athabasca Delta.
This section provides a list of lakes of Alberta with an area larger than . Alberta lakes larger than LakeArea (including islands)ElevationDepth max. Volume Lake Athabasca Lake Claire Lesser Slave Lake Bistcho Lake Cold Lake Utikuma Lake Lac la BicheBeaverhill LakeCalling Lake Pakowki Lake Winefred Lake
List of lakes This section provides a list of numerous lakes of Alberta, including the "large" ones shown in the previous section.
Note that the lakes are listed alphabetically by their main name, dropping any leading "lake", "lac", "lac la", "upper/lower", "north/south". For example, Lac la Nonne (the nun lake) is entered under "N". If desired, using the table sort function will give the list sorted by the leading word.
Lake Watershed Basin Area (km2) Remarks Abraham LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay53.7 man-made reservoirAdolphus LakeSmoky RiverArctic Ocean0.18a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeLake AgnesBow RiverHudson Bay0.52 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeAmisk LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay5.3 Angle LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay Lake AnnetteAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeLake AthabascaSlave RiverArctic Ocean 7,850 two thirds in SaskatchewanBaptiste LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean9.8 Barreyre Lake • • • • Barrier LakeKananaskis RiverHudson Bay 2.6 man-made reservoirBattle LakeBattle RiverHudson Bay4.6 Baxter Lakes • • • • Bearhills LakeBattle RiverHudson Bay Beauvais LakeOldman RiverHudson Bay0.9 Beauvert LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean0.4 Beaver LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay33.1 Beaverhill Lake North Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay139 Beaverhill Natural Area is part of Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.Lac la BicheBeaver RiverHudson Bay236 Big LakeSturgeon RiverHudson Bay21.4 Bistcho LakePetitot RiverArctic Ocean426 Bonnie LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay3.77 Bourgeau Lake Bow LakeBow RiverHudson Bay3.21 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeBrander Lake • • • • Brokenleg Lake • • • • Buck LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay25.4 Brûlé LakeAthabasca River Arctic Ocean14.5 lake is formed along the Athabasca RiverBuffalo LakeRed Deer RiverHudson Bay93.5 Calling Lake Athabasca RiverArctic Ocean134 Cardinal LakePeace River Arctic Ocean50 Chester LakeSpray RiverHudson Bay0.51 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeChestermere LakeBow RiverHudson Bay2.7 man-made reservoirChip LakeLobstick RiverArctic Ocean73 Christina LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean21.3 Lake Claire Peace RiverArctic Ocean1,436 largest lake completely in AlbertaCoal LakeBattle RiverHudson Bay10.9 ribbon lakeCold LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay373 partly in SaskatchewanCrawling Valley ReservoirSouth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay25.1 man-made reservoirDowling Lake • • • •Driedmeat LakeBattle River Hudson Bay16.5 ribbon lakeElbow LakeElbow RiverHudson Bay0.53 Elkwater Lake South Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay2.31 Ethel Lake Cold River Hudson Bay Ewing Lake • • • •Formby Lake • • • •Frank LakeSouth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay43.74 Gadsby Lake • • • •Ghost Lake Bow RiverHudson Bay 11.6 man-made reservoirGlacier Lake North Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay 2.5 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeGleniffer Lake Red Deer River Hudson Bay 17.6 man-made reservoirGlenmore Reservoir Elbow RiverHudson Bay3.8 man-made reservoirGull Lake Red Deer River Hudson Bay80.6 Headwall LakesKananaskis River Hudson Bay0.66 contributing headwater mountain glacial lakes (0.45+0.21 km2)Hector LakeBow RiverHudson Bay5.23 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeHidden Lake Bow River Hudson Bay0.4 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeHoselaw LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay0.4 Hutch Lake • • • • Ipiatik Lake • • • • Isle LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay23 known locally as Lake IsleJessie LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay5.5 Kinikinik LakePeace RiverArctic Ocean Lower Kananaskis LakeKananaskis RiverHudson Bay6.0 original lake expanded as man-made reservoirUpper Kananaskis LakeKananaskis River Hudson Bay8.4 original lake expanded as man-made reservoirLessard Lake • • 3.21 •Lesser Slave LakeLesser Slave RiverArctic Ocean1,160 second largest lake completely in AlbertaLake Louise Bow River Hudson Bay0.8 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeMaligne LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean19.7 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeLower Mann LakeBeaver River closed basin5.10Upper Mann LakeBeaver River closed basin4.59McGregor LakeBow RiverHudson Bay51.4 reservoirMedicine LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean3.7 Milk ReservoirMilk RiverGulf of Mexico 14 man-made reservoirLake MinnewankaBow RiverHudson Bay21.5 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lake enlarged by damMoose LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay40.8 Moraine LakeBow RiverHudson Bay0.5 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakeMuriel Lake Beaver Riverclosed basin64.1 Musreau Lake Kakwa River Hudson Bay 5.49 Nakamun Lake Toad Creek Hudson Bay 3.54 Lake NewellBow RiverHudson Bay66.4 man-made reservoirLac la Nonne Pembina River Arctic Ocean 12.28 Pakowki LakeMilk RiverGulf of Mexico 123.7 largest lake in Southern AlbertaPeerless Lake Peace RiverArctic Ocean82.6 Peyto LakeMistaya River Hudson Bay1.4 a contributing headwater mountain glacial lakePigeon Lake Battle River Hudson Bay96.7 Pinehurst LakeSand RiverHudson Bay40.7 Primrose LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay17.7 most of the lake's surface area is located in Saskatchewan.Pyramid LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean1.2 Rattlesnake LakeSouth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay10.7 Red Deer LakeBattle RiverHudson Bay 21 Lac Sante Hudson Bay Saskatoon LakePeace RiverArctic Ocean7.47 Sikome LakeBow RiverHudson Bay0.4 man-made recreation lake in CalgarySkeleton LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay7.89 Sounding LakeBattle RiverHudson Bay alkali lake that is part of the Manitou Lake endorheic basinSpray Lakes Bow RiverHudson Bay19.9 man-made reservoir that was previously a string of lakes Lac Ste. AnneNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay54.5 Sauer Lake • • • •Steele Lake Athabasca RiverArctic Ocean6.61 formerly named Cross Lake because of its shapeSturgeon LakeSmoky RiverArctic Ocean49.1 Sullivan LakeRed Deer RiverHudson Bay77 Sylvan LakeRed Deer RiverHudson Bay42.8 Telford LakeNorth Saskatchewan River Hudson Bay13Thunder LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean7.03 Touchwood LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay29 Tucker Lake • • 6.65 •Twin Lake • • 24ha •Utikuma LakePeace RiverArctic Ocean295 Vermilion LakesBow RiverHudson Bay0.48 a string of three lakes along the Bow RiverWabamun LakeNorth Saskatchewan RiverHudson Bay81.8 North Wabasca LakeWabasca River Arctic Ocean101.4South Wabasca LakeWabasca River Arctic Ocean61.6 Waterton LakeOldman RiverHudson Bay11.6 partly in MontanaWillow LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean 25.8 Winagami LakeAthabasca RiverArctic Ocean 46.7 Winefred LakeClearwater RiverArctic Ocean122.8 Wizard LakeNorth Saskatchewan River Hudson Bay2.48 Wolf LakeBeaver RiverHudson Bay31.5 Zama LakeHay RiverArctic Ocean55.5
See also
List of Alberta rivers Geography of Alberta
References