List of lakes of Alberta facts for kids

BC

AB

SK

MB

ON

QC

NB

PE

NS

NL

YT

NT

NU

Peyto Lake from lookout

Lake Agnes

Amethyst Lakes & ramparts

Barrier Lake

Bow Lake

Cold Lake

Fish Lakes (1 of 2)

Glacier Lake

Glenmore Reservoir

Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes

Lesser Slave Lake

Lake Louise

Maligne Lake

Lake Minnewanka

Moose Lake

Ice fishing on Pigeon Lake

Vermilion Lakes

Waterton Lake

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.

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:

• 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 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) 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 7,850 km² (3,030 sq mi) lake has 2,295 km² (886 sq mi) of its surface area in Alberta and 5,555 km² (2,145 sq mi) in Saskatchewan.

The largest lake completely within Alberta is Lake Claire, at 1,436 km² (554 sq mi). 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 100 km² (39 sq mi).

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.

See also

• List of Alberta rivers
• Geography of Alberta