Peel River (Canada)
Peel River | |
---|---|
![]() Peel River, 1845 | |
![]() ![]() Location of mouth | |
Native name | Teetł'it Gwinjik |
Location | |
Country | Canada |
Territories | |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Ogilvie Mountains |
Mouth | Mackenzie River |
• location | Mackenzie Delta |
• coordinates | 67°0′0″N 134°59′3″W / 67.00000°N 134.98417°WCoordinates: 67°0′0″N 134°59′3″W / 67.00000°N 134.98417°W[1] |
Basin size | 73,600 km2 (28,400 sq mi)[2] |
Discharge | |
• location | Fort McPherson[3] |
• average | 691 m3/s (24,400 cu ft/s)[4] |
• minimum | 46.8 m3/s (1,650 cu ft/s) |
• maximum | 8,800 m3/s (310,000 cu ft/s) |
The Peel River (Teetł'it Gwinjik[5] in Gwich’in) is a tributary of the Mackenzie River in the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. Its source is in the Ogilvie Mountains in the central Yukon at the confluence of the and . Its main tributaries are:
- Ogilvie River
- Blackstone River
- Wind River (Yukon)
- Bonnet Plume River
- Snake River (Yukon)
The Peel River joins the Mackenzie in the Mackenzie Delta. However, a distributary of the Peel is the headwater for a channel that later collects distributaries of the Mackenzie. This means that a channel can be followed for a longer distance downriver until it, itself, disseminates into the shared delta. This arguably adds a greater length to the Peel River.
The Dempster Highway crosses it at Fort McPherson, via a ferry during the summer months and an ice bridge during the winter. The Peel River is a wilderness river and Fort McPherson is the only community along its banks. The Yukon part of the Peel Watershed is undergoing land use planning.
Steven Kokelj, a specialist in permafrost, has documented significant changes in the balance of dissolved ions in the river's water as the region's permafrost starts to melt.[6] Ions of elements like calcium and sulphur dissolve easily when the permafrost thaws.
See also[]
- List of longest rivers of Canada
- List of rivers of the Northwest Territories
- List of rivers of Yukon
References[]
- ^ "Peel River". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
- ^ "Canada Drainage Basins". The National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition. Natural Resources Canada. 1985. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
- ^ Peel River Above Fort McPherson (10MC002) – Hydrometric data from Environment Canada
- ^ Peel River Above Fort McPherson (10MC002) – Hydrometric data from Environment Canada
- ^ ANLC : Alaska Native Place Names
- ^
Meagan Wohlberg (2013-05-13). "Permafrost thaw changing chemistry of Peel River: Ancient sediments deposited for the first time affecting streams". Northern Journal. Archived from the original on 2014-08-18.
A new study by the NWT’s foremost expert on permafrost, Steven Kokelj, who works out of the NWT Geoscience Office, shows a very noticeable increase in the presence of certain ions over the last forty years as the area becomes more and more affected by permafrost thaw.
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- Rivers of the Northwest Territories
- Rivers of Yukon
- Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
- Borders of Yukon
- Borders of the Northwest Territories
- Tributaries of the Mackenzie River