The Utukok River (
Iñupiaq: ''Utuqqaq'') is a long stream in the
North Slope Borough
The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest city i ...
of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
.
It rises in the
De Long Mountains
The De Long Mountains are a mountain range in the North Slope Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The range is located at the west end of the Brooks Range and extends west from Uivaksak Creek and the head of the Kuna River
Kuna may refer to:
...
at the confluence of Kogruk and Tupik creeks and flows north, northeast, and then northwest.
It empties into
Kasegaluk Lagoon
The Kasegaluk Lagoon ( Iñupiaq: ''Qasigialik'') is a coastal lagoon located in the western part of the North Slope of Alaska. It is separated from the Chukchi Sea by a series of long, thin barrier islands that stretch south and north-east f ...
on the
Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean, southwest of
Icy Cape.
It is the breeding ground for Arctic Caribou and various birds.
''Utuqqaq'', meaning ''old'' or ''ancient'', is the
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
name for Icy Cape.
Variant names used for the river in the 19th century included "Utukak" and "Ootokok".
See also
*
List of rivers of Alaska
This is a List of rivers in Alaska, which are at least fifth-order according to the Strahler method of stream classification, and an incomplete list of otherwise-notable rivers and streams. Alaska has more than 12,000 rivers, and thousands more st ...
References
Rivers of North Slope Borough, Alaska
Rivers of Alaska
Drainage basins of the Chukchi Sea
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