The Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park was created to protect the Athabasca sand dunes, a unique boreal shield ecosystem located in the far-north

Northern Saskatchewan Administration District The Northern Saskatchewan Administration District (NSAD) is the unincorporated area, unorganized area of the Canadian, Canada province of Saskatchewan. Overwhelmingly larger than the province's other communities, it encompasses approximately half ...

. The Athabasca sand dunes are the most northerly active

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

formations on Earth. It first came to attention that it should be a protected area in 1969, finally becoming the Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Wilderness Park on August 24, 1992. The park extends for 100 kilometres along the southern edge of

Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , "herethere are plants one after another") is located in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake ...

and lies within the

Athabasca Basin The Athabasca Basin is a region in the Canadian Shield of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. The basin i ...

of the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

. The sand dunes are 400 to 1,500 metres long, and their maximum height is approximately 30 metres. The park is accessible by float plane or boat only. The William River flows through the western section of the park ending in a large

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rare ...

. The McFarlane River flows through the far eastern section of the park. The park goes around the Fond du Lac 231 (First Nations Reserve) located on the McFarlane River. The

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

village of Fond du Lac is located 44 km (27 miles) by air from the park's eastern boundary.

Geology

The Athabasca sand dunes are estimated to be approximately 8,000 years old, formed near the end of the last glacial period. As glaciers receded, meltwater washed enormous quantities of sand,

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

and sediment from local sandstone into Lake Athabasca, whose water level was at the time much higher than currently. As the lake level declined to its modern depth, the large sand deposits were revealed. The sand dunes are quite unstable, being constantly shifted by winds, which push the dunes at the edges of the area into the surrounding forest. Evidence also suggests that fires have greatly influenced the winds shaping the dunes. Unlike the dunes closer to the lake, the southern dunes are in fact quite stable relative to other areas in the region. Geological features that can be found in the region include

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Ame ...

s and

beach ridge A beach ridge is a wave-swept or wave-deposited ridge running parallel to a shoreline. It is commonly composed of sand as well as sediment worked from underlying beach material. The movement of sediment by wave action is called ''littoral tran ...

s. In addition, portions of the Williams River in the region flow through braided channels in the sand. Some of the dune field is covered with

desert pavement A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cob ...

. The dunes are generally parabolic in shape. The sand almost completely covers the underlying sandstone deposits; the bedrock is around 20 metres below ground on average. The entire sandy region, including areas south of the dunes, serves as an enormous aquifer, which as a result significantly affects plant life and dune development.

Endemic flora

This area is home to rare and endemic plant species not found anywhere else. Some of the plants which may be found in this area are felt-leaved

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

(''Salix silicicola''), Mackenzie hairgrass (''Deschampsia mackenzieana''), Tyrrell's willow (''Salix planifolia tyrrellii''), and floccose tansy (''Tanacetum huronense'' var. floccosum).

Maps

* Mouth of the William River * Mouth of the McFarlane River
Map

References

External links

* * {{Saskatchewan parks Provincial parks of Saskatchewan Division No. 18, Saskatchewan Dunes of Canada Lake Athabasca Protected areas established in 1992 1992 establishments in Saskatchewan Northern Saskatchewan Administration District

Geology

Endemic flora

Maps

See also

References

External links