The Yukon and the Mackenzie: Large Arctic Rivers of North America

Large rivers of the North American arctic and subarctic remain among the least-altered large rivers in the world, and thus provide opportunities that no longer exist within temperate latitudes to investigate and understand large-river process and form in the absence of human manipulations. The Mackenzie and Yukon Rivers are the largest arctic/subarctic rivers in North America. Although the large arctic and subarctic rivers of North America have historically experienced much less alteration by humans than the large arctic and subarctic rivers of Eurasia, there have been anthropogenic impacts on the Yukon and Mackenzie drainage basins. The Yukon and the Mackenzie share distinctive physical traits related to the presence of permanently frozen ground and seasonal freezing of the river surface. Their differences reflect the geological structure and glacial history of each river basin.