Mackenzie River east into the Churchill River. The eastern portion of the Mackenzie basin is dominated by vast reaches of lake-studded boreal forest and includes many of the largest lakes in North America. By both volume and surface area, Great Bear Lake is the biggest in the watershed and third largest on the continent, with a surface area of and a volume of . Great Slave Lake is slightly smaller, with an area of and containing of water, although it is significantly deeper than Great Bear. The third major lake, Athabasca, is less than a third that size with an area of
Redknife River upstream from Jean Marie River. Redknife River The Redknife River is a river in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a major tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Redknife Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin was named for the river. The Redknife river originates in the "Redknife Hills", at an elevation of . It flows east down the slopes of the hill, then turns north, draws water from a lake system, then turns north-east. It is crossed by the Mackenzie Highway, then turns north and flows into the Mackenzie River at an elevation of ,