Coal Lake is a long, sinuous lake located approximately 60 km (37.3 mi) southeast of the city of Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, just northeast of the city of Wetaskiwin. The lake is glacial meltwater channel from the last ice age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

.

The lake starts east of Kavanagh, Alberta

Kavanagh, Alberta

Kavanagh is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Leduc County. It is located on Highway 2A between Millet and Leduc, approximately south of Edmonton....

, and ends near Gwynne, Alberta

Gwynne, Alberta

Gwynne is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada within the County of Wetaskiwin No. 10. It is located on Highway 13, approximately east of Wetaskiwin.- References :...

. Coal Lake was named in 1892 by J.D.A. Fitzpatrick, a Dominion Land Surveyor

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

, for the coal beds present in many places along the northeast shore.