[4] The two lower basins are bracketed on either side by inundated tunnel valleys lying between "fingers" (narrow peninsulas) of land.

Through the eastern "finger" region (Singiit in Inuvialuktun), the lakes empty into Liverpool Bay, an arm of the Beaufort Sea.

[2] At Saunaktuk ("place of bones"),[6] a site in the western "finger" area,[7] remains of at least 35 Inuvialuit women, elderly and children were found dating to the 14th or 15th century.

The remains exhibited signs of violence and possibly cannibalism, and are consistent with Inuvialuit oral histories describing a Dene attack at that site.

Access to the area is more difficult in the summer after spring thaw,[9] but this is likely to change after the opening of the extension of the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk,[10] which passes near the western side of the southern lakes.