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Feb 12, 2018 · The Great Lakes is a series of five interconnected freshwater lakes located in North America. The lakes span across Canada and the United States. The five lakes, Lake Huron, Superior, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario form the largest freshwater hold of 21% of the Earth’s fresh water. They cover a combined area of 94,250 square miles and hold 5,439 ...
- Overview
- Geology
The Great Lakes are a chain of deep freshwater lakes in east-central North America comprising the lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.
How were the Great Lakes of North America formed?
The present configuration of the Great Lakes basin is the result of the movement of massive glaciers through North America, a process that began about one million years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch. The glaciers undoubtedly scoured existing valleys, widening and deepening them and radically changing the drainage of the area.
Which of the Great Lakes is the largest?
Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is also one of the world’s largest bodies of fresh water. It is 350 miles (563 km) long (east to west), and at its greatest width it is 160 miles (258 km) from north to south.
Where does water in the Great Lakes originate?
The age of the Great Lakes is still not definitely determined. Estimates range from 7,000 to 32,000 years of age. Water began filling the glacially scoured basins as soon as the ice receded, some 14,000 years ago. It is generally accepted that Lake Erie reached its present level about 10,000 years ago, Lake Ontario about 7,000 years ago, and Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior some 3,000 years ago.
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Unknown Waters
The present configuration of the Great Lakes basin is the result of the movement of massive glaciers through the mid-continent, a process that began about one million years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch. Studies in the Lake Superior region indicate that a river system and valleys formed by water erosion existed before the Ice Age. The glaciers undoubtedly scoured these valleys, widening and deepening them and radically changing the drainage of the area.
The last glaciation in North America is called the Wisconsin Glacial Stage because it left many fresh landforms and sediments in that state. As the ice sheet melted and receded about 14,000 years ago, the first segments of the Great Lakes were created. Lake Chicago, in what is now the southern Lake Michigan basin, and Lake Maumee, in present-day western Lake Erie and its adjacent lowlands, originally drained southward into the Mississippi River through the Illinois and Wabash drainages, respectively. As the ice retreat continued, Lake Maumee was drained into Lake Chicago through a valley that now contains the Grand River in Michigan. Eventually, drainage to the east and into the Atlantic Ocean was established, at one time down the valleys of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers and then along the course of the upper St. Lawrence River. At one high-water stage, the waters of the Huron and Michigan basin formed one large lake—Lake Algonquin. At the same time, Lake Duluth, in the western Lake Superior basin, also drained to the Mississippi.
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Sep 7, 2021 · Amazingly, a single lake holds as much fresh water as all the Great Lakes combined – Lake Baikal. This rift lake in Siberia has a maximum depth of 5,371ft (1,637m). For comparison, the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior) is only 25% as deep, with a maximum depth of 1,333ft (406m). Lake Baikal is unique in a number of other ways too.
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, described as "the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades", was funded at $475 million in the U.S. federal government's Fiscal Year 2011 budget, and $300 million in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. Through the program a coalition of federal agencies is making grants to local and state entities ...
- 60–480 ft (18–146 m) depending on the lakes
- 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km³) (lowest)
- 210–1,300 ft (64–396 m) depending on the lakes
- Eastern North America
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Jun 30, 2017 · published 30 June 2017. The Great Lakes — Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Erie — make up the largest body of fresh water on Earth, accounting for one-fifth of the freshwater surface on ...
May 14, 2024 · Lake Superior, most northwesterly and largest of the Great Lakes of North America and one of the world’s largest bodies of fresh water. It is 350 miles (563 km) long (east to west), and its greatest width is 160 miles (258 km) from north to south. It has a maximum depth of 1,332 feet (406 meters).
