The Great Lakes are one of the most valuable assets in the United States. They span across Canada’s border Canada and through eight states. They consist of five lakes: Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Huron, and Superior. They are the largest freshwater formation on Earth and contain 21,01% of the world’s freshwater surface. Lake Superior is the second-largest Lake in the world. Michigan is the most extensive Lake within the surface of a single country. Lake Erie is the warmest and shallowest, and Lake Huron has the longest shoreline. It is the largest of them all. Great Lakes are the region’s main transport, transition trade, and transit routes. They are also linked to the Atlantic Ocean by the St Lawrence River.
Three thousand islands are within the Great Lakes, and its water is home to more than 250 kinds of fish. The waters of the lakes can be used for drinking, providing more than 40 million people daily. For a long time, the Great Lakes were the main economic engine of the Midwest region of the United States, bringing around 15 percent of American GDP. Nearly 90% of the shoreline of the Lake is owned by private parties and not accessible to the general public.
Geography
Though the five lakes are in different basins, they make up an interconnected, natural body of freshwater in the Great Lakes Basin. As a series of rivers and lakes, they link the eastern-central interior and the interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet on the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southwards towards Erie, and northwards towards Lake Ontario. These lakes are a part of a vast area of the watershed through several rivers. They comprise approximately 35,000 islands. Additionally, there are many smaller lakes, commonly referred to as “inland lakes,” within the basin. [14]
Imagery: the Depth of The Great Lakes
When the seasons change, it’s only natural to experience outdoor activities to the fullest. The Great Lakes, a distinct geographic region between Canada and the U.S. and Canada, offers a huge opportunity for thousands of visitors to experience this each year.
Did you know that the Great Lakes contain 21% of the world’s freshwater supply by volume or 84 percent of freshwater on the surface within North America?
This bathymetric image, developed by Alex Varlamov, helps put the dimensions and deepness of the five Great Lakes into perspective.
The depth of Great Lakes, Compared
The top spot on this list is the world’s most expansive lakes. The Five Great Lakes account for more than 244,700 sq km (94,250 miles) in the total surface area. This is more than the total area of the United Kingdom.
Lake Superior is superior in terms of the total surface area, the volume of water, and both maximum and average depth.
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes and has the biggest surface area of any lake with fresh water around the globe. It has a total of three thousand cubic miles of freshwater, a figure that could be enough to fill all the Great Lakes plus three Lake Eries.
The average water depth of 500 feet in Superior may also rank as the deepest and coldest (1,332 feet) of the Great Lakes. The Lake extends about 350 miles from east to west and 160 miles from north-south, with the shoreline being nearly 2800 miles long. This drainage basin comprising 49,300 square miles covers Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario.
Most areas of the Superior basin are largely uninhabited and heavily forested, with very little agricultural activity due to the cold climate and poor soils.
Which Great Lake is the largest?
The biggest Great Lake of the five lakes is Lake Superior. Lake Superior has the deepest average depth, total depth, the longest shoreline, the largest surfaces, and the coldest temperature from Great Lake.
Lake Superior has an average depth of 492 feet. The lowest depth is 1,332 feet. It stretches for 350 miles from east to west and has 2,800 miles of shoreline and 3,000 cubic millimeters of water volume within. In reality, Lake Superior has so large a volume of water that you could fill all four lakes and Lake Erie three extra times.
Which is the deepest Lake on Earth?
When you look at the statistics on Lake Superior, it probably seems impossible to imagine there could be a bigger lake than Lake Superior! In reality, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world based on the surface area. There are similar lakes to Lake Superior in depth and quantity of water.
The Caspian Sea is, well it’s a sea! However, it’s classed as a lake because it meets all conditions. What distinguishes the Caspian Sea as unique is its salinity-rich, with around one-third of the salinity of the ocean. However, if you want to remain “technically” accurate, the Caspian Sea is the largest Lake on Earth by surface area and is the third-deepest Lake in the world.
LAKE ONTARIO
The smallest in the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario has a surface of 7,340 square miles. It has an average length of 193 statute miles and a width of 53 statute miles. The deepest part of Ontario Lake is 802 feet, and its average is 284 feet. The main water source for Lake Ontario comes from Lake Erie through the Niagara River, while its principal source is the St. Lawrence River. Like Lake Erie, Ontario has also been affected by negative overfishing and pollution of the water. The average temperature for the Lake is 65 degrees Fahrenheit.