Fun facts about lakes

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and depth after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

From the “Hydrology” section

Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water residence time.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Superior is a lake in central North America. The northernmost, westernmost, and highest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior straddles the Canada–United States border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Minnesota to the west and Michigan and Wisconsin to the south.

From the “Name” section

Lake Turkana is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, predominantly in northern Kenya; the far northern end crosses into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake.

From the “Toponymy” section

Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg.

From the “Geological history” section

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately 59,947 km2 (23,146 sq mi), Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after Lake Superior in North America.

From the “Names” section

Lake Onega is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic Sea, and is the second-largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga, slightly smaller than Lebanon.

From the “Topography and hydrography” section

The Dead Sea, also known by other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

From the “Names” section

Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. It is also the 6th largest lake by area.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Maracaibo is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as an estuary and/or semi-enclosed bay connected to the Gulf of Venezuela.

From the “Geology” section

Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua. Of tectonic origin and with an area of 8,264 km2 (3,191 sq mi), it is the largest fresh water lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the tenth largest in the Americas, slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca.

From the “Lake ecology” section

Issyk-Kul or Ysyk-Köl is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan—just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleventh-largest lake in the world by volume, and the second-largest saline lake.

From the “Geography” section

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea.

From the “Physical characteristics” section

Lake Volta, the largest artificial reservoir in the world based on surface area, is contained behind the Akosombo Dam which generates a substantial amount of Ghana's electricity. It is completely within the country of Ghana and has a surface area of 8,502 square kilometres (3,283 sq mi).

From the “Geography” section

The Aral Sea was an endorheic salt lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by 2007. It was in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhstan and the Karakalpakstan autonomous region of Uzbekistan.

From the “Formation” section

Great Bear Lake in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest lake entirely in Canada, the fourth-largest in North America, and the eighth-largest in the world.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast.

From the “Geography and hydrography” section

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada, the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), and the tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It is 469 km (291 mi) long and 20 to 203 km wide.

From the “History” section

Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Winnipeg is a 24,514-square-kilometre (9,465-square-mile) lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about 55 kilometres north of the namesake city, Winnipeg.

From the “Hydrography” section

Lake Titicaca is a large lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. It is often listed as a freshwater lake, though its waters are slightly brackish.

From the “Overview” section

Lake Albert, originally known as Lake Mwitanzige by the Banyoro, Nam Ovoyo Bonyo by the Alur, and temporarily as Lake Mobutu Sese Seko, is a lake located in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is Africa's sixth-largest lake and the second biggest of Uganda's Great Lakes.

From the “Geography” section

Lake Athabasca is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is about 26% in Alberta and 74% in Saskatchewan.

From the “Toponymy” section