World Lakes

Lakes are freshwater bodies that are enclosed by land on all sides.

The primary difference between a lake and a river is that rivers are connected to another body of water—whether it be an ocean, a sea, a lake, or another river.

Lakes, however, have no place to go.There are countless lakes around the world.

Classification of lakes:

Lakes can be classified based on various criterion.

How lakes are formed:

The Ten Largest Lakes of the World:

Name, Location	Description
Caspian Sea(salt water)	Area (sq. mi): 152,239 Length (mi): 745 Depth (ft): 3,104
Superior, U.S.-Canada	Area (sq. mi): 31,820 Length (mi): 383 Depth (ft): 1,333
Victoria, Tanzania-Uganda	Area (sq. mi): 26,828 Length (mi): 200 Depth (ft): 270
Huron, U.S.-Canada	Area (sq. mi): 23,010 Length (mi): 247 Depth (ft): 750
Michigan, U.S.	Area (sq. mi): 22,400 Length (mi): 321 Depth (ft): 923
Aral, Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan	Area (sq. mi): 13,000 Length (mi): 266 Depth (ft): 223
Tanganyika, Tanzania-Congo	Area (sq. mi): 12,700 Length (mi): 420 Depth (ft): 4,708
Baikal, Russia	Area (sq. mi): 12,162 Length (mi): 395 Depth (ft): 5,712
Great Bear, Canada	Area (sq. mi): 12,000 Length (mi): 232 Depth (ft): 270
Nyasa, Malawi-Mozambique-Tanzania	Area (sq. mi): 11,600 Length (mi): 360 Depth (ft): 2,316

Uses of Lakes:

• Large lakes like the Great Lakes of North America provide a cheap and convenient form of transport for heavy and bulky goods such as coal, iron, machinery, grains and timber.
• Lakes of either natural or ar¬tificial origin are vital sources of domestic water supply to surrounding towns and industrial cities.
• In mountainous districts, lakes or man-made reservoirs are used to furnish a good head of water to generate hydro¬electric power.
• Salt lakes provide valuable rock salts.
• Some of the world’s best frequented holiday and health resorts are located on lakesides for example, Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne, etc

Interesting Facts:

• The Dead Sea in Israel is the world’s lowest lake at 1,371 feet below sea level.
• The highest lake in the world is Ojos del Salado at 20,965 feet high. It is located in a crater in the Andes Mountains on the border between Chile and Argentina.
• The largest lake in Europe is Lake Ladoga in Russia.
• A subglacial lake is a lake that is permanently covered by ice. The largest of these is Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
• Lakes can form in interesting different ways such as in the craters of volcanoes, by sinkholes in the ground, or even artificially by dams made by man.
• There are over 187,000 lakes in Finland giving the country the nickname The Land of the Thousand Lakes.