![]() ![]() ![]() Vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered "upbound" even though they are sailing toward its effluent current. This corresponds to thinking of lakes Erie and Ontario as "down south" and the others as "up north". Sailors of bulk freighters transferring cargoes from Lake Superior and northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to ports on Lake Erie or Ontario commonly refer to the latter as the lower lakes and Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior as the upper lakes. Those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as "the lower lakes", because they are farther south. United States Environmental Protection Agency Īs the surfaces of Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie are all approximately the same elevation above sea level, while Lake Ontario is significantly lower, and because the Niagara Escarpment precludes all natural navigation, the four upper lakes are commonly called the "upper great lakes". The area of each rectangle is proportionate to the volume of each lake. New York and Wisconsin's jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and each of the remaining states into one of the lakes.īathymetry Relative elevations, average depths, maximum depths, and volumes of the Great Lakes. Both the province of Ontario and the state of Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes: The province of Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, and the state of Michigan does not border Lake Ontario. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. ![]() Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that is entirely within the United States the others form a water boundary between the United States and Canada. The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the surface area of the entire basin (the lakes and the land they drain) is about the size of the UK and France combined. There are also several thousand smaller lakes, often called "inland lakes", within the basin. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers and contain approximately 35,000 islands. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, and finally northward to Lake Ontario. As a chain of lakes and rivers, they connect the east-central interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. Though the five lakes lie in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. Left to right they are: Superior (magenta) Michigan (cyan) Huron (green) Erie (yellow) Ontario (red). Geography A map of the Great Lakes Basin showing the five sub-basins. The surrounding region is called the Great Lakes region, which includes the Great Lakes Megalopolis. The lakes have been a major source for transportation, migration, trade, and fishing, serving as a habitat to many aquatic species in a region with much biodiversity. The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the Last Glacial Period around 14,000 years ago, as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land, which then filled with meltwater. Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. Depending on how it is measured, by surface area, either Lake Superior or Lake Michigan-Huron is the second-largest lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake. Because of their sea-like characteristics, such as rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant horizons, the five Great Lakes have long been called inland seas. The total surface is 94,250 square miles (244,106 km 2), and the total volume (measured at the low water datum) is 5,439 cubic miles (22,671 km 3), slightly less than the volume of Lake Baikal (5,666 cu mi or 23,615 km 3, 22–23% of the world's surface fresh water). The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and are second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes. Hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are a single body of water joined at the Straits of Mackinac. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario and they are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the east-central interior of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. Location of the Great Lakes in North America Lawrence River to the Atlantic OceanĦ0–480 ft (18–146 m) depending on the lakesĢ10–1,300 ft (64–396 m) depending on the lakes Now: rivers, precipitation, and groundwater springsĮvaporation, St. ![]()
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