25 Amazing Facts You Should Know About Lakes | Amazing Facts 4U
- Lake water can be salty or fresh. The difference between a lake and a sea is that a sea is open to the ocean and at “sea level”. Lakes don’t have a direct outlet to the sea and so can be above or below sea level.
- The largest lake in the world is the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. It is amazing 3,363 feet deep. The Caspian Sea has the characteristics of being both a sea and a lake. The saltwater sea used to be connected to the world’s oceans but became landlocked around 5.5 million years ago. It is often classed as a lake due to the definition of a lake which would make it the largest lake in the world at 370,400 km² (143,244 mi²). It has three times the volume of Lake Baikal next largest.
- Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world with an amazing depth of 1,642 meters (5,387 ft) located in Siberia, Russia. It’s also the world’s largest lake by volume and the second longest lake in the world. It contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined. The bottom of the lake lies 1,186.5 meters below sea level. Amazingly it is more than 25 million years old making it the oldest lake in the world.
- Lake Baikal is also saturated with a lot of methane, so when the lake melts it forms amazing geometrically perfect circles. These circles appear every spring, the largest of them being more than 2 miles in diameter. They could be so big that they are only visible from space.
- Located on the border of the United States and Canada are the Great Lakes of North America. They include 5 lakes: Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario, and Superior which together contain around 21% of the world’s fresh water supply. The Great Lakes shoreline is equal to almost 44 percent of the circumference of the Earth.
- Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lake and also has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in the world at 82,000 km² (31,700 mile²). It is 1,330 feet deep.
- Amazing fact is that Canada is estimated to have around 2 million lakes.
- Finland has the nickname “Land of the Thousand Lakes” as there are amazing 187,000 lakes in the country.
- It’s amazing that nearly all of the 50000 lakes in Ohio are man-made.
- The lowest lake in the world is the Dead Sea that borders Israel and Jordan. The surface level of which is 418 mtrs (1,371 ft) below sea level. The water from the Dead sea is 9 times saltier than the ocean. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometers (42 mi) long and 18 kilometers (11 mi) wide at its widest point. The high salinity makes it impossible for life to form with the exception of a very few bacteria and fungi. Amazing fact is that strong buoyancy doesn’t allow person to swim underwater and person can’t drown. Amazingly boats can’t sail.
- The highest lake in the world is the crater lake of Ojos del Salado at 6,390 m (20,965 ft) above sea level. The mountain lake sits on the border of Chile and Argentina. The Lhagba Pool in Tibet at 6,368 m (20,892 ft) comes second.
- The longest lake in the world is Lake Tanganyika in Africa at 660 km (410 mi). It is also the 2nd deepest.
- In Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada , there is a 38-acre natural phenomenon called Spotted Lake. It contains one of the world’s highest concentrations of minerals. When water dries up lake is amazingly converted to many small ponds connected by mineral pathways.
- Lake Hillier (Pink lake) in Western Australia . The water itself is really pink! It is really amazing in that it’s color is not derived from beta-carotene released by an algae when light penetrates the water; which is actually the case for pink Lake Retba in Africa and the other pink lake in Western Australia . These two lakes derive its color from the red pigment being produced by Dunaliella Salina and Halobacteria that use sunlight to create more energy. Unlike these two, the pink water of Lake Hillier is permanent . Scientists are still unable to find the cause for this amazing pink color.
- Jellyfish Lake is located in Palau. Because of the isolation from the ocean and low population of predators, the golden jellyfish that live there thrive and reproduce at an amazing rate. Millions of jellyfish migrate from one side of the lake to the other, and back each day as a giant swarm.
- Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia sits at the highest navigable point above sea level of any lake in the world; and is, by volume, the largest lake in South America.
- Speckled with white borax isles, the Laguna Colorada is a shallow salt lake in southwest Bolivia. It is red in color due to sediments and pigmented algae.
- Pitch Lake, the biggest nature-made deposit of asphalt in the world, is located in La Brea, Trinidad.
- Located in a national Park in Kenya, Lake Nakuru lake boasts an abundance of blue-green algae, which attracts a myriad of pretty pink flamingos. Having over 400 resident bird species, it still remains one of the greatest bird-watching spots on earth.
- Bubbling with grayish-blue water, the Boiling Lake is located in National Park on the Caribbean island of Dominica. It is the second largest hot spring in the world. Actually, only a whirlpool in the center is boiling, but the water near the shores reaches amazing 160-190 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Crater Lake is located in Oregon. It has no inlets or tributaries, the waters of Crater Lake are considered one of the world’s most clearest. It was formed by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Its deepest point has been measured at 1,949 feet (594 m) deep, making it the deepest lake in the United States.
- Plitvice Lakes (Croatia) are Sixteen Lakes interconnected by Spectacular Waterfalls set in a deep woodland and populated by wild life. A World Heritage Site, the lakes are renowned for their distinctive amazing colours, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colours change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.
- Biwa Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Japan.
- Atitlan Lake, Lago Guatemala is the deepest lake in South America is resting in the lap of three different volcanoes. Blue and clear, a mirror of the sky, it is perhaps one of the most picturesque hiking places in the world . Area all around it is a Guatemala national park.
- Only one world other than Earth is known to harbor lakes, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Called Kraken Mare it is a massive 388,500 km² (150,000 mi²) making it larger than the Caspian Sea. The liquid is not water though (Titan’s average temperature is -181 °C (-293.8 °F) so water would be frozen), instead it is a lake of liquid gas (methane and ethane).
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