What are three facts about lakes?

There are 117 million lakes on Earth, covering 3.7 percent of the continental land surface. Most lakes are relatively small – 90 million lakes are less than two football fields in size. Most lakes lie low — 85 percent are at elevations less than 1,600 feet (500 meters) above sea level.



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The Great Lakes hold over 5,400 cubic miles of water -- therefore accounting for more than 20% of the world's surface freshwater.
  • Lake Superior contains half of the water in all the Great Lakes. ...
  • Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within U.S. territory.


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The 5 Key Features that Define a Lake
  • Lakes are inland depressions filled with water. ...
  • Lakes are standing, slow-moving bodies of water. ...
  • Lakes have vast surface areas. ...
  • Lakes are homes to complex ecosystems. ...
  • Lakes are mostly freshwater, but some can be a little salty.


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A lake (from Latin lacus) is a large body of water (larger and deeper than a pond) within a body of land. As a lake is separated from the ocean, it is not a sea. Some lakes are very big, and people in the past sometimes called them seas. Lakes do not flow like rivers, but many have rivers flowing into and out of them.

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Salty or fresh, lakes are some of the only freely available water sources on land. Aside from rivers and streams, the rest of the world's freshwater is locked up in ice or trapped underground.

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  • Once formed, lakes do not stay the same. ...
  • All lakes are either open or closed. ...
  • The Great Salt Lake, in the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest saline lake in North America.
  • The lowest lake in the world is the Dead Sea, on the edge of Israel and Jordan.


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The lake was placid. The lake glowed like it was radioactive. She touched the water of the lake and groaned. The bottom of the lake glowed with souls.

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The largest lake in the world by a long shot is the Caspian Sea – a name that hints at a past when it was contiguous with the ocean around 11 million years ago. This massive saline lake, which is nearly the same size as Japan, borders five countries: Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

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Situated in south-east Siberia, the 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world. It contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve.

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Lakes are classified based on productivity, or how much photosynthesis is occurring in the water.
  • Oligotrophic lakes have low levels of productivity, these are often clearer water.
  • Mesotrophic lakes have a middle level of productivity. ...
  • Eutrophic lakes are high in productivity, so high they can be green in color.


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Situated in south-east Siberia, the 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world.

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At 1,943 feet (592 meters), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world. The depths were first explored thoroughly in 1886 by a party from the U.S. Geological Survey.

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In lakes and ponds, much of the species diversity is concentrated in the littoral zone, near the shore, where algae and plants thrive in the abundant light needed for photosynthesis. Living within the plant matter is a cornucopia of animals including snails, amphibians, crustaceans, insects, and fish.

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