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The Great Lakes Facts

The Great Lakes Facts
The Great Lakes are located in northeastern North America. They are a series of five interconnected lakes on the United States-Canada border. These freshwater lakes connect via the Saint Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Lakes include Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes formed approximately 10,000 years ago, following the last glacial period, as ice sheets carved the lakes and the ice melted and filled the basins. The Great Lakes have served as a major transportation route for trade. There are many different species of fish living in these lakes.
Interesting The Great Lakes Facts:
The Great Lakes cover an area of approximately 94,000 square miles. Combined they contain approximately 5,500 cubic miles of water.
The Great Lakes contain approximately 84% of North America's fresh surface water supply. They contain approximately 21% of the world's total fresh surface water supply.
Approximately 25 million Americans and 8.5 million Canadians live at the basin of the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes are susceptible to pollution from farm run off which often includes chemicals used in agriculture.
The Great Lakes are susceptible to pollution from city waste, industrial disposal leaching, as well as atmospheric pollutants that come down in rain and snow and dust.
Lake Superior has the largest volume of all the Great Lakes. It is the coldest and deepest and because it has a cooler climate and poor soil conditions it is the least polluted.
Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes. It is located completely within the United States. It is the only one of the Great Lakes to be completely within one country.
Lake Huron, by volume, is the third largest of the Great Lakes. Lake Huron also includes Georgian Bay. Lake Huron is popular with cottagers because it has shallow sandy beaches and rocky beaches suitable for swimming, boating, fishing, and other water activities.
Lake Erie is the smallest Great Lake in terms of volume, but the fourth largest in area. It is also the shallowest and is affected by pollution much more than the other lakes because it has so many cities on its shores. In the Lake Erie basin are 17 cities with more than 50,000 residents.
Lake Ontario is smaller in area than Lake Erie but is deeper and contains a higher volume of water. The Canadian side is highly urbanized while the U.S. side is less populated and less farmed.
Lake Superior contains enough water that it could cover all of the North and South American continents in one foot of water.
It is believed that Lake Superior is home to about 100 million lake trout.
Some believe that Lake Erie is home to a 30 to 40 foot monster they call Bessie. People have been spotting the monster since 1793.
The largest salt mine in the world is the Goderich Mine which runs partially under Lake Huron.
Lake Michigan's shores are home to the largest fresh water sand dunes in the world.
Canada's province of Ontario was named after Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario was not named after the province.
The first time Babe Ruth hit a home run the ball landed in Lake Ontario. It is believed that the ball is still in Lake Ontario today.


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