Lake upper salinity. The largest lake in the world is Lake Superior. The importance of Lake Superior

The lake appeared about 4,000 years ago as a result of melting ice and today is located at an altitude of 183.5 meters above sea level. The lake is a giant reservoir with with total area 82,400 square kilometers. Upper (Lake Superior) – the most big lake in the Great Lakes system in North America(North America), the world's largest lake by area - excluding the Caspian Sea - and the world's third largest freshwater lake by volume of water. The maximum volume of Verkhny is 12,100 cubic kilometers. That's enough to fill all the other lakes in the system - Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario - and still have enough left over for two Lake Erie. Lake Superior is second only in volume Russian Baikal(Lake Baikal), myself deep lake on the planet, and African Tanganyika (Lake Tanganyika), off the coast of which the borders of four states converge.

The northern border of Lake Superior is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario and the American state of Minnesota (Minnesota, USA). The states of Wisconsin and Michigan meet on the southern borders of Superior.
The lake appeared about 4,000 years ago as a result of melting ice and today is located at an altitude of 183.5 meters above sea level. The lake is a giant body of water with a total area of 82,400 square kilometers.
The maximum depth of Verkhny is 406 meters, the average is 147 meters, which makes it one of the deepest - and coldest! - lakes of North America, however, in the world list of the most deep lakes The top one ranks only 36th. The maximum length of Verkhny is 563 kilometers, the maximum width is 257 kilometers. This area stores so much fresh water that it is enough to cover both Americas with a layer of water 30 centimeters deep. The coastline of Verkhniy is estimated at 4,387 kilometers, if you count its islands.
Lake Superior freezes from December to April. The most important ports on the lake are Ashland and Duluth in the USA and Thunder Bay in Canada. Clean fresh water is the reason why there are several national parks and protected areas, including Isle Royale Park, located on the island of the same name and owned by the state of Michigan, and the Canadian Pukaskwa National Park.
In the language of the Ojibwe Indians, the name of the lake sounds like "Gichigami", which translates as " big water"The first French explorers who reached the shores of this vast inland sea along the Ottawa River and Lake Huron in the 17th century gave it its modern name. However, in French "le lac supérieur" meant "the highest lake", since Superior is located in the system above Lake Huron, the Jesuit missionaries also called it "Lac Tracy" When the British established themselves in North America, the lake retained the French name, adapted to the English language.
More than 200 rivers feed the lake, and the largest among them are the Nipigon River, St. Louis River, Pigeon River, Pic River, White River and others.
Meanwhile, the lake's waters feed Huron through the St. Marys River. The largest of the islands in the lake is Isle Royale, and the island has several lakes, which, in turn, also have internal islands. Another large island, Madeline Island, belongs to the state of Wisconsin, and Michipicoten, to the province of Ontario.
Many shipping routes pass through Verkhneye, and at its bottom lie hundreds of sunken ships, because strong
storms are not uncommon on the lake. A particularly large number of ships were lost near Cape Whitefish, the area around which is known as the “tomb of the Great Lakes.” In addition, locals say that Verkhneye rarely gives up its dead, meaning that the lake is very cold, and the low temperature suppresses the growth of bacteria, as a result of which the body has no chance of floating to the surface.
One of the most priceless riches of Lake Superior is its fish - more than 80 species of fish live in Verkhny, including valuable commercial ones such as trout, whitefish, salmon, carp, sturgeon, freshwater herring and many others. Some of them are accidentally or specially bred in the lake.
Along the shores of Lake Verkhnee there are many places intended for recreation and tourist trips. One of them is a provincial park with the same name as the lake. The park covers approximately 600 square kilometers in Ontario and includes several bays where hundreds of campsites have been built. Most of the tourist sites are open only in the summer, but scientific research is carried out here all year round.

Information

Countries: USA, Canada
Height above sea level: 183 m
Length: 563 km
Width: 257 km
Square: 82,700 km²
Volume: 12,000 km³
Coastline length: 4385 km
Greatest depth: 406 m
Average depth: 147 m
Type of mineralization: fresh
Catchment area: 127,700 km²
Flowing river: Nipigon
Flowing river: St Mary's

Lake Superior is the largest lake in the Great Lakes system in North America, the world's largest lake by area - excluding the Caspian Sea - and the world's third largest freshwater lake. volume of water. The maximum volume of Verkhny is 12,100 cubic kilometers. That's enough to fill all the other lakes in the system - Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario - and still have enough left over for two Lake Erie. Lake Superior is second in volume only to Russia's Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on the planet, and Africa's Lake Tanganyika, off the coast of which the borders of four countries meet.

Lake Superior freezes from December to April. The most important ports on the lake are Ashland and Duluth in the USA and Thunder Bay in Canada. The clear, fresh water is why the lake is home to several national parks and protected areas, including Isle Royale, located on an island of the same name owned by the state of Michigan, and Canada's Pukaskwa National Park.

In the language of the Ojibwe Indians, the name of the lake sounds like “Gichigami”, which translates as “big water”. The first French explorers who reached the shores of this vast inland sea via the Ottawa River and Lake Huron in the 17th century gave it its modern name. True, in French “le lac supérieur” meant “the highest lake,” since Superior is located in the system above Lake Huron. Jesuit missionaries also called it "Lac Tracy". When the British established themselves in North America, the lake retained its French name, adapted to English.

More than 200 rivers feed the lake, and the largest among them are the Nipigon River, St. Louis River, Pigeon River, Pic River, White River and others.
Meanwhile, the lake's waters feed Huron through the St. Marys River. The largest of the islands in the lake is Isle Royale, and the island has several lakes, which, in turn, also have internal islands. Another large island, Madeline Island, belongs to the state of Wisconsin, and Michipicoten belongs to the province of Ontario.

There are many shipping routes through Verkhneye, and hundreds of sunken ships lie at its bottom, as strong storms are not uncommon on the lake. A particularly large number of ships were lost near Cape Whitefish, the area around which is known as the “Tomb of the Great Lakes.” In addition, locals say that Verkhneye rarely gives up its dead, meaning that the lake is very cold, and the low temperature suppresses the growth of bacteria, as a result of which the body has no chance of floating to the surface.

One of the most priceless riches of Lake Superior is its fish - more than 80 species of fish live in Verkhny, including valuable commercial ones such as trout, whitefish, salmon, carp, sturgeon, freshwater herring and many others. Some of them are accidentally or specially bred in the lake.

Along the shores of Lake Verkhneye there are many places intended for recreation and tourist trips. One of them is a provincial park with the same name as the lake. The park covers approximately 600 square kilometers in Ontario and includes several bays where hundreds of campsites have been built. Most of the tourist sites are open only in the summer, but scientific research is carried out here all year round.

Lake Superior is the name given by the pioneers to the largest lake on the North American continent.

This body of water is the northernmost of the Great Lakes, ranks second in the world ranking in terms of area and third in terms of fresh water reserves.

Lake Superior is one of the most beautiful natural attractions in the United States and Canada.

Great Lakes

A description of Lake Superior must begin with a description of the Great Lakes system. This is the name given to an extended and powerful chain of reservoirs located in the northern part of North America.

The huge chain consists of lakes such as Huron, Michigan, Ontario, Erie, Superior and smaller water bodies. Michigan belongs exclusively to the United States of America. The shorelines of the other four largest of the Great Lakes cross the US-Canadian border in one way or another. Lake Superior on the North American mainland is also no exception; it is also located on the border of two states.

The Great Lakes are an important part of the transport network of the two countries, as well as a place of pilgrimage for a huge number of tourists, primarily, of course, American and Canadian, because famous natural parks. In addition to the most important modern economy The Great Lakes played a big role in the history of the United States, in particular, it was here that the famous naval battles between the Americans and the British took place.

The original name of this giant water body has survived to this day. The Ojibwe Indians, who inhabited the shores of the lake before the arrival of Europeans, gave it the name “Geechi Gami,” which can be translated as “big water.” This historical name suits this impressively sized body of water perfectly.

Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes system. In its longest part it reaches 616 meters, and in its widest part - 257 meters. The area of Lake Superior is huge, it is approximately 82.4 thousand square kilometers of water surface. This fact makes it the second largest area on the entire planet after the Caspian Sea, which is now considered a lake.

Lake Superior has a total volume of more than 11.5 thousand cubic kilometers (the maximum volume is more than 12 thousand cubic kilometers). This allows hydrologists to say that the reservoir contains a tenth of the world's fresh water reserves (third place in the world after our Baikal and Tanganyika in Africa). To imagine how huge this figure is, we can cite the following fact: if you distribute all the water in Verkhniy, spilling it over a huge plane, the area of which is equal to North and South America, you will get a layer of water of 0.3 meters. The volume of water in this reservoir exceeds the total volume of all other Great Lakes combined.

The Upper Lake, despite its name, does not belong to the alpine category. It is located at an altitude of only 183.5 meters above sea level.

Also, Lake Superior is outside the category of the deepest. In terms of its depth, the reservoir claims only 36th place in the world ranking. Its average depth is 147 km, and its maximum depth is 406 meters. For comparison, the depth of Lake Baikal is 1642 meters.

On the shores of the lake there is the Canadian province of Ontario on one side, and the American states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin on the other. The coastline of Lake Superior stretches for more than 4,000 kilometers.

Hydrological regime

More than two hundred rivers and streams carry their waters into the lake. Among the largest are the Pigeon River, Nipigon, Peak, St. Louis, White and many others.

Flows from Verkhniy large river St. Marys, which feeds Huron, the second of the Great Lakes chain.

Although average annual temperature The water level in Upper is 4 degrees above zero; thanks to the great depth and strong and frequent waves (strong storms often occur here in autumn and winter), the water surface almost never freezes completely. The last case of complete freezing was noted in the 70s of the twentieth century. The rest of the time, only the coastal strip of water is covered with an ice crust. Period coastal ice lasts from December to April.

Geographical position Lake Superior contributes to moderate fluctuations in water levels. The maximum level occurs in the summer months during periods of heavy rainfall, and the minimum level occurs in the winter months.

Geological history

Verkhneye is a relatively young American lake by geological standards. It was formed approximately 4-10 thousand years ago during the Ice Age. A powerful glacier, which at that time covered quite large areas North American continent, managed to push rocks stable Canadian Shield, thus forming a powerful and extensive recess in the earth's surface. According to geologists, the glacier subsequently melted, giving rise to a giant reservoir with its melt waters, which spread over the entire area where all the Great American Lakes now lie. The impressively sized reservoir gradually decreased, and the contours of the modern lake chain began to appear, including coastline Upper Lake.

Islands

The largest of the upper lake islands is Isle Royale. It lives up to its “royal” name and reaches a length of 72 and a width of 14 kilometers. An interesting fact is that this island is often called “matryoshka”.

Why, you ask? It's simple: there are quite a lot of large lake, which also has an island. On this relatively small island there is a small pond on which smaller islands are scattered. Such a bizarre natural “architecture”.

Attractions

Important attractions of the Lake Superior region include specially protected natural areas. They include the famous American national park Isle Royale, located on island of the same name, and the no less famous Canadian Pukaskwa National Park. Tourists and travel lovers come here, because the lake, despite the fact that it has long been discovered by man, has retained its pristine beauty and comparative purity of water. Since Lake Superior is home to valuable fish species, this indicates the good ecological condition of the area.

Shipping

The largest and most important ports on the lake are the American ports of Ashland and Duluth, as well as the Canadian port of Thunder Bay.

The Verkhny region is the most important navigable territory for the two states.

Since the lake is characterized by a violent and restless temperament, severe storms and storms, it was wrecked great amount ships.

Cape White Fish, which is sometimes called the “tomb,” became especially notorious in this regard. It was here that many ships sank for certain reasons.

Locals they claim that the lake is very reluctant to give up its drowned people, who almost never float to the surface. Apparently, this is due to the extremely low temperature of the water and the low content of microorganisms in it.
Verkhny is home to several dozen valuable species of ichthyofauna, many of which are caught industrially (including sturgeon, smelt, salmon, trout, carp, whitefish, freshwater herring, pike perch and others). At the beginning of the 17th century, Europeans who visited here reported almost three-meter sturgeon and two-meter pike.
About sixty species of orchids grow in the lake area.

Lake Superior is a freshwater body of water with a maximum area. It is located in North America. The total size of the lake is 82.4 thousand square kilometers. This lake ranks 3rd in terms of volume of fresh water on our land, with Baikal and Tanganyika in first and second place. The fresh water in the lake totals 11.6 thousand cubic kilometers. The average depth is 147 meters, the maximum is 406 meters. Lake Superior is located in the territory between Canada and the United States. (Find out at the same time). It is one of the Great Lakes, part of a chain of freshwater bodies of water located in the eastern part of North America between the United States and Canada. This system contains five lakes: Ontario, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Superior. And only Michigan belongs entirely to the USA. The remaining lakes are divided by a border.

On Canadian territory, the lake is located in a province called Ontario. On the western side of the lake is a state called Minnesota. From the southwestern part - Wisconsin. South part coast is located in Michigan.

Upper Lake is also united with Canadian lake called Nipigon, and they are united by a small river. The appearance of Lake Bowl looks like a depression of tectonic origin. Due to frequent earthquakes, deep faults were formed. Glaciers were able to level the lake bottom. According to researchers, about 30,000 years ago in the eastern part of North America, all of it was under glaciers that came to these places from the north. Such glaciers were not permanent. The movement took place either to the North, leaving behind huge bowls, and then returned back again. Read about the waterfall here.

New formations

At the moment when the glaciers finally left the eastern territories of the mainland, a lake was formed in this area, which is called Algonquin in modern science. According to its area, it was considered very huge and, according to all assumptions, for a long time exceeded the size of Lake Baikal by 10 times. It could not exist for so long. Over time, a large amount of water that filled the St. Lawrence River was lost. And when millennia passed, the Great Lakes were able to appear in this area.

These famous lakes are among the colossal wonders of the world. They are considered unique. These lakes form a hydrographic community within themselves. They were located 500 km from the Atlantic itself, and also 700 km. from the Hudson Strait. It is the largest lake system in North America and is located in the middle and upper part of the St. Lawrence River Basin. Seaway - The Great Lakes are the most important shipping routes in eastern North America. In order to get from the port of Duluth, which is located on Lake Superior, to the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River, you need to cover a path of more than 2000 km. The upper lake is the most high-mountainous in height, it has 183.6 m. This reservoir is fed by precipitation and water carried by rivers.

Is Lake Superior drainage or drainless? Let's look at this issue. This lake is a drainage lake, its flow goes through the St. Marys River. From December to April, ice freezes occur in coastal areas. The water level in the lake is getting lower. Precipitation - a rare event during this period of time, there is sufficient water volume to maintain the level in the lake. The lowest level is from March to April. After this, the air temperature becomes higher and the coastal snow thaws. The rivers quickly begin to fill with water, and thus this leads to a rise in its level in the lake itself. The most significant water volume in Lake Superior can be observed in summer time, it is during this period that heavy rainfall occurs.

The biggest freshwater lake in the world, by surface area - is lake superior, which is located in North America between the USA and Canada. Lake Superior was formed at the end of the second ice age. The theory of the formation of this lake looks like this: a huge mass of ice on the site of today’s lake, over tens of thousands of years, pushed through the earth’s crust and formed a depression - a depression, when the temperature on Earth began to rise - the glacier began to melt and filled this depression with water, turning into Lake Superior.

Characteristics of Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater body of water by surface area.
The surface area of Lake Superior is 82,414 square kilometers.
Lake Superior contains 10% of all fresh surface water on Earth.
The volume of water in Lake Superior is 11,600 cubic kilometers
The most deep point in Lake Superior 406 meters from the surface.
More than 300 streams and rivers flow into Lake Superior.
The average height of Lake Superior is about 602 meters above sea level.
The average visibility underwater in Lake Superior is 8.23 meters, the maximum visibility is at great depths is 30.4 meters.
The lake measures approximately 616 km long and 257 km wide.
Interesting fact: the difference in sunset time between Western and east coast lake is 35 minutes.

Lake Superior is one of the youngest formations on the planet, the age of the lake is only about 10,000 years - dating back to the last ice age.
For comparison, the Earth's second largest lake (by surface area, and the world's largest by volume of water), Lake Baikal in Russia, is 25 million years old.
Fifty-eight species of orchids are native to the Lake Superior basin.

When European explorers visited Lake Superior in 1600, they reported giant sturgeon some 2.7 meters long and saw pike over 2 meters long.

The average annual water temperature of Lake Superior is 4.44 degrees Celsius. The lake rarely freezes completely - once every 20 years; if this happens, it thaws within a few hours. The last complete ice coverage of Lake Superior occurred in 1979.
The most on the lake big Island- Isle Royale, its dimensions are 72 km long and 14 km wide, there are also small lakes on its territory.

Currently, the lake is a transport artery for ships transporting ore from mining areas to consumption areas; the length of ships can reach 300 meters.
Despite the fact that the reservoir is a lake, there are storms on it that lead to shipwrecks.
Modern ships are built for use on the lake, taking into account the possibility of sailing in storms. Previously this was not taken into account. The last shipwreck on the lake was recorded in 1918, when two French minesweepers disappeared without a trace during a storm.

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