What is a lake?  

A body of fresh water surrounded by land.

A lake has 2 main characteristics

1. Body of water

2. Surrounded by land

A lake landform is a body of water that is surrounded by land.  This type of water is usually fresh water while there are some that are salt water lake like the Great Salk Lake in Utah. 

A lot of people have asked how many lakes there are in the world.  My answer too them is a lot!  The true number of lakes in the world has not been counted and the definition is tossed up in the air about what is a lake and what is a pond.  What we can truly say is that there are over a million lakes in the world.  That is a lot of lakes. 

There are many famous lakes in the world such as the groups of lakes in the Great Lakes, Lake Toba, and Lake Bernard. 

Lakes are always forming and disappearing. They can disappear in a variety of ways such as irrigation, drought, evaporation and opening in the Earth’s crust. 

How are Lakes Formed?

Just like there are a variety of ways that lakes disappear, there are a variety of ways that lakes form.  Lakes can be formed when glaciers melt, craters from meteorites or rivers.  Lakes can even be manmade.  There are also other ways lakes can be made.

Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.

  The Great Lakes are the world's largest system of freshwater lakes.  Together, the lakes occupy an area of nearly 100,000 square miles. 20 percent of the world's surface freshwater is contained in the lakes. The lakes were formed about 10,000 years ago; at the end of the last ice age. As the massive Laurentide ice sheet retreated, glaciers left behind a large amount of water which filled in the basins they had carved.

  The Great Lakes are made of five large lakes: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the world's second largest lake. The remaining lakes are among the world's fifteen largest lakes.

Lake Landforms Examples:

Lake Superior
Lake Mille Lacs of Minnesota

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