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The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border.The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario (though hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are a single body of water; they are joined by the Straits of Mackinac).
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area [a] and the third-largest freshwater lake by volume, [12] holding 13% of the fresh water in all of the world's rivers and lakes.
[3] [4] [22] Because of the hydrologic connectivity through the Straits, some sources consider the total area and volume of Lake Michigan–Huron when placing this system in a global or regional context. [23] When Lake Michigan–Huron is treated as a single entity, it is the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world. [1] [23] [24] [25]
The area given is the normal or average area of the lake. The area of some lakes fluctuates substantially. For those lakes partially in Canada or Mexico the area given for the lake is the total area, not just the part of the lake in the United States. Of the top 100 lakes, 55 are man-made and 45 are natural.
Lake Superior, which is bordered by Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada, is the largest of the Great Lakes and the most pristine. Freshwater estuaries occur where rivers and Great Lakes water mix in shallow wetlands located near the mouth of a river.
The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose direct surface runoff and watersheds form a large drainage basin that feeds into the lakes.
Boatzon looked at the economic and environmental importance of the 10 largest lakes in the U.S. Lake sizes and locations are based on Census data.
Third-largest fresh-water lake in the world by volume: 2: Lake Michigan: Illinois - Indiana - Michigan - Wisconsin: 3,987,455,942 acre⋅ft (4,918 km 3) 925 ft (282 m) L. Huron and. L. Michigan may be considered a single lake [1] 3: Lake Huron: Michigan - Ontario: 2,872,320,000 acre⋅ft (3,543 km 3) 750 ft (229 m) 4: Lake Ontario: New York ...