Massive Lakes

[PNWRoadgeek]

I find it odd how lakes in the most flat areas, like the Midwest, which we all know has the massive Lake Michigan, as well as Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Why are lakes in the Midwest so massive, and why is Lake Tahoe humongous but not in the Midwest.

Also, my state of Oregon doesn't have that large of lakes. The only two big lakes in Oregon in Klamath Lake near the California border, as well as Goose Lake on the California border. If someone were to ask a person on, say, the East Coast what the largest lake in Oregon is, they would probably say "Crater Lake" because its one of the most well-known lakes in the US, let alone Oregon. Crater Lake is big, big enough to have two islands, but it's not the largest lake in Oregon.

However, quite possibly the oddest thing is that the East Coast lakes are shockingly large, especially down in the southeast. Take for example, Georgia, the largest lake in Georgia is bigger than Crater Lake, which I find interesting. the reason for the large lakes in the South is well, due to their flat and swampy terrain, and humid climate, even with the pretty frequent rain in the south, especially Florida, however, I mostly think of swamps in Florida and not lakes though.

Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana is a southern lake that is located in an urban area, a lot of people talk about the massive bridge over there, so I thought I should mention it. It's a giant lake, with a giant bridge. It's an unusual example, especially when you consider it being in an urban area.

Don't even get me started on California, with their sheer size, they've got a bunch of massive lakes. Texas, however, doesn't have many big lakes. Also, the only big lake in Utah isn't even a lake. It's a flat reef of dried saltwater that is a resident destination for Salt Lake residents, we aren't gonna even mention the fact that no one knew it existed until the Mormons found it around the creation of Salt Lake City itself.

In the end, Lake Superior is the largest lake in the US, and the Great Lakes should be avoided by anyone who hates oceans and fake beaches. Stick to the smaller, more brown lakes if you're afraid of water.

[GaryV]

Glaciers caused the lakes in the Midwest (and adjacent areas of Canada as well). The Great Lakes were carved out by the glaciers. Other smaller inland lakes often resulted when a chunk of ice stayed around for a while before melting, and the resulting depression became a lake.

[Dirt Roads]

I wouldn't call it massive, but Lake Mattamuskeet in the eastern part of North Carolina is the largest in the Old North State.  It's only 40,000 acres, ranging less than 7 miles across.  It is quite an impressive sight (and site), as it is home to a massive influx of Snow Geese and Tundra Swan each Fall as they come to spend the winter.  My favorite part is the Ponchartrain-style north-south causeway of NC-94 right across the middle of the lake.

To the north of us, Virginia only has two natural lakes.  Lake Drummond is in the middle of the Great Dismal Swamp, not that awful far north of Lake Mattamuskeet as the crow flies.  It's only about 3,140 acres, but the swamp around it still covers about 112,000 acres (including the lake area).

Drummond Lake is much, much deeper than Lake Mattamuskeet.  (6 foot versus 3 foot)

[mgk920]

Don't forget Lake Winnebago here in Wisconsin.  One cannot see the opposite end of it north to south.  Lake Winnebago is very aptly named, it was a large stinking marshland with a smaller body of water within it before the dams in Menasha and Neenah, WI were completed, bringing the lake and its upstream chain of lakes to their current level. 'Winnebago' was named by the early French missionaries and explorers after the local Menominee Indian word for 'Land of stinking waters'.

Also, several of the western USA lakes are actually inland salt water 'seas'.

[kalvado]

Are you missing Lake Missoula and Lake Agassiz?

[gonealookin]

Nevada's two largest lakes (excluding Tahoe and Lake Mead) are Pyramid Lake northeast of Reno and Walker Lake near Hawthorne.  These are both drainage dead-ends in the Great Basin.

Pyramid Lake is the terminus of the Truckee River, whose headwaters are a short distance north of Carson Pass on CA 88.  The Upper Truckee flows into Lake Tahoe, the outlet of Lake Tahoe is at Tahoe City (the famous "Fanny Bridge" crosses the Truckee there), the Truckee then flows along CA 89 north to the Town of Truckee and then east along I-80 through Reno out to near Fernley, and finally north to Pyramid Lake.

Walker Lake is the terminus of the Walker River.  The West Walker's headwaters are at Sonora Pass (CA 108) and the East Walker's in the northeastern corner of Yosemite National Park.  These two rivers meander about until they merge in the Mason Valley near Yerington, NV, and take another circuitous route to finally end in Walker Lake.

The Carson River, which flows out of the Sierra from the Carson Pass area through Carson Valley, and the Humboldt River, an east-to-west channel which basically follows Interstate 80 across most of Nevada, both mostly end at reservoirs now.  Before construction of the dams they both terminated in the large sinks near the southern intersection of I-80 and US 95, between Lovelock and Fallon.

[roadman65]

Lake Tahoe I find is odd as it don't drain into the sea.  Yes you have Salton Sea that don't either,  but that's below Sea Level.  However, Lake Tahoe, has rivers and streams that flow into despite it can't go anywhere once within the lake.

So it's all evaporated once it is in that body.  Just as Crater Lake in Oregon, however Crater Lake has no streams to feed it. That body is all rain water collected.

[PNWRoadgeek]

Are you missing Lake Missoula and Lake Agassiz?

What's an Agassiz? To me in sounds like a weird slang word Gen Alpha would use.

[Max Rockatansky]

I took some pictures of Tulare Lake from the air after it reformed in 2023.  Kind of amazing to me that the basin is shallow enough that irrigation diversion is enough to make a lake up 690 square miles dry up.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/Q878yd1743

[Scott5114]

Nevada's two largest lakes (excluding Tahoe and Lake Mead) are Pyramid Lake northeast of Reno and Walker Lake near Hawthorne.  These are both drainage dead-ends in the Great Basin.

Pyramid Lake is the terminus of the Truckee River, whose headwaters are a short distance north of Carson Pass on CA 88.  The Upper Truckee flows into Lake Tahoe, the outlet of Lake Tahoe is at Tahoe City (the famous "Fanny Bridge" crosses the Truckee there), the Truckee then flows along CA 89 north to the Town of Truckee and then east along I-80 through Reno out to near Fernley, and finally north to Pyramid Lake.

Walker Lake is the terminus of the Walker River.  The West Walker's headwaters are at Sonora Pass (CA 108) and the East Walker's in the northeastern corner of Yosemite National Park.  These two rivers meander about until they merge in the Mason Valley near Yerington, NV, and take another circuitous route to finally end in Walker Lake.

The Carson River, which flows out of the Sierra from the Carson Pass area through Carson Valley, and the Humboldt River, an east-to-west channel which basically follows Interstate 80 across most of Nevada, both mostly end at reservoirs now.  Before construction of the dams they both terminated in the large sinks near the southern intersection of I-80 and US 95, between Lovelock and Fallon.

Lake Tahoe I find is odd as it don't drain into the sea.  Yes you have Salton Sea that don't either,  but that's below Sea Level.  However, Lake Tahoe, has rivers and streams that flow into despite it can't go anywhere once within the lake.

So it's all evaporated once it is in that body.  Just as Crater Lake in Oregon, however Crater Lake has no streams to feed it. That body is all rain water collected.

Lake Tahoe's outlet is the Truckee River, which terminates in Pyramid Lake, which has no outlet. So Tahoe and Pyramid form their own water system that has no outlet—the term for this is endorheic basin.

A lot of western Nevada was, at one time, under a huge glacial lake called Lake Lahontan. Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake are both remnants of Lake Lahontan (as is the Black Rock Desert and the Carson and Humboldt sinks, which are the natural termini of the rivers of the same names). Lake Lahontan didn't get much more precipitation than it does now—it was able to hold more water because it was colder back then so the evaporation rate was lower.

The Great Salt Lake in Utah is a remnant of a similar glacial lake, Lake Bonneville.

Another really interesting endorheic basin system is that of Lake Elsinore in California. It is normally endorheic, but in especially wet years the lake overflows and the extra goes into the Santa Ana River!

[gonealookin]

Lake Tahoe I find is odd as it don't drain into the sea.  Yes you have Salton Sea that don't either,  but that's below Sea Level.

The body of water now known as the Salton Sea was once a part of the Gulf of California.  It dried up, but it was a rather spectacular bit of boneheaded engineering in the early part of the 20th century that formed the current version.  Basically, somebody was trying to dig an irrigation canal from the Colorado River near Yuma to feed the Imperial Valley.  They lost control of the gates to the canal at the Colorado, the full force of the water took over and for a couple years the then-undammed Colorado sent its entire flow into the Imperial Valley rather than the Gulf of California.

Irrigation runoff has been the main reason the Salton Sea hasn't dried up completely in the subsequent 120 years.  It's shrinking, though, and with all that agricultural runoff it's an environmental mess.  There is talk from time to time of digging a new canal to bring seawater north from the Gulf of California, around Mexicali and El Centro and into the Salton Sea to stabilize the water level.  Somebody would have to pay for the canal though, and apparently adding pure seawater would make the environmental issues even worse so construction of desalination facilities along the canal would be needed as well.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Are you missing Lake Missoula and Lake Agassiz?

What's an Agassiz? To me in sounds like a weird slang word Gen Alpha would use.

Louis Agassiz, who was a natural scientist.

[1995hoo]

Are you missing Lake Missoula and Lake Agassiz?

What's an Agassiz? To me in sounds like a weird slang word Gen Alpha would use.

Louis Agassiz, who was a natural scientist.

Also, in case PNWRoadgeek is unfamiliar with it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz

[Max Rockatansky]

If we are talking about massive ancient Pleistocene lakes try Lake Corcoran on for size:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Corcoran

[mgk920]

Are you missing Lake Missoula and Lake Agassiz?

Did I say 'all' ? ? ?

Mike

[kphoger]

My brain changed one letter of this thread title, and I thought it was actually ON-topic.

[Rothman]

I prefer Lake Hitchcock for ancient lakes no longer around (New England).

[kphoger]

I find it odd how lakes in the most flat areas, like the Midwest, which we all know has the massive Lake Michigan, as well as Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Why are lakes in the Midwest so massive, and why is Lake Tahoe humongous but not in the Midwest.

Outside of the Great Lakes, I really don't see those in the Midwest being larger overall than elsewhere.

After the Great Lakes, excluding manmade lakes, the next biggest in the Lower 48 are these:

Lake of the Woods (Midwest)
Great Salt Lake (not in the Midwest)
Lake Okeechobee (not in the Midwest)
Lake Pontchartrain (not in the Midwest)
Lake Champlain (not in the Midwest)
Lake Saint Clair (basically part of the Great Lakes)
Red Lake (Midwest)

[kurumi]

The topic of natural lakes is a bit of a rabbit hole.

Some states have very few natural lakes (TN, GA, KS), where most of them are man-made. Maryland has no natural lakes at all. Some people claim Kansas has none, but Wikipedia lists 4.

Tennessee has 1 (https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2023/06/06/just-askin-exploring-why-the-volunteer-state-doesnt-enjoy-natural-lakes/70286592007/):

To be clear, there is one large natural surface lake in Tennessee. (Tennessee has the largest underground lake in the U.S., but that's a whole different article). But the state's one natural lake is so young – geologically speaking – that it is the exception that proves the rule: Tennessee's landscape doesn't really create lakes. Unless there's an earthquake.

Reelfoot Lake covers 15,000 square acres in northwest Tennessee, not far from both the Missouri and Kentucky borders. It was created by what is known as the New Madrid earthquakes, named after the river town of New Madrid, Missouri.

[SEWIGuy]

I find it odd how lakes in the most flat areas, like the Midwest, which we all know has the massive Lake Michigan, as well as Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Why are lakes in the Midwest so massive, and why is Lake Tahoe humongous but not in the Midwest.

Outside of the Great Lakes, I really don't see those in the Midwest being larger overall than elsewhere.

After the Great Lakes, excluding manmade lakes, the next biggest in the Lower 48 are these:

Lake of the Woods (Midwest)
Great Salt Lake (not in the Midwest)
Lake Okeechobee (not in the Midwest)
Lake Pontchartrain (not in the Midwest)
Lake Champlain (not in the Midwest)
Lake Saint Clair (basically part of the Great Lakes)
Red Lake (Midwest)

Is Pontchartrain actually a lake? I thought it was an estuary by definition, but referred to as a lake.

[1995hoo]

The topic of natural lakes is a bit of a rabbit hole.

Some states have very few natural lakes (TN, GA, KS), where most of them are man-made. Maryland has no natural lakes at all. Some people claim Kansas has none, but Wikipedia lists 4.

....

And then you have Virginia, which has two, but one of them—Mountain Lake—suddenly went dry a few years back. That dismayed a lot of people because the hotel that sits at one end of the lake is where large parts of Dirty Dancing were filmed. I don't know whether the recent heavy rains have refilled the lake—apparently the scientists determined it has a natural fill–drain cycle.

[thspfc]

This week at work I've had far too much time to stare at Google Maps and Wikipedia. Lake facts that have surprised me:

- Lake Winnipeg is huge - bigger than Lake Ontario and slightly smaller than Erie.
- Lake Tahoe is deeper than all five Great Lakes.
- Lake Winnebago is very shallow.
- Lake of the Woods is crazy.

[Dirt Roads]

And then you have Virginia, which has two, but one of them—Mountain Lake—suddenly went dry a few years back. That dismayed a lot of people because the hotel that sits at one end of the lake is where large parts of Dirty Dancing were filmed. I don't know whether the recent heavy rains have refilled the lake—apparently the scientists determined it has a natural fill–drain cycle.

Ah, Mountain Lake.  One of my favorite getaways in Hokie land.  But it is only about 45 acres or so when filled, and therefore off-topic.  Likewise, West Virginia only has the one.  Trout Pond is only about 2 acres when filled, and like Mountain Lake, it also has started a drain/refill cycle.  But the geology of these two natural ponds is so different.  Mountain Lake is on the west side of Bear Cliff, and it sits down in a much larger geological pothole that appears to have been caused by a mudslide eons ago.  Trout Pond sits in a karst sinkhole.  Mountain Lake loses most of its water due to evaporation.  Trout Pond starting slowly losing water "down the drain" of the expanded sinkhole in 2001 or so.

The topic of natural lakes is a bit of a rabbit hole.

Not only did I rabbit hole on natural lakes, but also on small ponds.  Ouch!

[SEWIGuy]

This week at work I've had far too much time to stare at Google Maps and Wikipedia. Lake facts that have surprised me:

- Lake Winnipeg is huge - bigger than Lake Ontario and slightly smaller than Erie.
- Lake Tahoe is deeper than all five Great Lakes.
- Lake Winnebago is very shallow.
- Lake of the Woods is crazy.

Then there are the Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, which are the fourth and fifth largest in North America but located way up in the Northwest Territories. The Great Bear Lake is partially north of the Artic Circle and usually covered in ice until July.

[PNWRoadgeek]

This week at work I've had far too much time to stare at Google Maps and Wikipedia. Lake facts that have surprised me:

- Lake Winnipeg is huge - bigger than Lake Ontario and slightly smaller than Erie.
- Lake Tahoe is deeper than all five Great Lakes.
- Lake Winnebago is very shallow.
- Lake of the Woods is crazy.

Then there are the Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, which are the fourth and fifth largest in North America but located way up in the Northwest Territories. The Great Bear Lake is partially north of the Artic Circle and usually covered in ice until July.

Seems like a good place to go right now then.

If you're stuck with 90 degree weather like I am, maybe you need to go to Great Bear Lake. Lakes provide nice water, but Great Bear Lake also seems to provide ice? Sounds like a fun time.