Portal:Lakes

The Lakes Portal
A portal dedicated to Lakes

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  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg A view of the six lowest (and largest) lakes of the Seven Rila Lakes

  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg A view of Goëngarijpsterpoelen, one of the Frisian Lakes

  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg A view of West Lake in Hangzhou, China

  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg A view of Isojärvi in Satakunta, Western Finland

  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg Thunder Lake in Northern Alberta

  • OOjs UI icon info-progressive.svg A view of Lake Teletskoye, the largest lake in the Altai Mountains and the Altai Republic, Russia

Introduction

Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia

A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although like the much larger oceans, they form part of Earth's water cycle. Lakes are distinct from lagoons which are generally coastal parts of the ocean. They are generally larger and deeper than ponds, which also lie on land, though there are no official or scientific definitions. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing in a channel on land. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.

Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, where a river channel has widened into a basin. In some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use, for hydro-electric power generation or domestic water supply, or for aesthetic, recreational purposes, or other activities. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Lake turkana.jpg

Lake Turkana (/tɜːrˈkɑːnə, -ˈkæn-/), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van (passing the shrinking South Aral Sea), and among all lakes it ranks 24th.

Lake Turkana is now threatened by the construction of Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia due to the damming of the Omo river which supplies most of the lake's water.

Although the lake commonly has been —and to some degree still is— used for drinking water, its salinity (slightly brackish) and very high levels of fluoride (much higher than in fluoridated water) generally make it unsuitable, and it has also been a source of diseases spread by contaminated water. Increasingly, communities on the lake's shores rely on underground springs for drinking water. The same characteristics that make it unsuitable for drinking limits its use in irrigation. The climate is hot and very dry. (Full article...)
List of selected articles

General topics

Lake zones
   Littoral zone
   Limnetic zone
   Profundal zone
   Benthic zone
Lake stratification
   Epilimnion
   Metalimnion
   Hypolimnion
   Destratification
Lake types
   Holomictic lake
   Monomictic lake
   Dimictic lake
   Polymictic lake
   Meromictic lake
   Amictic lake
See also
  • v
  • t
  • e

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Do you have a question about lakes that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

General images -

The following are images from various Lake-related articles on Wikipedia.

  • Soda Lakes in Nevada, USA (from Volcanogenic lake)

  • Lake zones (left) and algal communities (right) (from Lake)

  • The Seven Rila Lakes are a group of glacial lakes in the Bulgarian Rila mountains. (from Lake)

  • Titan's north polar hydrocarbon seas and lakes as seen in a false-color Cassini synthetic aperture radar mosaic (from Lake)

  • A view of the southern polar plain of Mars. The area where a subglacial lake has been detected is highlighted. Image credit: USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Arizona State University (from Subglacial lake)

  • Lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (from Volcanogenic lake)

  • The shores of Lake Peipus, the fifth-largest lake in Europe, near the town of Kallaste in Estonia (from Lake)

  • The first view of the sediment at the bottom of subglacial Lake Whillans, captured by the WISSARD expedition. Image credit: NASA/JPL, California Institute of Technology (from Subglacial lake)

  • The crater lake of Volcán Irazú, Costa Rica (from Lake)

  • Lake Kaniere is a glacial lake in the West Coast region of New Zealand. (from Lake)

  • Round Tangle Lake, one of the Tangle Lakes, 2,864 feet (873 m) above sea level in interior Alaska (from Lake)

  • Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia (from Lake)

  • Lake of Flowers (Liqeni i Lulëve), one of the Lurë Mountains glacial lakes, Albania (from Lake)

  • Oeschinen Lake in the Swiss Alps (from Lake)

  • Badwater Basin dry lake, 15 February 2007. Landsat 5 satellite photo (from Lake)

  • A schematic cross-section of the subglacial pool beneath Taylor Glacier and its outflow, Blood Falls. Image credit: Zina Deretsky / US National Science Foundation (from Subglacial lake)

  • Lake Mapourika, New Zealand (from Lake)

  • An illustration of ice core drilling above subglacial Lake Vostok. These drilling efforts collected re-frozen lake water that has been analyzed to understand the lake's chemistry. Image credit: Nicolle Rager-Fuller / US National Science Foundation (from Subglacial lake)

  • Satellite image of subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica. Image credit: NASA (from Subglacial lake)

  • There are some 187,888 lakes in Finland larger than 500 square metres. Isojärvi is Finland's 97th-largest lake. (from Lake)

  • Heaven Lake, the crater lake of Paektu Mountain on the China–North Korea border (from Volcanogenic lake)

  • Peyto Lake, Alberta, Canada (from Lake)

  • Lakes can have significant cultural importance. The West Lake of Hangzhou has inspired romantic poets throughout the ages, and has been an important influence on garden designs in China, Japan and Korea. (from Lake)

  • Ice melting on Lake Balaton in Hungary (from Lake)

  • These kettle lakes in Alaska were formed by a retreating glacier. (from Lake)

  • Atro/Attar Lake and pass, Ishkoman Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan (from Lake)

  • Crater Lake in Oregon, USA (from Volcanogenic lake)

  • Russian scientist Peter Kropotkin first proposed the idea of fresh water under Antarctic ice. (from Subglacial lake)

  • Lake Teletskoye, Siberia (from Lake)

  • The Caspian Sea is either the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea (from Lake)

  • An artist's depiction of the subglacial lakes and rivers beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Image credit: Zina Deretsky / US National Science Foundation (from Subglacial lake)

  • Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada (from Lake)

  • Ephemeral 'Lake Badwater', a lake only noted after heavy winter and spring rainfall, Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, 9 February 2005. Landsat 5 satellite photo (from Lake)

  • Garibaldi Lake in British Columbia, Canada, is impounded by lava flows comprising The Barrier (from Volcanogenic lake)

Related portals

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WikiProjects
  • WikiProject Lakes
  • WikiProject Rivers
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Media files used on this page

Darkgreen flag waving.svg
Author/Creator: TristanBomb, Licence: CC0
A dark green flag.
Issoria lathonia.jpg
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Waves in pacifica 1.jpg
Author/Creator: Brocken Inaglory, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Sea Storm in Pacifica, w:California
Horseshoe Bend TC 27-09-2012 15-34-14.jpg
Author/Creator: Paul Hermans, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona
Drinking water.jpg
Author/Creator: Photo taken by de:Benutzer:Alex Anlicker using a Nikon Coolpix 950., Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Pitná voda - kohoutek
Atchafalaya Basin.jpg
A scene in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana, USA, in the Sherburne Complex Wildlife Management Area, a Nature Conservancy reserve.
The Earth seen from Apollo 17.jpg
"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000 kilometres (18,000 mi). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.
C Puzzle.png
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Walden Pond, Massachusetts on June 27, 2012.png
Author/Creator: Buaidh, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Walden Pond, Massachusetts on June 27, 2012. This is a square crop of 2012-06-27-Walden-Pond-02 33.jpg by User:Cbaile19.
Sliv Neretve.gif
Neretva River Watershed, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.
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Author/Creator: unknown, Licence:
Flag of Iceland.svg
The Flag of Iceland.
  • Horizontal aspect ratio: 7:1:2:1:14;
  • Vertical aspect ratio: 7:1:2:1:7.
Flag of Japan.svg
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: PD
Flag of Sweden.svg
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: PD
Caddo Lake- Cypress.jpg
Author/Creator: Jay Carriker (User:JCarriker), Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5
Caddo Lake with Bald Cypress trees — Caddo Lake State Park, Piney Woods region, Texas.
Lake Vostok drill 2011.jpg
An artist's cross-section of Lake Vostok, the largest known subglacial lake in Antarctica. Liquid water is thought to take thousands of years to pass through the lake, which is the size of North America's Lake Ontario.
Classic view of a cloudfree Peyto Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (4110933448).jpg
Author/Creator: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA, Licence: CC BY 2.0
I spent a few days in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, in September 2009 - WOW- what a place! Incredible scenery in all directions, great short and long hikes, surprisingly few people and excellent weather. This is a must see if you have a chance.
Ice Melting on Lake Balaton.jpg
Author/Creator: Elekes Andor, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Ice Melting on Lake Balaton. Taken on the 27th of February, 2017. Alsórét, Balatonkenese, Hungary. After cane cutting.
Emerald Bay.jpg
Author/Creator: Michael, Licence: CC BY 2.0
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, USA
Badwater tm5 2007046.jpg
Badwater dry lake, Death Valley, 2007
Mars-SubglacialWater-SouthPoleRegion-20180725.jpg
A Watery Lake Is Detected on Mars, Raising the Potential for Alien Life - The discovery suggests that watery conditions beneath the icy southern polar cap may have provided one of the critical building blocks for life on the red planet.[1][2]

The New York Times & Science - July 25, 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/science/mars-liquid-alien-life.html

A view of the southern polar plain of Mars, with the Mars Express’s color-coded findings superimposed at the site where they were detected. The 12-mile-wide lake is believed to be about a mile deep.

Yaylyu.JPG
Author/Creator: Красавин А.Б., Licence: CC BY 2.5
Телецкое озеро с террасы Яйлю
Great Lakes from space.jpg
Satellite image of the Great Lakes from space
Isojärvi panorama 3.jpg
Author/Creator: kallerna, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Panoramic view of Isojärvi, Pomarkku.
Lake zones (left) and algal communities (right).jpg
Author/Creator: Pdietry, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Depicts limnological lake zones and algal community types
Antarctic Lakes - Sub-glacial aquatic system.jpg
An artist's representation of the Antarctic aquatic system scientists believe is buried beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.
First view of the bottom of Antarctic subglacial Lake Whillans.jpg
First view of the bottom of Antarctic subglacial Lake Whillans, captured by the high-resolution imaging system aboard the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device. The imagery and other data from the mini-sub were used to survey the lake floor and help the WISSARD team verify that the rest of their instruments could be safely deployed into the lake. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Hangzhou Banner.png
Author/Creator: Someone's Moving Castle, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
West Lake
GaribaldiLake-PanoramaRidge.jpg
Author/Creator: User:Seattle Skier, Licence: CC BY 2.5
Garibaldi Lake and the north face of Mount Garibaldi, looking south from Panorama Ridge at 6900 ft (2100 m).
Lura Liqeni i Lulëve.JPG
Author/Creator: Markussep, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Liqeni i Lulëve, one of the Lura lakes, Albania
PIA10008 Seas and Lakes on Titan.jpg

This Cassini false-color mosaic shows all synthetic-aperture radar images to date of Titan's north polar region. Approximately 60 percent of Titan's north polar region, above 60 degrees north latitude, is now mapped with radar. About 14 percent of the mapped region is covered by what is interpreted as liquid hydrocarbon lakes.

Features thought to be liquid are shown in blue and black, and the areas likely to be solid surface are tinted brown. The terrain in the upper left of this mosaic is imaged at lower resolution than the remainder of the image

Most of the many lakes and seas seen so far are contained in this image, including the largest known body of liquid on Titan. These seas are most likely filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.

Many bays, islands and presumed tributary networks are associated with the seas. The large feature in the upper right center of this image is at least 100,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles) in area, greater in extent than Lake Superior (82,000 square kilometers or 32,000 square miles), one of Earth's largest lakes. This Titan feature covers a greater fraction of the surface, at least 0.12 percent, than the Black Sea, Earth's largest terrestrial inland sea, at 0.085 percent. Larger seas may exist, as it is probable that some of these bodies are connected, either in areas unmapped by radar or under the surface (see PIA08365).

Of the 400 observed lakes and seas, 70 percent of their area is taken up by large "seas" greater than 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.

The original NASA image has been modified by rotating 90 degrees clockwise, cropping and reduction in size (the linear pixel density was reduced 50%).

Some of the features in this image have been annotated in Wikimedia Commons.
DirkvdM irazu 4.jpg
Author/Creator: unknown, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Blood falls1 f Low Res nsf.gov.jpg
A schematic cross-section of Blood Falls showing how subglacial microbial communities have survived in cold, darkness and absence of oxygen for a million years in McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica.
Kallaste rannik.JPG
Author/Creator: Ivo Kruusamägi, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Peipsi järve rannik Kallaste juures. Lõiguti paistab Kallaste paljand.
Lake turkana.jpg
Author/Creator: AdamPG, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
View at the Lake Turkana
Thunder Lake Panorama.jpg
Author/Creator: Ethan2039, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Thunder Lake Panorama
Lava Lake Nyiragongo 2.jpg
Author/Creator: Cai Tjeenk Willink (Caitjeenk), Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Lava Lake of the Nyiragongo Volcano in Virunga National Park in Eastern DRC
Seal of Kentucky.svg
Great Seal of the State of Kentucky
Oeschinen.jpg
A summertime view of Blüemlisalp and Oeschinen Lake, Bernese Alps.
Atro Lake.jpg
Author/Creator: Shakeelgilgity, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Attar Lake and pass between Darkut, Yasin and Ishkoman district Ghizer, Gilgt-Baltistan, Pakistan.
Crater lake oregon.jpg
Author/Creator: Zainubrazvi, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Crater Lake is a caldera lake in the south of U.S. state of Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. With a maximum depth of almost 1950 feet (594 m) the lake partly fills a nearly 4,000 feet (1,220 m) deep caldera that was formed around 2000 (± 150) BC by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama.
Sevan Armenia Севан Армения.jpeg
Author/Creator: photo-armenia.com, Licence: CC0
Вид с самолёта на озеро Севан (Армения).
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Lake Badwater, Death Valley, 2005.jpg
Lake Badwater, Death Valley, 2005
Baitou Mountain Tianchi.jpg
(c) Bdpmax, CC-BY-SA-3.0
A crater lake at Tianchi (Heaven Lake, 天池) at Baitou (Chinese Changbai Shan) at the border of China and North Korea
Панорама зимнего Телецкого с моста.jpg
Author/Creator: Демин Алексей Барнаул, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Lake Teletskoye: North-Eastern Altai, between the Altyntu ridge and the western spurs of the Abakan ridge (Korbu ridge, Teletsky ridge), Turochak region, Altai.
Kluft-photo-SodaLake-rim-2018-11.jpg
Author/Creator: Ikluft, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
eastern rim of Big Soda Lake, a maar volcano near Fallon, Nevada
Icon External Link.svg
Author/Creator: , Licence: GPL
External link icon
Lake Kaniere.jpg
Author/Creator: Aaron Rees, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Lake Kaniere, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand
Peter Kropotkin circa 1900.jpg
Peter Kropotkin circa 1900
Lake Vostok Sat Photo color.jpg
RADARSAT image of Lake Vostok, Antarctica.
China Hangzhou Westlake-8.jpg
Author/Creator: Jacob Ehnmark from Sendai, Japan, Licence: CC BY 2.0
China Hangzhou Westlake
IMG_0178
Caspian Sea from orbit.jpg
This is a view from orbit of the Caspian Sea as imaged by the MODIS sensor on the Terra satellite. Caption: The original caption from NASA: ::"The northern part of the Caspian Sea is plagued by a process called eutrophication, in which agricultural run-off rich in fertilizers stimulates rampant growth of algae in the water. The death and decay of these algae robs the water of oxygen, with obvious negative consequences for aquatic life. This image of the Caspian Sea shows swirls of green and blue near the mouth of the Volga River (top center), which indicate the presence of algae. The bright blue color of the northeastern part of the sea may be due to a mixture of plant life and sediment, for this is where the sea is most shallow. This image is from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on June 11, 2003.
Poertschach Landspitz Salettl 25122007 21.jpg
Author/Creator: Johann Jaritz, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 at
Gazebo on the peninsula`s Landspitz, municipality Poertschach on the Lake Woerth, district Klagenfurt Land, Carinthia / Austria / EU
Group people icon.jpg
Author/Creator: Sara 506, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
التعاون والمشاركة
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Diving helmet for professional diver engaged in surface supplied diving
Goëngarijpsterpoelen (Frysk) Goaiïngarypster Puollen (d.j.b.) 20.jpg
Author/Creator: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Goëngarijpsterpoelen (Frysk) Goaiïngarypster Puollen View of the lakes from Heerenzijl. The first rays of sunshine in the morning dispel the mist. and shine on the trees and the reeds.
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  • Urutseg
  • Ain92
, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Иконка для статей-заготовок о деревьях, растениях или ботанике.