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Lake Superior

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Geography

   Lake Superior, Canada/USA
   Lake Superior, Canada/USA - Lake Superior sunset from Michigan

                     Lake Superior sunset from Michigan

   Coordinates 48°00′N 88°00′W
   Primary sources Nipigon River,
   St. Louis River
   Pigeon River
   Pic River
   White River
   Michipicoten River
   Kaministiquia River
   Primary outflows St. Marys River
   Basin countries Canada, USA
   Max-length 563 km (350 mi)
   Max-width 257 km (160 mi)
   Surface area 82,414 km² (31,820 mi²) Canadian portion 28,700 km²
   (11,080 mi²)
   Average depth 147 m (482 ft)
   Max-depth 406 m (1333 ft)
   Water volume 12,100 km³ (2900 mi³)
   Residence time (of lake water) 191 years
   Shore length^1 4385 km (2725 mi)
   Surface elevation 183 m (600 ft)
   Islands Isle Royale
   Apostle Islands
   Settlements Duluth, Minnesota
   Superior, Wisconsin
   Thunder Bay, Ontario
   Marquette, Michigan
   ^1 Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized
   for this article.

   Lake Superior, bounded by Ontario and Minnesota to the north and
   Wisconsin and Michigan to the south, is the largest of North America's
   Great Lakes. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface
   area and is the world's third largest freshwater lake by volume.

Name

   In the Ojibwe language, the lake is called "Gichigami" ("big water"),
   but it is better known as "Gitche Gumee" as recorded by Henry Wadsworth
   Longfellow in The Song of Hiawatha. Lake Superior is referred to as
   "Gitche Gumee" in the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by
   Gordon Lightfoot.

   The lake was named le lac supérieur, or "Upper Lake," in the
   seventeenth century by French explorers because it was located above
   Lake Huron.(Nute, 1946)

Geography and hydrography

   Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes
   Enlarge
   Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes

   Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface
   area. Lake Baikal in Siberia is larger by volume, as is Lake
   Tanganyika. The Caspian Sea, while vastly larger than Lake Superior in
   both surface area and volume, is saline; though presently isolated, in
   the past, it has been repeatedly connected to, and isolated from, the
   Mediterranean via the Black Sea.

   Lake Superior (48°00’N, 88°00’W) has a surface area of 31,820 square
   miles (82,414 km²)—which is larger than South Carolina. It has a
   maximum length of 350 miles (563 km) and maximum breadth of 160 miles
   (257 km). Its average depth is 483 feet (147 m) with a maximum depth of
   1,333 feet (406 m). Lake Superior contains 2,900 cu mi (12,100 km³) of
   water. There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land
   mass of North and South America with a foot (30 cm) of water. The
   shoreline of the lake stretches 2,726 miles (4,385 km) (including
   islands). The lake's elevation is 600 feet (183 m) above sea level.

   Annual storms on Lake Superior regularly record wave heights of over 20
   feet. ( http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mqt/fitzgerald/gales.php)

   The lake is fed by over 200 rivers. The largest include the Nipigon
   River, the St. Louis River, the Pigeon River, the Pic River, the White
   River, the Michipicoten River and the Kaministiquia River. Lake
   Superior drains into Lake Huron by the St. Marys River. The rapids on
   the river necessitate the Sault Locks (pronounced "soo"), a part of the
   Great Lakes Waterway, to move boats over the 25 foot (7.6 m) height
   difference from Lake Huron.

   The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale in the state of
   Michigan.

   The larger towns on Lake Superior include: the twin ports of Duluth,
   Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Marquette,
   Michigan; and the two cities of Sault Ste. Marie, in Michigan and in
   Ontario. Duluth, at the western tip of Lake Superior, is the most
   inland point on the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

   Among the scenic places on the lake are: the Apostle Islands National
   Lakeshore; Isle Royale National Park; Pukaskwa National Park; Lake
   Superior Provincial Park; Grand Island National Recreation Area;
   Sleeping Giant (Ontario);and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Geology

   North America cratons and basement rock, showing the formation of the
   primordial Keweenawan rift containing today's Lake Superior.
   Enlarge
   North America cratons and basement rock, showing the formation of the
   primordial Keweenawan rift containing today's Lake Superior.

   The lake lies above a long-extinct Paleoproterozoic rift valley, the
   Keweenawan rift, which explains its great depths.

   The land surrounding the lake has proved to be rich in minerals.
   Copper, iron, silver, gold and nickel are or were the most frequently
   mined. Many towns are either current or former mining areas, or engaged
   in processing or shipping. The sparsely populated Lake Superior country
   with its rugged shorelines and wilderness attract tourists and
   adventurers, making tourism a large modern industry.

   Lake Superior is an important shipping route for iron ore and is part
   of the Great Lakes Waterway.

   Water levels, including diversions of water from the Hudson Bay
   watershed, are governed by the International Lake Superior Board of
   Control which was established in 1914 by the International Joint
   Commission.

History

   The Anishinabe, also known as the Ojibwe or Chippewa, have inhabited
   the Lake Superior region for over five hundred years, and were preceded
   by the Dakota, Fox, Menominee, Nipigon, Noquet, and Gros Ventres.

   According to an old sailor's tale, Lake Superior never gives up her
   dead. This is due to the temperature of the water. Normally bacteria
   feeding off a sunken decaying body will generate gas inside the body,
   causing it to float to the surface after a few days. The water in Lake
   Superior however, is cold enough year-round to inhibit bacterial
   growth, meaning bodies tend to sink and never surface. This is
   poetically referenced in Gordon Lightfoot's famous ballad, The Wreck of
   the Edmund Fitzgerald.

   The last major shipwreck on Lake Superior was that of SS Edmund
   Fitzgerald in 1975.

   American limnologist J. Val Klump was the first person to reach the
   lowest depth of Lake Superior on July 30, 1985 as part of a scientific
   expedition.
   Lake Superior in winter, as seen from Duluth in December, 2004.
   Enlarge
   Lake Superior in winter, as seen from Duluth in December, 2004.

Ecology

   Although part of a single system, each of the Great Lakes is different.
   In volume, Lake Superior is the largest. It is also the deepest and
   coldest of the five. Superior could contain all the other Great Lakes
   and three more Lake Eries. Because of its size, Superior has a
   retention time of 191 years.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Superior"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
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