Lakes

Lake

• A lake is a body of water which is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river.

Saimaa

Lakes

• Most lakes have a natural in the form of a river or stream, but some do not and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both.

Lake Chad

Aral Sea

Aral Sea

Former Aral Sea

Caspian Sea

Lake Eyre

Salt lakes

• Salt lakes can form where there is no natural outlet or where the water evaporates rapidly and the drainage surface of the water table has a higher-than-normal salt content.

Great Salt Lake

Lake Balkhash

Types of lakes

• Types of lakes by basin formation

Rift lakes

• A rift lake is a lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, an area of extensional tectonics in the continental crust.

• They are often found within rift valleys and may be very deep.

Baikali järv

Tanganjika järv

Lake Superior

Crater lake

• A lake which forms in a volcanic caldera or crater after the volcano has been inactive for some time

Lake Toba

Crater Lake in Oregon

Maar lake in Germany

Glacial lake

• A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier

• Most Estonian lakes are glacial lakes

The Great Lakes

Lake Peipsi-Pihkva

Lake Ladoga

Oxbow lake

• A lake which is formed when a wide meander from a stream or a river is cut off to form a lake

Oxbow lake

Meanders and oxbow lakes on the Nowitna River, Alaska

Thermokarst lakes

• A body of freshwater, usually shallow, that is formed in a depression by meltwater from thawing permafrost

Thermokarst lakes

Artificial lake

• A lake created by flooding land behind a dam

Subglacial lake

• A subglacial lake is a lake under a glacier

Lake Vostok