Lake Superior Canada. Upper (Lake Superior)

fresh water reservoir with largest area This is Lake Superior. Location - North America. 82.4 thousand square kilometers occupies the area of its water surface. The lake is in 3rd place in terms of the volume of fresh water on our planet, and it is inferior in terms of indicators only to Baikal and Tanganyika. The content in the lake is 11.6 thousand km 3. The average depth is 147 m, the greatest is 406 m.

Great Lakes

Where is Lake Superior located on the map of the North American continent? It is located in the United States and Canada. Lake Superior is one of the links in a chain of freshwater reservoirs located in eastern North America between Canada and the United States. The system consists of five lakes: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. And only Michigan is wholly owned by the United States.

Other lakes are separated by a border. In Canada, Lake Superior is located in the province of Ontario. On west bank The lake is located in Minnesota. In the southwest, Wisconsin. The south coast is in

Length coastline- 4387 km. The lake is 560 km long. It reaches a width of 260 km. The coastline is indented with bays and bays. On the north coast - rocks and cliffs. A South coast has flat terrain.

Connections

Lake Superior is considered the second largest in the world and, as already mentioned, the largest fresh water body in the world and the United States. It ends the path from Atlantic Ocean inside the continent. All the Great Lakes are connected to each other by rivers and canals. The upper is inextricably linked with Lake Huron by the St. Marys River, which is about 112 km long. It has a large number of rapids and rifts, in these places it is not suitable for navigation. That is why channels are created around the thresholds. The upper lake is still connected with the Canadian lake Nipigon by means of a small river.

Emergence

The bowl of the lake looks like a depression of tectonic origin. Due to the large number of earthquakes, deep faults appeared. The bottom of the lake was leveled by glaciers, completing the work begun by earthquakes. According to scientists, about 30 thousand years ago, North America in the eastern regions was covered with glaciers that came here from the north. These glaciers were fickle. They either moved north, leaving behind lake bowls, then they came here again. When the glaciers finally left the territory of the eastern regions of the continent, a huge lake formed in this place, which received the name Algonquin in modern science. In terms of area, it was very large and presumably exceeded the size of Lake Baikal by 10 times. This lake did not last long. After a while, a lot of water left, which filled A after several millennia, the Great Lakes appeared on this place.

Uniqueness

These famous lakes considered one of the great wonders of the planet. They are unique. The lakes form a hydrographic community, and a very extensive one, differing from the rest of the world's lakes in size, water volume and coastline configuration. They are located 500 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean and 700 kilometers from the Hudson Strait. They are the largest lake system in North America, located in the upper and middle part of the St. Lawrence River basin.

"Sea Road"

The Great Lakes are one of the main shipping routes in eastern North America. To get from the port of Duluth on Lake Superior to the source of the St. Lawrence River, you need to travel more than 2000 km. The upper lake is the highest mountain - 183.6 meters above sea level. The reservoir is also fed by the waters carried by the rivers.

Is the upper lake wastewater or drainless?

Let's try to understand this issue. The lake is wastewater, its flow occurs through the St. Marys River. From December to April, freezing occurs in coastal areas. The water level drops in the lake. Precipitation is also rare at this time, because there is not enough water to maintain the level in the lake.

The minimum level is usually in March-April. Then the ambient temperature rises, and the coastal snows begin to melt. Rivers quickly fill with water, and this leads to an increase in its level in the lake.

The largest volume of water in the Upper is observed in summer, just at this time they go

abundant rains. Level fluctuation does not exceed 1 m, but sometimes it can be more. This is mainly not due to the influx of water, but due to the movement of air masses.

seiches

The upper lake is not protected mountain ranges, therefore, the winds that come from the mainland or from the ocean roam freely, causing unrest in the reservoir.

Here you can observe a frequent phenomenon for this place - seiches. Giant waves form on the surface of the lake, causing the shore to collapse. Lake Superior is colder than all the other Great Lakes. In summer, the water warms up by no more than 12 degrees. And at depth it is almost always about 4 degrees.

Lake food

More than 200 rivers flow into Lake Superior. Nipigon is one of them, it is 48 km long and 50 to 200 m wide. One cannot help but recall the St. Louis River, which is 192 km long. Other rivers such as Pidgeon, Brul, Belaya, Stony also flow into it. All of them are no more than 100 km in length, but still contribute to the nutrition of the lake.

Islands

Lake Superior also has islands, some are enough - Isle Royal, it reaches a length of 72 km, a width of 14 km. On the Great Lakes, it ranks 2nd after Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. Now Isle Royal has the status of a national park, which is served by ferries from the mainland.

In the north of the lake is the island of Mishipikoten, its length is 27 km, its width is 10 km. He is the kingdom wildlife. 22 islands, called the Apostle Islands, belong to the state of Wisconsin.

Let's also name the islands that are national zone recreation of Michigan. This is Madeline and Grand Island.

Conclusion

There are many near the lake major cities such as Duluth, Thunder Bay, Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie. From this article, you learned where Lake Superior is located. Read about its history. met with interesting facts, its location on the map and received other information. We hope you enjoyed it.

It is the largest and deepest of the Great and has the right to be called the largest freshwater lake in the world. The northeastern part of the lake is located in Canada, and the western and southern parts of the lake are in the United States. The lake is at an altitude of 183 meters above sea level. The length of the lake is 613 kilometers, the largest width of the lake reaches 256 kilometers. The area of the lake is 82,000 square kilometers, the greatest depth of the lake reaches 393 meters. The pit of the lake has a tectonic origin, the northern shores of the lake are covered with rocks reaching a height of 400 meters. In turn, southern lake shores low and sandy. In Michigan, near the shores of the lake, there are deposits of copper and iron ore. The St. Marys River flows out of the lake, which is 112 kilometers long and connects Lake Superior with. The water in the lake is cold and clear, in the central part of the lake even in the middle of summer the water temperature does not exceed 4 degrees Celsius. The central part of the lake does not freeze due to raging autumn and winter storms, in turn, the coastal zone of the lake is covered with ice by early December and freed from ice by April. Lake Superior is part of a large waterway across the Great Lakes, through which about 22,000 ships pass during 8 months of navigation per year.

The total weight of transported goods is about 130 million tons. The waters of the lake are rich in fish, among which trout and sturgeon are harvested industrially. On the shores of the lake there are large ports in Canada - Fort William and Port Arthur, in the USA Ashland, Marquette. In the Ojibwe language, the lake is called Gichigami and translates as "big water". In the 17th century, during the study of the lake by the French, it was called "the most high lake”, because it was located above Lake Huron, and the name was later adopted by the British.

big salt Lake located in the USA, in the northwest in the state of Utah, at an altitude of 1280 meters above sea level, its area ranges from 2500 to 6000 square kilometers. The average depth of the lake is 4.5 - 7.5 meters, the greatest depth reaches 15 meters. Rivers such as Baer, Jordan, Weber and many others flow into the lake. The predecessor of the lake is [...]

Lake Superior is not only the largest and deepest of the Great Lakes, but also the largest freshwater lake in the world by area.
As a result of a long history of confrontation (sometimes bloody) between the British, French and Americans, the water area of the lake was divided between two countries: the northeastern part is in Canada, the western and southern parts are in the USA.
The lake was formed in an ancient tectonic basin of the Canadian Crystal Shield. Subsequently, the entire area of the lake basin was processed by glaciers, which literally “plowed” it in the strata of ancient crystalline rocks. Outcrops of these rocks have been preserved in the north, where the shores of the lake are rocky and high: individual rocks rise to a height of up to 400 m. South coast predominantly low-lying and sandy, processed by a glacier.
Large rivers do not flow into the Upper Lake, but small ones - about two hundred. The only river that flows out of the lake is St. Marys, fast and rapid, flowing into the lake. Its significance is very great. First, it forms a segment of the state border between the province (Canada) and the state of Michigan (USA). Secondly, it is part of the shipping route on the Great Lakes, and in order to lay it around its rapids, it was necessary to build canals with locks.
In general, the coastline of the Upper Lake is very indented, along the entire border of the lake there are many bays and coves.
Due to the fact that the river flow into the lake is small, the water in it is clear and cold: in the center of the reservoir, even in summer period the temperature does not exceed +4°С. Despite this, the center of the lake does not freeze, although the winters here are severe. The reason lies in the strong autumn and winter storms, which, as the local Indians say, "do not give big water fall asleep". But the entire coastal zone is covered with ice from the beginning of December to the end of April.
Upper Lake is located in the zone of distribution of coniferous and mixed forests of North America. Conifers are dominated by black and white spruce, balsam fir, red and white pine. Hardwoods typical of the shores of Lake Superior are birch, poplar, maple, beech, ash, linden and horse chestnut.
The first Europeans, in the 1620s. who reached the shores of Lake Superior were French colonists - fur hunters (trappers). They gave it the name Lac Superieur (Upper), as it was the most upstream in the Great Lakes system. Later, in the USA and English-speaking Canada, this name is used as a tracing-paper from the French name: Lake Superieur - Upper.
At about the same time as the French, the Spaniards appeared on the shores of Lake Superior, founded several Catholic missions, but could not gain a foothold due to the lack of financial support from the King of Spain, who in one of his letters called these places a “damp hole”.
European pioneers were met by eight Indian tribes, the largest was the Ojibwe tribe, who settled in Chekuamegon Bay. The Indians were pushed back by European hunters, missionaries, and later by the North American Yankees, who took up the development of iron ore and copper deposits. In the 19th century appeared here railways and ports were built.
Currently, the industrial development of the Lake Superior region has slowed down due to the efforts of conservationists who oppose any attempt to industrialize this region of wonderful landscapes and pristine nature.
In American textbooks of history and geography, Lake Superior is often referred to as the "golden link" in the chain of the Great Lakes that connected the coast of the Atlantic Ocean with central regions countries.
For all its beauty, Lake Superior remains very complex and capricious with its sudden change in weather, sudden squalls and strong currents.
Most of the inhabitants of the shores of Lake Superior are white, among them there are many descendants of the first settlers - the British and French. Many immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany, who came here in the XIX century. in search of work in mines and logging. There are very few indigenous people - Indians, they live compactly in settlements, less often - in port cities.
Compared to other Great Lakes, Lake Superior has been the least affected by industrial and agricultural pollution. The reason is not only in the multitude of water protection programs, but also in the fact that Agriculture along the banks did not receive much development due to the rocky soil, and very large cities did not appear here, only a few ports.
The iron ore and copper deposits located in the Lake Superior region (on the Kevino Peninsula in Michigan, USA) are under the vigilant supervision of federal environmental services, and their importance is no longer as great as it was several decades ago.
Nevertheless, Lake Superior is of economic importance as it is an important link in the Great Lakes waterway. During the navigation, which lasts about eight months, more than 20 thousand ships pass through the lake, carrying mainly passengers, container cargo, and timber. In the world classification, a specific type of “Great Lakes cargo ship” is separately singled out, these are the largest non-marine ships in the world - up to 300 m long and over 30 m wide. Vessels whose service life has expired have become museums, there are two such museum ships on the Upper Lake: William L. Irwin in Duluth and Meteor in Superior. The same neighboring cities divided among themselves the largest port on the Great Lakes, called Twin Port (Twin Port).
Commercial fishing is also carried out in the Upper Lake. There are a lot of fish - due to the purity of the waters and the lack of industrial runoff. Fishing for whitefish, trout, sturgeon predominates.
The almost virgin nature of the surroundings of the Upper Lake was preserved in national parks Isle Royal (USA) and Pucasqua (Canada).
Isle Royal is the name of the largest local island, measuring 72 × 14 km. About 6 thousand years ago, the Indians mined copper here, and today roads and cars are prohibited here and there is national park Isle Royal, founded back in 1940. The island is unique in that it has another lake - Siskiuit, and quite large, with an area of about 20 km 2. In turn, there are several islands on the lake, including Ryan Island, on which there is an Elk Pond, and in it there are large boulder islands. Such a "natural matryoshka" is the result of ancient glaciation.
The Archipelago of the Apostles is part of a special nature protection zone - the national lake coast, which includes more than 20 islands with historical lighthouses, underwater grottoes, relict forests and habitats for wild animals located on them.
The habits and way of life of the population on the shores of Lake Superior, considered perhaps the most well-read and athletic in the United States, have become part of American folklore. A typical "lake" event is the annual ski run "With a book across the bay" (run organized by the library community). Every year in February, skiers and athletes in Indian snowshoes run through the snow that covers the frozen Chekuamegon Bay. They cross the 10-kilometer bay at night, by the light of stars and thousands of candles set right in the snow.

general information

Location: Central Plains of North America.
State affiliation: On the US-Canada border.
Large islands: Isle Royal, Madeleine, Apostle Archipelago (USA).
Large bays: Kivino (USA), Whitefish (Canada, USA)
Port cities: Thunder Bay (Ontario, Canada) - 108,359 people (2011), Duluth (Minnesota, USA) - 86,265 people (2010), Superior (Wisconsin, USA) - 27,244 people (2010).
Languages: English, French, Indian languages.
Ethnic composition: white - about 95%, other - 5% (2014).
Religions: Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism), Judaism.
Origin: tectonic.
Water balance: sewage (the St. Marys River flows out).
Mineralization: fresh.
Food: river, rain, ground water.
Coastal territories: in the north - the province of Ontario (Canada), in the west - the state of Minnesota (USA), in the south - the states of Wisconsin and Michigan (USA)

Numbers

Area: 82.1 thousand km 2 (54 thousand km 2 - USA; 28.1 thousand km 2 - Canada).

Volume: 11.6 thousand km 3.
Length: 613 km.
Width: 256 km.
coastline length: 2938 km.
Max Depth: 406 m.
Average depth: 147 m.
Pool area: 127,700 km2.
Height above sea level: 183 m.
Population: 425 548 people (USA, 2011), 181,573 people (Canada, 2014).

Climate and weather

Humid continental.
January average temperature: -15°C.
July average temperature: +17°С.
Average annual rainfall: about 580 mm.
Relative humidity: 65-75%.

Economy

Minerals: iron, copper.
Industry: mining, shipbuilding and ship repair, food (fish processing), light (woodworking).
Agriculture: plant growing (wheat, potatoes), animal husbandry (meat and dairy).
Hydroelectric power industry.
Lake navigation(Twin Port - Duluth and Superior, over 40 metric tons in 2002).
Fishing.
Services sector: transport, trade, tourist.

Attractions

Natural

Isle Royale (USA) and Pucasqua (Canada) National Parks, Apostles Island National Lakeshore (USA), Isle Royale with Siskiuit Lake, St. Marys River.

Duluth

Twin Lake Port (Twin Port), Duluth Ship Canal (1871), Historic Central High School (1892), Airlift Bridge (1905), William L. Irvine Lake Freighter Museum (built 1938, museum since 1978), Great Lakes Aquarium (2000) ).

Thunder Bay

Fort William Historical Park (1815, 1973), Port Arthur, Sleeping Giant (Mesas), Amethyst Mines.

Curious facts

■ In the language of the Ojibwe Indians, Lake Superior is called Gichigami, which means "Big Water". The American poet Henry Longfellow (1807-1882), in his famous poem "The Song of Hiawatha", based on Native American folklore, mentioned Lake Superior with its "root" name: Big Sea... "(translated by I. Bunin).
■ The surroundings of Isle Royale are the most dangerous place for navigation on the entire Upper Lake. There is a very complex network of treacherous currents, many underwater rocks with jagged peaks and sudden storms that raise high waves. Since the island is located on the main shipping route, the number of sunken ships in the area has not yet been accurately established.
■ The St. Marys River, flowing from Lake Superior and partly forming the Canadian-American border, divides the once-united city of Sault Ste. Marie into an American part in Michigan and a Canadian part in Ontario.
■ The water level in Lake Superior fluctuates as canals for shipping and hydropower run nearby and the water level is regulated. However, these fluctuations barely reach 1.1 m: seasonal changes are 40-60 cm with a winter minimum and a summer maximum.
■ The name of the most common fish in Lake Superior is whitefish, which literally translates as “white fish”. However, in North America not all representatives of the salmon family are called so, but only one of its genus - whitefish.
■ On the island of Isle Royal, a pack of thirty wolves and a thousand elks strangely coexist, and, what zoologists consider extremely surprising, there are no bears at all. The number of moose is maintained due to the fact that in especially cold and hungry winters, moose migrate across the ice to the island from the Canadian shore of Lake Superior.
■ According to Ojibwe legend, the "Sleeping Giant" - elongated mesas in the Thunder Bay region - was once a living giant named Nanabiju. And he turned to stone by the will of the god of the Ojibways, after he gave the white settlers the location of a rich deposit of silver, which actually exists and is called the Silver Isle.
■ During a storm, the wind raises waves up to 9 m high on the Upper Lake.

The largest freshwater lake in the world, by surface area - is lake superior, which is located in North America between the US and Canada. Lake Superior was formed at the end of the second Ice Age. The theory of the formation of this lake looks like this, a huge mass of ice on the site of today's lake for tens of thousands of years pushed through the earth's crust, and formed a depression - a depression when the temperature on Earth began to rise - the glacier began to melt and filled this depression with water, turning into Lake Superior.

Characteristics of Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater body of water in terms of water surface area.
The surface area of Lake Superior is 82,414 square kilometers.
Lake Superior contains 10% of all fresh surface water on Earth.
The volume of water in Lake Superior is 11,600 cubic kilometers
The most deep point in Lake Superior 406 meters from the surface.
More than 300 streams and rivers flow into Lake Superior.
The average height of Lake Superior is about 602 meters above sea level.
The average underwater visibility in Lake Superior is 8.23 meters, the maximum visibility at great depths is 30.4 meters.
The lake is approximately 616 km long and 257 km wide.
An interesting fact: the difference in sunset time between the western and eastern coasts of the lake is 35 minutes.

Lake Superior is one of the youngest formations on the planet, the age of the lake is only about 10,000 years - dating back to the last ice age.
For comparison, the second largest lake on Earth (in terms of surface area, and the largest in the world in terms of water volume), Lake Baikal in Russia, is 25 million years old.
Fifty-eight orchid species are native to the Lake Superior basin.

When European explorers visited Lake Superior in 1600, they reported giant sturgeon about 2.7 meters long and saw pike over 2 meters long.

The average annual water temperature of Lake Superior is 4.44 degrees Celsius. The lake rarely freezes completely - once every 20 years, if this happens, it thaws within a few hours. The last complete ice cover of Lake Superior occurred in 1979.
On the lake the most big Island- Isle Royale, its dimensions are 72 km long and 14 km wide, there are also small lakes on its territory.

Currently, the lake is a transport artery for ships carrying ore from mining areas to consumption areas, the length of ships can reach 300 meters.
Despite the fact that the reservoir is a lake, there are storms on it that lead to shipwrecks.
Modern ships are built for operation on the lake, taking into account the possibility of sailing in storms. Previously, this was not taken into account. The last shipwreck on the lake was recorded in 1918, when two French minesweepers disappeared without a trace during a storm.

The lake appeared about 4000 years ago as a result of melting ice and today is located at an altitude of 183.5 meters above sea level. The lake is a giant body of water with a total area of 82,400 square kilometers. Upper (Lake Superior) - the most big lake in the Great Lakes system in North America (North America), the world's largest lake in terms of area - except for the Caspian Sea (Caspian Sea), - and the world's third freshwater lake in terms of water volume. The maximum volume of the Upper is 12,100 cubic kilometers. That's enough to fill all the other lakes in the system—Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario—and still have two lakes of Erie left. Lake Superior is second in volume only to the Russian Baikal (Lake Baikal), the most deep lake on the planet, and African Tanganyika (Lake Tanganyika), off the coast of which the borders of four states converge.

The northern border of Lake Superior is divided between the Canadian province of Ontario (Ontario) and the American state of Minnesota (Minnesota, USA). On southern borders The upper states of Wisconsin and Michigan meet.
The lake appeared about 4000 years ago as a result of melting ice and today is located at an altitude of 183.5 meters above sea level. The lake is a giant body of water with a total area of 82,400 square kilometers.
The maximum depth of the Upper is 406 meters, the average is 147 meters, which makes it one of the deepest - and the coldest! - lakes of North America, however, in the world list of the deepest lakes, the Upper takes only 36th place. The maximum length of the Upper is 563 kilometers, the maximum width is 257 kilometers. So much fresh water is stored in this area that it is enough to cover both Americas with a layer of water 30 centimeters deep. The coastline of the Upper is estimated at 4387 kilometers, if you count its islands.
Lake Superior freezes from December to April. The most important ports on the lake are Ashland and Duluth in the USA and Thunder Bay in Canada. Clean fresh water is the reason why there are several national parks and protected areas, including Isle Royale, located on the island of the same name and owned by the state of Michigan, and Canada's Pukaskwa National Park.
In the language of the Ojibwe Indians, the name of the lake sounds like "Gichigami", which translates as "big water". The first French explorers to reach the shores of this vast inland sea along the Ottawa River and Lake Huron in the 17th century, gave it its modern name. True, in French "le lac supérieur" meant "the highest lake", since the Upper is located in the system above Lake Huron. The Jesuit missionaries also called it "Lac Tracy". When the British established themselves in North America, the lake retained its French name adapted to English.
More than 200 rivers feed the lake, and the largest among them are Nipigon River, St. Louis River, Pigeon River, Pic River, White River and others.
Meanwhile, the waters of the lake feed the Huron via the St. Marys River. The largest of the islands of the lake is Isle Royal, and there are several lakes on the island, which, in turn, also have inland islands. Another large island, Madeline Island, belongs to the state of Wisconsin, and Michipicoten belongs to the province of Ontario.
Many shipping routes pass through the Upper, and hundreds of sunken ships lie at the bottom of it, since strong
storms are not uncommon on the lake. Especially many ships died near Cape Whitefish (Cape Whitefish), the surroundings of which are known as the "Tomb of the Great Lakes". In addition, the locals say that Upper rarely gives up its dead, meaning that the lake is very cold, and low temperature inhibits the growth of bacteria, as a result of which the body has no chance to float to the surface.
One of the most invaluable riches of Lake Superior is its fish - more than 80 species of fish live in Upper Lake, including valuable commercial fish such as trout, whitefish, salmon, carp, sturgeon, freshwater herring and many others. Some of them are accidentally or specially bred in the lake.
Along the shores of Lake Superior there are many places intended for recreation and tourist trips. One of them is a provincial park with the same name as the lake. The park covers an area of approximately 600 square kilometers in the province of Ontario and includes several bays where hundreds of campsites have been built. Most of the tourist sites are open only in summer, but scientific research is carried out here all year round.