Water science news, explainers, and statistics covering freshwater, hydrology, lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice, and Earth’s connected water systems.
Wisconsin’s best-known lakes range from two Great Lakes to deep natural basins and enormous river reservoirs. The 12 selections below are not an objective ranking. Statewide geographic significance guided the selection. Exceptional size or depth provided another reason for inclusion, as did a lake’s connection to a major city or prominent place in Wisconsin’s water…
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Lake Minnetonka reaches a maximum depth of 113 feet, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Its mean depth is about 30 feet and a large share of the lake is much shallower. The contrast comes from Minnetonka’s unusual form: it is an interconnected system of bays and basins rather than one simple bowl.…
Lake Michigan supports animals from tiny open-water crustaceans to lake trout, diving birds and shoreline mammals. The complete community extends beyond the water itself. Beaches, dunes, coastal marshes and tributary mouths provide feeding or breeding habitat for species that depend on the lake without spending their entire lives in it. The southern shore illustrates this…
Surface runoff that leaves North America eventually reaches one of three ocean systems: the Atlantic, the Arctic or the Pacific. Some runoff remains inside closed basins where water ends in lakes, wetlands or dry ground. The ridges separating those destinations form the continent’s major drainage divides. A drainage basin includes every slope, stream and tributary…
