Lake
hideA lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river. The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan's lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan's surface is carved by numerous river beds.
Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. 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.
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News tagged with lake
Supervolcano eruption -- in Sumatra -- deforested India 73,000 years ago
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
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A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, ...
Asian carp may have breached barrier protecting Lake Michigan
Nov 24, 2009 |
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Two feared species of Asian carp have zoomed beyond the $9 million electric barriers built to keep them out of Lake Michigan. Now, the only thing left between the carp and the Great Lakes is a lock and dam in southern Chicago.
Antarctic lake home to diverse community of viruses
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A study of the genetic structure of viruses in an Antarctic lake has revealed an astonishing genetic richness in the large number of viral families discovered.
Experts think toxic algae harming endangered fish
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Scientists say they think toxins from a blue-green algae plaguing lakes and rivers around the West are harming an endangered fish in the Klamath Basin, adding another obstacle to restoring species that have forced ...
Warmer means windier on world's biggest lake
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 15, 2009 |
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Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren.
15,000 reasons to worry about invasive species
Nov 09, 2009 |
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A day at the beach in Wisconsin's North Woods didn't used to go like this. Candy Dailey spent a Fourth of July holiday splashing with grandkids on the sandy shore of Lake Metonga when she felt a nasty sting on her foot.
Cornell releases predator beetle to battle hemlock pest
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers released a well-studied beetle predator to test its ability to ward off a hemlock-killing aphid-like insect.
For fish, bigger doesn’t always mean healthier
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Female smallmouth bass tend to prefer bigger male mates, but bigger doesn’t necessarily mean healthier. That’s the finding of a new study in the latest issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology that i ...
Airborne nitrogen shifts aquatic nutrient limitation in pristine lakes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 05, 2009 |
3.3 / 5 (4) |
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The impact of airborne nitrogen released from the burning of fossil fuels and wide-spread use of fertilizers in agriculture is much greater that previously recognized and even extends to remote alpine lakes, ...
Discoveries in the Deep
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Scientists from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have been using Pavilion Lake as a testing ground for the future human exploration of other worlds.
Alberta's hidden valleys offer both resources and danger
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Alberta is crisscrossed with hidden glacial valleys that hold both resource treasures and potential danger. University of Alberta researcher Doug Schmitt discovered a 300 metre deep, valley hidden beneath the surface of the ...
The GOES-12 satellite sees Large Hurricane Ida nearing landfall
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 09, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Residents of the U.S. Gulf coast thought they were getting a break this hurricane season until Ida showed up. Today, November 9, Ida is a hurricane and is headed for a landfall in the western Florida Panhandle ...
New evidence: AIDS-like disease in wild chimpanzees
Jul 22, 2009 |
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An international consortium has found that wild chimpanzees naturally infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIV) - long thought to be harmless to the apes - can contract an AIDS-like syndrome and ...
Scientists finding sink holes in Great Lakes
May 04, 2009 |
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Scientists studying submerged sinkholes in the Great Lakes off the coast of northern Michigan have stumbled onto something they never expected to find: life forms akin to those found in some of Earth's most extreme environments.
Arctic lake sediments show warming, unique ecological changes in recent decades
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 19, 2009 |
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An analysis of sediment cores indicates that biological and chemical changes occurring at a remote Arctic lake are unprecedented over the past 200,000 years and likely are the result of human-caused climate ...
