Geography 2011A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Manitoulin Island, Saginaw River, Point Pelee National Park

• School: Western University
• Department: Geography
• Course: Geography 2011A/B
• Professor: Wendy Dickinson

Document Summary

Great lake definition: any lake over 500 km squared. 250 great lakes world wide: one third are in canada. Laurentian great lakes: superior, huron, michigan, erie, ontario. Watershed: 295,000 square miles, 764,051 square kilometres. 20,207 km: 6850 miles in ontario and quebec, 5270 miles in 8 us states. Drainage: lake superior and lake michigan, east through lake huron, lake st. clair, Lake erie, lake ontario, to the st. lawrence and atlantic ocean. The great lakes: contain 23,000 km cubed of water, area of 244,000 km squared, largest system of fresh surface water on earth. Outflows: less than 1% per year. Pollutants that enter the system are retained in the system. The wisconsin period: began 70,000 years ago. Ice picked up clay, sand, gravel, boulders: as ice moved it shaped the landscape, withdrew 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, massive melt water. Equals ancestral lakes: clay, sand, gravel and boulders formed hills and ridges and moraines.