3. Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is a huge lake located in east central Africa along the equator and borders the countries of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. It is the third largest lake in the world with a total surface area of 69485 square kilometers. It is also Africa’s largest lake and the world’s largest tropical lake. Approximately 80 percent of the lake’s water comes from rain.
The other 20 percent comes from small streams flowing into the lake. . The lake was named after Queen Victoria by the explorer John Hanning, who was the first European to discover it and he was also the one who claimed that it was the source of the Nile River. This claim caused a great debate in the scientific community before being proven correct.
2. Lake Superior
The largest of the Great lakes of North America Lake Superior has a total surface area of 82414 square kilometers. It is bound to the north by Canada and to the south by United States of America. It is the largest fresh water lake and the second largest lake in the world. Lake Superior contains as much water as all the other Great Lakes combined and there is enough water in Lake Superior to flood all of North and South America to a depth of one foot.
That’s one big lake I can tell you that! Lake Superior is one of the earth’s youngest major features, at only about 10,000 years of age–dating to the last glacial retreat. The British named it Superior, on account of its being superior in magnitude to any of the lakes on that vast continent.
1. Caspian Sea
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. That’s a sea right? But Caspian Sea is regarded as a saline lake which in technical terms is a salt lake with a higher concentration of sodium chloride or other minerals typically found in seas and oceans. The Caspian Sea is bordered by the land masses of Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic movement and a fall in sea level.
The surface area of the sea is 371000 square kilometers and a maximum depth of 1025 meters which makes it the largest and the third deepest lake in the world. And there is something unique about the lake too as its basin is an oceanic basin instead of a continental crust.
Conclusion
So this was our list of the top ten largest lakes in the world. We see that lakes are more than just a simple body of water. They are the remnants of a past that had a profound influence on the present and also are important ecosystems that, can sustain a healthy balance of aquatic life, provide us with much enjoyment, and help support our socio-economic needs. Each of the lakes mentioned above are important in all prospects be it economic activities or the daily activities of people. They are an important and a beautiful part of our environment.
Proper lake function can also ease the impact of floods and droughts by storing large amounts of water and releasing it during shortages. Lakes also work to replenish groundwater, positively influence water quality of downstream watercourses, and preserve the biodiversity and habitat of the area. When the ecological puzzle pieces of a lake come together and the lake is able to work as it should, the big picture is clear, we all stand to benefit from this important resource.