Lakes are found all over the world and in many kinds of environments and climates. The size of a lake varies greatly. Some lakes are shallow enough for a person to walk across, and others can be thousands of feet deep. Lakes are mostly freshwater. There are some, like the Great Salt Lake in Utah, that have salt water. Did you know that lakes are constantly forming and disappearing? Lakes can disappear because of droughts, evaporation, or changes in the Earth’s crust.
A lake can form when glaciers carve away at the land and leave behind basins that fill up with water. Lakes can form when tectonic plate activity alters the earth’s landscape to create deep depressions. Over time these depressions fill up with rainwater or other water sources nearby. Other times lakes can form as a result of volcanoes.After a volcano erupts and becomes inactive, it leaves behind a large hole called a caldera. This hole can also fill up overtime to become a lake. An Australian example of this is Blue Lake at Mt. Gambier in South Australia. Lakes can also be man-made, and these are called reservoirs. People use lakes for all finds of purposes from water and electricity to swimming and fishing. |
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Photo Credit:
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2017/05/volcanic-victoria/
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2017/05/volcanic-victoria/