The Great Lakes
On Earth, freshwater is located in many different places. We are going to look at the freshwater that is closest to us, the Great Lakes. Many of the Great Lakes touch or border the state of Michigan as shown on the map on the last page. All of the Great Lakes together hold 20% of the Earth's freshwater. Now we will take a look at each of the Great Lakes.
  • Lake Huron - This is the 3rd largest Great Lake. Lake Huron also contains islands such as Manitoulin Island. Lake Huron is connected to Lake Michigan near the Mackinaw Bridge and connects to Lake Superior at the Soo Locks. Michigan and Canada border this lake.

    The lake highlighted in yellow is Lake Huron. The picture is the Soo Locks in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan and Canada. The top of the picture is Lake Superior and the bottom is Lake Huron.

  • Lake Ontario- This is the 4th largest Great Lake. This lake is probably one of the most polluted of the Great Lakes. Air from many of the major industrial cities in the midwest will blow over this lake. This is the last lake water will go through before it runs into the St. Lawerence Seaway. Lake Ontario is connected to Lake Erie by the Niagara Falls. Water flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario by falling 325 feet. Lake Ontario is surrounded by Canada and the state of New York.

    Lake Ontario is highlighted in yellow. This is a picture of water flowing of the Niagara Falls connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

  • Lake Michigan - This lake is the 2nd largest Great Lake. Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that we don't share with another country. Michigan and Wisconsin are the major borders of this lake. Lake Michigan also has many industrial cities that are along the borders. Chicago, Illinois, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Gary, Indiana are some of the major contributors to the pollution that occurs in the lake.

    Lake Michigan is highlighted in yellow. This is a picture of the Mackinaw Bridge. The area around the bridge is called The Straits of Mackinaw. This is the area which seperates Lake Huron from Lake Michigan.

  • Lake Erie-This is the smallest Great Lake. This lake is bordered by Michigan, Ohio, Canada, Pennsylvania, and New York. This lake is also effects by many of the industrial cities pollution. The reason why the lake doesn't stay polluted is because the water is drained into Lake Ontario where the pollution stays.

    The highlighted yellow area is showing where Lake Erie is located.

  • Lake Superior- This lake has the largest surface area of an lake in the world! Lake Superior is so large that all the other Great Lakes could fit inside it. It is also the coldest and the deepest of the Great Lakes. Lake Superior also is connected to Lake Huron through the Soo Locks. Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Most of the major shipwrecks that happen in the Great Lakes occurred in Lake Superior. One of the most famous ships was the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald that occurred in 1975. The Fitzgerald sank on near Whitefish Bay. Lake Superior has the nickname of "Lake Gitche-Gumee" meaning big water.

    The yellow highlighted area shows where Lake Superior is. This is the Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the ships that sank in Lake Superior.

Many people have a hard time remembering the names of the Great Lakes. To help us remember the names we can create an acronym. An acronym is something that can be used to help up remember other things. The acronym that we can use for remembering the Great Lakes is HOMES. HOMES reminds us of the first letter of all the names of the Great Lakes. H is for Huron, O is for Ontario, M is for Michigan, E is for Erie, and S is for Superior.

Next, to Great Lakes Creatures. 

My Link Page		CS255 Computers in El Ed Home Page		Northern Michigan University

Latest update to this document: 8 October 2003

Email the creator of this page at:ateraves@nmu.edu