NotEinstein
|
Canada is the second largest country in the world, by land mass. Canada also has the second largest area of freshwater of any country in the world. However, different countries hold the top spots for each. Russia has the most land and Brazil has the most freshwater due to the Amazon River. Canada’s freshwater comes mostly from lakes. There are over 2 million total lakes in Canada and they cover more than 7.5% of the total area of the country.
The largest lake fully within the Canadian borders is Great Bear Lake. Great Bear Lake is in the Northwest Territory and it has a surface area of 12,028 square miles. The total volume of water it holds averages at 536 miles cubed, and the lake has a maximum depth of 1,463 feet. The average depth is 235 feet and Great Bear has total shoreline 1,690 miles long. It is the seventh largest lake in the world. Great Bear Lake is covered with ice for 7 – 8 months of the year, from November to July, due to its extreme northerly location. The location is actually between two old regions from prehistory – the Canadian Shield and the Interior Plains. Throughout its millions of years of existence, Great Bear Lake has undergone extensive changes because of glacial coverage and plate tectonics.
If you count international lakes that lie partially within Canada, then Lake Superior is the largest. Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world by surface area. The total surface area of Lake Superior is 31,820 square miles, however, only 11,081 square miles is considered to be within Canada. The rest is in the United States. Canada borders 4 of the 5 Great Lakes with only Lake Michigan being totally within the United States.
 Posted 5396 day ago
|