Did the ice age make the Great Lakes?

Thousands of years ago, the melting mile-thick glaciers of the Wisconsin Ice Age left the North American continent a magnificent gift: five fantastic freshwater seas collectively known today as the Great Lakes — Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

How are the Great Lakes related to the ice age?

20,000 years ago, the ice sheet finally began to melt. As the glacier receded northward, floods of meltwater filled the deep depressions it had carved and were trapped in place by the banks of moraines it left behind. Over centuries, this formed the Great Lakes.

How did the Great Lakes get so deep?

The Great Lakes were born when glaciers receded from this part of the world at the end of the last ice age. As the icy bulldozers went northward, they carved out deep troughs in the earth that later filled with water.

What do lakes do during the ice age?

New Stanford research shows that enormous lakes that existed in the western United States during the peak of the last Ice Age grew large due to a cooler climate and a reduced evaporation rate. The finding could help improve computer simulations of climate change.

What did the Great Lakes look like before the ice age?

Before the Ice Age there were no great lakes, only shallow basins, except for Lake Superior which had originated aeons earlier as a rift valley lake in the Central North American Rift System. The river that drained this area, the Laurentian River, flowed through the Toronto area.

Did glaciers carve the Great Lakes?

Simply put, the Great Lakes were created by glaciers. About 18,000 years ago, the Laurentide glacier covered most of Canada and the Northern U.S. As the glacier moved, it flattened mountains and carved valleys. It’s estimated that the glacier was nearly 2.5 miles thick.

Why are the Great Lakes not salty?

“The Great Lakes are not (noticeably) salty because water flows into them as well as out of them, carrying away the low concentrations of minerals in the water,” writes Michael Moore of Toronto. Eventually, this water, with its small load of dissolved minerals or salts, reaches the sea.

How long will the Great Lakes last?

The sheer size of the individual Great Lakes means that pollutants can stay in the system for a long time: A water droplet or molecule of pollutant will reside in Lake Superior for as long as 191 years, Lake Michigan for 99 years, and Lake Huron for 22 years, whereas the smaller Lakes Ontario and Erie have residence …

How did the Great Lakes filled with water?

About 20,000 years ago, the climate warmed and the ice sheet retreated. Water from the melting glacier filled the basins , forming the Great Lakes.

Which Great Lake is the deepest?

About the Lakes

  • Not only is Lake Superior the largest of the Great Lakes, it also has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in the world.
  • With an average depth approaching 500 feet, Superior also is the coldest and deepest (1,332 feet) of the Great Lakes.

Are there whales in the Great Lakes?

Whales don’t live in the Great Lakes. Or do they? No, not at all.