Lake Erie. On the border with the province of Ontario (Canada) and serving as borders with the North American states of Pennsylvania , Ohio , Michigan and New York , this lake is one of the Great Lakes of the United States.
Summary
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- 1 Features
- 2 Lake pollution
- 3 Ways of feeding the lake
- 4 Islands within the lake
- 5 Point Pelee National Park
- 6 Image Gallery
- 7 External links
- 8 Sources
characteristics
Due to its size (it occupies about 25,700 square kilometers), it is considered the thirteenth natural lake in the world. Completely navigable, it has an elevation above sea level of 173 meters and an average depth of 19 meters; in this sense, it is the shallowest of all the Great Lakes.
It was named by the French explorers who discovered it as Lake Erie after the native tribe of the same name that lived throughout the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. This was the last of the Great Lakes to be discovered.
Perhaps its most notable characteristic, and that it shares with others, is that it causes certain meteorological accidents, such as snowfalls or the creation of a microclimate that is used by farmers in the area for its great benefits in crops, in particular for the production of wines, fruits and vegetables.
Lake pollution
In the mid- twentieth century , specifically in the 1960s and 1970s , the lake suffered serious pollution problems, coming to be called by many as “the dead lake”, and which went practically unnoticed by the authorities until the Cuyahoga River suffered a big fire. The Congress of the United States, seeing the state compromised by the fire, decided to act and passed the so-called “Clean Water Act” (“Clean Water Act”). A few years ago, the environmental organization Greenpeace did a series of investigations that obtained interesting results: due to its shallow areas, in Lake Erie it would be feasible to install wind turbines.
In addition, the area is characterized by having constant winds, so this type of energy could give excellent results.
Lake feeding forms
The lake is fed primarily by the Detroit River , from Lake Huron , and Lake Saint Clair and drains through the Niagara River and Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario . Downstream navigation is provided by the Welland Canal , part of the San Lorenzo Canal via the San Lorenzo Seaway. Another major tributaries of Lake Erie include the Grand River , the River Raisin , river Huron , Maumee River , river Sandusky and the Cuyahoga River .
Islands within the lake
In the lake there are many islands, such as Big Chicken, East Sister, Gibraltar, Green, Gull, Hen, Johnson, Kelleys, Little Chicken, Lost Ballast, Middle Island, Middle Bass, Middle Sister, Mouse, North Bass, North Harbor , Pelee, Rattlesnake, South Bass, Starve, Sugar, Turtle and West Sister.
Point Pelee National Park
Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point in mainland Canada, sits on a peninsula that spans the lake. There are several islands on the western part of the lake, which belong to Ohio, with the exception of Pelee Island, which is part of Ontario. The cities of Buffalo in New York, Erie in Pennsylvania, Toledo and Cleveland in Ohio and Monroe in Michigan lie on the lake shore.