Large Lakes

Fun Facts About The Great Lakes

• The five Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario — together contain about 21% of the world's surface freshwater (and roughly 84% of North America's). Taken together they form the largest connected freshwater system on the planet.
• Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, covering 31,700 square miles. It's so massive that the four other Great Lakes could fit inside it together, plus three additional Lake Eries.
• Each of the Great Lakes are shared with Canada — except Lake Michigan, which is located entirely within the United States. It is bordered by Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.
• The total shoreline of the Great Lakes (including islands) stretches over 11,000 miles. That's longer than the entire U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coastlines combined.
• Lake Superior is the deepest of the five, plunging to 1,332 feet at its deepest point. Lake Erie is the shallowest, having an average depth of just 62 feet. This makes it warm up faster in summer and freeze over more often in winter.
• The Great Lakes support a massive shipping industry, moving around 150 million tons of cargo annually. This includes everything from iron ore and coal to grain and manufactured goods.
• The Great Lakes provide drinking water to over 40 million people across the U.S. and Canada.
• The Great Lakes region features over 300 active lighthouses, helping guide ships through one of the busiest freshwater waterways in the world. Evidently, they don't always help: there are an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 shipwrecks in their waters.