Lake Superior
Lake Superior (known as
Gichigami in an
Ojibwe language), bounded by
Ontario and
Minnesota to the north and
Wisconsin and
Michigan in the south, is the largest of
North America's
Great Lakes. It is the world's second largest lake, and the world's largest freshwater lake (by area).
In the
Ojibwe language, the lake is called "Gichigami" ("big water"), but it is better known as "Gitche Gumee" as recorded by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in
The Song of Hiawatha. Lake Superior is also immortalized by that name in the "
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by
Gordon Lightfoot.
The lake was named
le lac supérieur, or "Upper Lake," in the seventeenth century by
French explorers because it was located above Lake Huron.(Nute, 1946)
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Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes |
Lake Superior is the largest
freshwater lake in the world by surface area.
Lake Baikal in
Siberia is larger by volume, as is
Lake Tanganyika in central
Africa, which is estimated to contain a volume of
18,900 km³. The
Caspian Sea, while larger than Lake Superior in both surface area and volume, contains salt water.
Lake Superior (48°00'N, 88°00'W) has a surface area of 31,700 sq. mi. (
82,100 km²)—which is larger than
South Carolina. It has a maximum length of 350 mi (563 km) and maximum breadth of 160 mi (257 km). Its average depth is 483 ft (147 m) with a maximum depth of 1,332 ft (406 m). Lake Superior contains
2,935 mi³ (12,232 km³) of water. The shoreline of the lake stretches 2,726 miles (4385 km) (including islands). The lake's elevation is 602 ft (183 m) above sea level.
The lake is fed by over 200 rivers. The largest include the
Nipigon River, the
St. Louis River, the
Pigeon River, the
Pic River, the
White River, the
Michipicoten River and the
Kaministiquia River. Lake Superior drains into
Lake Huron by the
St. Marys River. The rapids on the river necessitate the
Sault Locks (pronounced "soo"), a part of the
Great Lakes Waterway, to move boats over the 25 foot height difference from Lake Huron.
The largest island in Lake Superior is
Isle Royale in the state of
Michigan.
The larger towns on Lake Superior include: the twin ports of
Duluth, Minnesota and
Superior, Wisconsin;
Thunder Bay, Ontario;
Marquette, Michigan. Duluth, at the western tip of Lake Superior, is the most inland point on the
Saint Lawrence Seaway.
Among the scenic places on the lake are: the
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore;
Isle Royale National Park;
Pukaskwa National Park;
Lake Superior Provincial Park;
Grand Island National Recreation Area;
Sleeping Giant (Ontario);and
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
The land surrounding the lake in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan has proved to be rich in
minerals.
Copper,
iron,
silver,
gold and
nickel are or were the most frequently
mined. Many
towns are either current or former mining areas, or engaged in processing or shipment. The sparsely populated Lake Superior country with its rugged shorelines and
wilderness attract
tourists and
adventurers, making
tourism a large modern
industry.
Lake Superior is an important shipment route for iron ore and is part of the
Great Lakes Waterway.
Water levels, including diversions of water from the
Hudson Bay watershed, are governed by the
International Lake Superior Board of Control which was established in 1914 by the
International Joint Commission.
The
Anishinabe, also known as the
Ojibwe or
Chippewa, have inhabited the Lake Superior region for over five hundred years, and were preceded by the
Dakota,
Fox,
Menominee, Nipigon, Noquet, and
Gros Ventres.
According to an old sailor's tale, Lake Superior never gives up her dead. This is due to the temperature of the water. Normally bacteria feeding off a sunken decaying body will generate gas inside the body, causing it to float to the surface after a few days. The water in Lake Superior however, is cold enough year-round to inhibit bacterial growth, meaning bodies tend to sink and never surface. This is poetically referenced in
Gordon Lightfoot's famous ballad,
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The last major shipwreck on Lake Superior was that of the
SS Edmund Fitzgerald in
1975.
American
limnologist J. Val Klump was the first person to reach the lowest depth of Lake Superior on
July 30,
1985 as part of a scientific expedition.
Although part of a single system, each lake is different. In volume, Lake Superior is the largest. It is also the deepest and coldest of the five. Superior could contain all the other Great Lakes and three more Lake Eries. Because of its size, Superior has a
retention time of 191 years.
There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land mass of North and South America with a foot of water.
*
International Lake Superior Board of Control*
EPA's Great Lakes Atlas*
Parks Canada Lake Superior
