Top 10 Largest Lakes in The World

10. GREAT SLAVE LAKE, CANADA – 28,390 SQUARE KILOMETRES

The Great Salve Lake is located in the Northwest Territories of Canada at a surface elevation of 156 metres. The lake covers an area of 28,390 square kilometres and is 480 kilometres long. The width of the lake ranges from 19 km to 109 km. It is the deepest lake in North America with the depth of the lake reaching up to 614 metres. The main inflow for the lake is The Hay River and the main outflow river is the Mackenzie River. The surface of the lake is frozen through much of the year.

9. LAKE MALAWI, TANZANIA, MOZAMBIQUE, MALAWI – 30,044 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Lake Malawi is the southernmost lake inside the East African Rift Lake System. Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi are the basin countries of this lake. It is also known as Lago Niassa in Mozambique and Lake Nyasa in Tanzania. Lake Malawi is the 3rd largest and 2nd deepest in the continent of Africa. It has a length of 579 km and an average depth of 292m. The deepest point reaches 706m down. The Ruhuhu River and the Shire River are the important inflow and Outflow Rivers for lake Malawi respectively. The lake is a meromictic lake and is at a height of 500m above the sea level. It is ell known for being the lake that houses the highest number of species of fish in the world. It also hosts almost 1000 cichlid species.

8. GREAT BEAR LAKE, CANADA – 31,080 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Great Bear Lake is a glacial lake which is 320 km long and is up to 175 km wide. The deepest point of the Great Bear Lake is 446 km down and the avg. depth is 71.7 km. It is located 200 km south of Arctic Circle within Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the 4th largest lake in North America. It covers total of 26 islands that cover a total of 759.3 square km. It is well known for unbearable cold temperatures during the winter season. It is located at a height of 186 m above sea level.

7. LAKE BAIKAL, RUSSIA – 31,500 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Lake Baikal is the largest ice free freshwater lake in the world which contains 20% of world’s freshwater content. The lake is formed due to movements within a tectonic rift zone and hence is a rift lake. It is also known as ‘Nature’s Lake’ and is situated in between the states of Buryat Republic and Irkutsk Oblast of Russia. It is the world’s largest lake by volume and the deepest lake of the world with an avg. depth of 744.4 m and the deepest point going down up to 1642 m. It is one of the clearest and oldest lakes of the world aging 25 million years.

6. LAKE TANGANYIKA, TANZANIA, CONGO - 32,893 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Lake Tanganyika is the world’s 2nd deepest and largest lakes by volume in 2017. It is 677 km long and up to 50 km wide. It has an avg. depth of 570 m and the deepest point goes down to 1470 m. The lake was formed due to the movement of tectonic plates. Its basin extends into Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo. It has the inflow from Ruzizi, Kalamboo and Malagarai rivers.

5. LAKE MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES – 58,016 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is found entirely inside a single country. The lake is the 2nd largest of Great lakes of North America by volume of 4918 cubic kilometres. It is 494 km long, 190 km wide with an avg. depth of 85 m and the deepest point going down to 282 m. The lake has 2572 km of Shoreline. Lake Michigan was formed by glacial movements.

4. LAKE HURON, UNITED STATES AND CANADA – 59,596 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Lake Huron is the 3rd largest fresh water lake in the world and the 4th largest of all. It is one among the Great Lakes of North America and resides between Michigan in US and Ontario in Canada. The lake is 331 km long and has an avg. depth of 59m. The width of the lake is up to 295 km and deepest point goes down up to 229 m. Lake Huron was made of glaciers. Huron has the largest lake island, Manitoulin Island. The main inflow sources are Mackinac Strait and Saint Mary’s river.

3. LAKE VICTORIA, KENYA, UGANDA AND TANZANIA – 69,485 SQUARE KLOMETRES

Lake Victoria is named after Queen Victoria and is the largest lake of Africa, 2nd largest freshwater lake of the world and the largest tropical lake of the world. The primary inflow of the lake is River Kagera. The lake is shallow with an avg. depth of 44m and the deepest point going down only till 84 m.

2. LAKE SUPERIOR, US, CANADA – 82,414 SQUARE KILOMETRES

ake Superior was formed due to glacier movement. It is the world’s largest freshwater lake by area and 3rd largest by its volume. Lake Superior is 563 km long, 257 km wide and has a maximum depth of 406 m. The main outflows are St. Mary’s River and Soo Locks. The water from the lake goes to Lake Huron.

1. CASPIAN SEA, IRAN, KAZAKHSTAN, TURKMENISTAN, RUSSIA AND AZERBAIJAN – 371,000 SQUARE KILOMETRES

Here is the largest lake of the world. It is the world’s largest enclosed water body; I said this because it has the features of both lakes and seas, which holds 78,200 cubic km of water. The Caspian Sea is an oceanic lake which is 1199 km long with an avg. depth of 211 m. It is the 3rd deepest lake of the world. It has no outflows.

This was the list of the Top 10 Largest Lakes in the world 2017. It is our main duty to conserve fresh water bodies like lakes. It is very important to conserve the environment as the Earth is the only planet to be known with life at the moment. Let’s all follow the 5 R Rule- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore, and Replenish for the betterment of our planet.