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Facts & Figures
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest Great Lake and the world's twelfth largest freshwater lake. Erie is about 210 miles long, 57 miles wide and about 570 feet above sea level.
Bordered by Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, Erie has 856 miles of shoreline, giving it a surface area of just over 9,900 square miles -- slightly larger than the state of Vermont. Its name comes from the Erie ("People of the Panther") nation of American Indians who once inhabited its southern shores.
Though the lake bottoms out at 210 feet, it averages only 62 feet deep. Because of its saucer-like shallowness, Lake Erie has a reputation among sailors of being quick to "kick up her heels," raising waves of frightening size in even a modest gale.
Erie may well be the most used, most enjoyed and perhaps even the most loved lake of the five. Erie forms part of the top of the U.S. "industrial crescent" -- the majority of U.S. and Canadian cars are made in this region, and it is a principal steel-producing area.
It also supports the second-largest sport fishery on the Great Lakes today (Lake Michigan's is first), and its walleye fishery is generally considered to be one of the best in the world.
University of Wisconsin |
Lake Erie (42.2° N, 81.2° W) has a mean elevation of 571 feet (174 m) above sea level. It has a surface area of 9,940 square miles (25,745 km²) with a length of 241 miles (388 km) and breadth of 57 miles (92 km) at its widest points.
It is the shallowest of the Great Lakes with an average depth of 62 feet (19 m) and a maximum depth of 210 feet (64 m). For comparison, Lake Superior has an average depth of 483 feet (147 m), a volume of 2,900 cubic miles (12,100 km³) and shoreline of 2,726 miles (4385 km). Because it is the shallowest, it is also the warmest of the Great Lakes.
Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River (from Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair) and drains via the Niagara River and Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario Wikipedia
Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes in volume (119 cubic miles) and is exposed to the greatest effects from urbanization and agriculture. Measuring 241 miles across and 57 miles from north to south, the lake's surface is just under 10,000 square miles, with 871 miles of shoreline. The average depth of Lake Erie is only about 62 feet (210 feet, maximum). It therefore warms rapidly in the spring and summer, and frequently freezes over in winter. The drainage basin covers parts of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. Because of its fertile soils, the basin is intensively farmed and is the most densely populated of the five lake basins. Great Lakes Information Network
Because of the fertile soils surrounding the lake, the area is intensively farmed. The lake receives runoff from the agricultural area of southwestern Ontario and parts of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Seventeen metropolitan areas with populations over 50,000 are located within the Lake Erie basin. Although the area of the lake is about 26,000 km2 (10,000 square miles), the average depth is only about 19 meters (62 feet). It is the shallowest of the five lakes and therefore warms rapidly in the spring and summer, and frequently freezes over in winter. It also has the shortest retention time of the lakes, 2.6 years. The western basin, comprising about one-fifth of the lake, is very shallow with an average depth of 7.4 meters (24 feet) and a maximum depth of 19 meters (62 feet) EPA
Like most of the other Great Lakes, Erie occupies a glacier-deepened river drainage system in which the less resistant shales and limestones of the Paleozoic rock column were differentially eroded to create the huge elongated depressions in which the lakes formed. These Pleistocene glaciers, hundreds of metres thick, periodically occupied much of the basin and left behind extensive deposits of clay and silt, which now comprise much of the rapidly eroding shoreline. More resistant dolomites form the shoreline only in the extreme eastern and western portions of the lake.
Étienne BRÛLÉ (c 1592-1633) was likely the first European to sight the lake. The decisive naval battle at PUT-IN-BAY was fought on the lake during the War of 1812. Called Lac du Chat by the French explorers, the lake came to be called after the Erie, an Iroquoian tribe inhabiting the south shore.
Canadian Encyclopedia
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