|
Superlatives:
|
|
|
area, km2:
|
82 100
|
|
volume, km3:
|
12 230
|
|
maximum depth, m:
|
407
|
|
elevation, m asl:
|
183
|
|
watershed, km2:
|
127 700
|
|
shoreline, km:
|
4 385
|
|
length, km:
|
563
|
|
width max, km:
|
259
|
|
age in years:
|
10 000
|
|
watershed population:
|
474 000 (USA)
156 000 (Canada) |
|
replacement time:
|
191
|
|
mictism:
|
monomictic (rarey dimictic)
|
|
trophism:
|
oligotrophic
|
|
-the most expansive lake in the world. Its cold horizons crown the glaciated lands of North America, over some of the oldest and most beautiful rocks known. It has been central to human cultures for thousands of years, influences all aspects of nature around it, and has an intrinsic dignity beyond human perception. |
|
| The world is wonderful. |
| Here we are already in the Fur Countries; the land of voyageurs and trappers; not from any accident, but from the character of the soil and climate. Unless the mines should attract and support a population, one sees not how this region should ever be inhabited. | |
| -Louis Agassiz (Lake Superior, 1850) |
| Those who have never seen Superior get an inadequate idea by hearing it spoken of as a lake. Superior is a sea. It breeds storms and rain and fog like a sea. It is cold, masterful, and dreaded. | ||
| -Rev. George Grant, 1872 |
© 2004 by Robert
Liebermann