Listing Lakes Conventionally Trivia Quiz

The Caspian Sea is by far the largest lake - a salt water one - on the conventional list, with a surface area of 150,000 square miles (389,000 square kilometers), touching the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Formed from what is left of an ancient sea, its name is believed to be derived from the Caspi people, who were mentioned by ancient historians such as Herodotus and Strabo.

Making up about 40% of all the lake water in the world, the Caspian Sea is an open lake, one that connects to another body of water. In this case, the Caspian connects to more than 130 rivers, with the Volga being the longest. The area around the sea is rich in oil reserves, which have been in use since the 10th century.

Now, in case you have been wondering, there is both a conventional and geological list of the world's largest lakes. On the geological list, the Caspian Sea is listed as a small ocean; the largest lake is the Michigan-Huron, which is viewed as a single mass of water.

Second on the list is Lake Superior, measuring in at 31,700 square miles (82,100 square kilometers) in surface area. It is located on the border between the United States and Canada, and is the largest fresh water lake in the world with about 10% of the world's supply.

The Native Americans called the lake "Gichi-gami", which means great sea. French explorers called it "le lac supérieur", which the British changed to Lake Superior after the French and Indian War (1754-1763). About 10,000 years ago during the Wisconsin glacier, Lake Superior was formed by both the advancement and retreat of glacier ice sheets. It is an open lake, which connects to more than 200 rivers. While some areas of the lake are notoriously dangerous, it has been an important shipping area since the mid-1850s.

It is also ranked #2 on the geological list of lakes according to surface area.

Bordering Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, Lake Victoria has a surface area of 26,590 square miles (68,870 square kilometers). It is one of the African Great Lakes, a rift valley lake located in the East African Rift, and the largest lake in Africa. Interestingly, in its approximately 400,000 year history, the lake has gone dry and refilled at least three times.

Although it has had several names in the past, such as "Nam Lolwe", Lake Victoria was named after Queen Victoria in 1858 by an explorer named Richard Speke. While most of its water is the result of rainfall, it also connects to thousands of small streams. It is home to many animals, such as hippos and crocodiles, and is an important fishing area.

It is also ranked #3 on the geological list according to surface area.

Another glacial lake located on the border between Canada and the United States, Lake Huron has a surface area of 23,000 square miles (59,600 square kilometers). It contains 30,000 islands, including Manitoulin Island, which is the largest lake island in the world.

Named "Lac des Hurons" by French explorers, or the Lake of the Huron Indians, Native Americans called it "Karegnondi", which means freshwater sea. Like Lake Superior, the water in some areas of Lake Huron is very dangerous for boat travel, with more than 1,000 shipwrecks being recorded. During the Great Storm of 1913, 10 ships sank and 235 sailors lost their lives.

Lake Michigan is joined to Lake Huron by the Straits of Mackinac, making the mass of water #1 on the geological list of lakes according to size.

Lake Michigan is the largest lake located completely in the United States, with a surface area of 22,000 square miles (58,000 square kilometers), touching the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. It is also the largest lake in the world that is located in only one country.

Created from the movement of glaciers, Lake Michigan's name comes from "Mishigami", a Native American name for large lake. It was an important area for fur trading beginning in the 1700s, and continues to be important to the commerce of cities like Chicago and Milwaukee today. Also a popular tourist destination with sandy beaches, it is sometimes called the Third Coast of the United States.

At this point the geological list becomes too revealing for the answers to this quiz!

Lake Tanganyika, another of the African Great Lakes, touches the countries of Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and has a surface area of 12,600 square miles (32,600 square kilometers). The longest freshwater lake in the world, it stretches 676 miles along the western part of the East African Rift.

Henry Morton Stanley found many names being used for the lake when he arrived in 1876, but he called it Lake Tanganyika after the Bantu name "êtanga 'ya'ni'â", which means a big river. The name fits because it is the deepest lake in Africa and the one that holds the most fresh water. Two main rivers flow into the lake, as well as many streams. It is the home of many species of animals, including Nile crocodiles and native fish.

Coming in at #7 on the conventional list is Lake Baikal, with a surface area of 12,200 square miles (31,500 square kilometers). Located entirely in Russia, it is also the oldest and deepest lake in the world, and contains the most water by volume. The lake and the area around it were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Another rift lake, Baikal is estimated to be 25-30 million years old, and since its location is still geologically active, the rift widens, albeit less than an inch, each year. Its name comes from the Mongolian "Baigal", which means nature, and the Russians called it Ozero Baykal. It is an open lake, with more than 300 rivers flowing into the lake, and contains 1000 species of plants and 2500 species of animals.

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake completely in Canada, with a surface area of 12,000 square miles (31,000 square kilometers). It is also the largest lake that is partly located within the Arctic Circle.

Native Americans named the lake "Satudene", which translates to grizzly bear water people. It is an open lake; some rivers that flow into the Great Bear Lake are used as ice roads when they are frozen in the winter. An important area for fishing and hunting, uranium, copper, and silver have also been mined there.

Located in Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, Lake Malawi has a surface area of 11,400 square miles (29,500 square kilometers). It has the distinction of being the home to the most species of fish of any lake in the world, and is a habitat of the African fish eagle.

Another one of the African Great Lakes, Malawi has been known by several names, including Lake Nyassa, depending on which country is being visited! It is an open lake, however, it is also classified as a meromictic lake, which means that its layers of waters do not intermix. Typically the layers of water in most lakes intermix at least once a year; the lack of intermixing in Lake Malawi (due to the amount of oxygen in the water) means that certain organisms live in certain layers.

Great Slave Lake rounds out the list of the Top Ten Conventional Lakes in the world with a surface area of 10,000 square miles (27,000 square kilometers). Located entirely in Canada, it is the deepest lake in North America.

The name of the lake is misleading; it is named after the Slavey, a people of the First Nations in the Northwest Territories and western Canada. An important fur trading area by the mid-1850s, gold was discovered there during the 1930s. Today it is connected to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, by an ice road. It is a popular fishing destination.

Lake Winnipeg is #10 on the geological list of lakes by surface area.