The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes. The lakes connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River.
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the 3+1⁄2-mile (5.6-kilometer) wide, 295-foot deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; geologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world.
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest freshwater lake by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh water. Located in central North America, it is the northernmost and westernmost of the Great Lakes of North America, straddling the Canada–United States border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Minnesota to the west and Michigan and Wisconsin to the south. It drains into Lake Huron via St. Marys River, then through the lower Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, and Nevada to its west. In comparison to all the U.S. states and territories, Utah, with a population of just over three million, is the 13th largest by area, the 30th most populous, and the 11th least densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two regions: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which includes the state capital, Salt Lake City, and is home to roughly two-thirds of the population; and Washington County in the southwest, which has somewhat more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
The Ural Mountains, or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through the Russian Federation, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia, marking the separation between European Russia and Siberia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean. The average altitudes of the Urals are around 1,000–1,300 metres (3,300–4,300 ft), the highest point being Mount Narodnaya, which reaches a height of 1,894 metres (6,214 ft).
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning a national championship with the Michigan State Spartans in 1979, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers, leading the team to five NBA championships during their "Showtime" era. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests against his return from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,746,164, making it the 22nd largest in the nation. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, it is the 117th most populous city in the United States. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the Great Basin.
Lake Baikal is the deepest rift lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast.
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, an arena they share with the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA with 17 championships, the second most in the league behind the Boston Celtics.
Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at 6,225 ft (1,897 m) above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, and at 122,160,280 acre⋅ft (150.7 km3) it trails only the five Great Lakes as the largest by volume in the United States. Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m), making it the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon.
Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players of all time, Bryant won five NBA championships and was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team, the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. He ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. Bryant was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Chelyabinsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the city of Chelyabinsk.
Lake Shira is a meromictic lake, located in the Republic of Khakassia, Russia. The lake covers an area of 39.5 km2 (15.3 sq mi) in a steppe landscape in the Minusinsk Hollow. Its height above sea level is 353 m (1,158 ft), in a relatively flat intermountain area 160 km northwest of the city of Abakan. The village after which it is named, Shira, is 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) to the west. The southern and western shores feature beaches popular for local recreation, and spas that take advantage of the mineral water. Lake Shira is a salt lake with a high magnesium content. It has one small river providing inflow, but no outflow, although, geographically, the lake is in the Yenisei River basin. The northern shore is protected by the Khakasski Nature Reserve.
Verkhny Ufaley is a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Ufaley River, 142 kilometers (88 mi) northwest of Chelyabinsk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 30,481 (2010 Census); 34,360 (2002 Census); 40,061 (1989 Soviet census).
A lake is an often naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from the ocean, although they may be connected with the ocean by rivers. Most lakes are freshwater and account for almost all the world's surface freshwater, but some are salt lakes with salinities even higher than that of seawater. Lakes vary significantly in surface area and volume of water.
Okunev culture, also known as Okunevo culture, was a south Siberian archaeological culture of pastoralists from the early Bronze Age dated from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium BC in the Minusinsk Basin on the middle and upper Yenisei. It was formed from the local Neolithic Siberian forest cultures, who also showed evidence of admixture from Western Steppe Herders and pre-existing Ancient North Eurasians.
Akbuzat is the most famous kubair of the Bashkirs. It shows similarity to other epics. The epic is also associated with the ice era ancient myth that involved the Shulgan-Tash Cave. It is part of the cycle of heroic legends involving the Ural-batyr and his descendants.
Khakasski Nature Reserve is a Russian 'zapovednik' covering two large mountain areas, and a cluster of seven steppe sites located within the left bank of the Minusinsk depression. The reserve is situated in the Tashtypsky District of Khakassia. It was originally created to preserve steppe ecosystems, wetlands and waterfowl nesting sites, and a historical complex of monuments and cemeteries from the 4-11 centuries BC. The reserve is particularly noted for its variety of large lakes on the Yenisei River migration route for birds. The current configuration of protected sectors was established in 1999, and covers a total area of 2,675.58 km2 (1,033.05 sq mi).
Iktul Distillery is a Russian distiller based in Sokolovo, Zonalny District, Altai Krai. Founded in 1868, it's the oldest distillery in Eastern Siberia.
The Itkul culture is one of these Early Saka culture, based in the eastern foothills of the Urals. The Itkul culture was part of an East to West mouvement of Asiatic Saka tribes towards the Ural regions during the Iron Age period. Other Saka groups, such as the Tasmola culture circa 600 BCE, were also involved in similar mouvements and settled in the southern Urals.
