The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America or the Laurentian Great Lakes, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the upper mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. They are lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario and are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. Hydrologically, there are four lakes, because lakes Michigan and Huron join at the Straits of Mackinac. The Great Lakes Waterway enables travel by water between the lakes.
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes of North America, and among freshwater lakes, it is the world's largest by surface area and the third-largest by volume. It is shared by Ontario, Canada to the north, and states in the United States in other directions: Minnesota to the west, and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south. Lake Superior is the most northerly and most westerly of the Great Lakes chain, and the highest in elevation. It drains into Lake Huron via St. Mary's River.
The Upper Peninsulaof Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac. It is bounded primarily by Lake Superior to the north, separated from the Canadian province of Ontario at the east end by the St. Marys River, and flanked by Lake Huron and Lake Michigan along much of its south. Although the peninsula extends as a geographic feature into the state of Wisconsin, the state boundary follows the Montreal and Menominee rivers and a line connecting them.
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. Duluth has a population of 85,618, making it Minnesota's fourth-largest city and the center of Minnesota's second largest metropolitan area, with a population of 278,799. Duluth forms a metropolitan area with neighboring Superior, Wisconsin; together, they are called the Twin Ports. The city is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the area's first known European explorer.
North Shore may refer to:
Huron River may refer to:
Whitefish or white fish may refer to:
Lake Nipigon is part of the Great Lake drainage basin. It is the largest lake entirely within the boundaries of the Canadian province of Ontario.
Laker or Lakers may refer to:
Split Rock Lighthouse is a lighthouse located southwest of Silver Bay, Minnesota, USA on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The structure was designed by lighthouse engineer Ralph Russell Tinkham and was completed in 1910 by the United States Lighthouse Service at a cost of $75,000, including the buildings and the land. It is considered one of the most picturesque lighthouses in the United States.
Manitou Island may refer to:
The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) or Keweenawan Rift is a 2,000 km (1,200 mi) long geological rift in the center of the North American continent and south-central part of the North American plate. It formed when the continent's core, the North American craton, began to split apart during the Mesoproterozoic era of the Precambrian, about 1.1 billion years ago. The rift failed, leaving behind thick layers of igneous rock that are exposed in its northern reaches, but buried beneath later sedimentary formations along most of its western and eastern arms. Those arms meet at Lake Superior, which is contained within the rift valley. The lake's north shore in Ontario and Minnesota defines the northern arc of the rift. From the lake, the rift's eastern arm trends south to central lower Michigan, and possibly into Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. The western arm runs from Lake Superior southwest through portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska to northeastern Kansas, and possibly into Oklahoma.
Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area is a National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) on the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario, and is a unit of the national park system. Established on September 1, 2015, it is the largest freshwater marine protected area in the world.
The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve was established in 1987 to protect and conserve shipwrecks and historical resources on 376 square miles (970 km2) of Lake Superior bottomlands in Whitefish Bay and around Whitefish Point, Michigan. The formation of the Michigan Underwater Preserves helped stop controversy over artifact removal from shipwrecks of this area. The preserve is now known for deep, well preserved shipwrecks in clear water accessible to scuba divers with technical skill and experience. The preserve is one of the last places in the Great Lakes to observe shipwrecks without zebra mussel encrustation.
The 1987–88 Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey team represented the Lake Superior State University in college ice hockey. In its 6th year under head coach Frank Anzalone the team compiled a 33–7–6 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the second time. The Lakers defeated St. Lawrence 4–3 in overtime to win the championship game at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York.
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