Aral Sea
A Central Asian terminal-basin record covering split remnant waters, Amu Darya and Syr Darya inflow, exposed lakebed, salinity, and arid climate controls.
Lake Hub
Lake basins, inland waters, and shoreline form.
The lakes hub is for standing waters and inland basins where depth, shoreline shape, outlet systems, salinity, and cold-climate or tectonic setting matter to the record.
Lead Records
Freshwater basin anchors
Lake records should explain basin geometry, connected waters, shoreline pattern, depth, salinity, and climate context without collapsing into generic travel coverage.
Caspian Sea
An enclosed inland-sea record covering shelf and deep-basin form, major river inflows, brackish water, evaporation, and Caspian basin climate controls.
Dead Sea
A terminal Levantine lake record covering its below-sea-level rift basin, steep faulted shores, Jordan River inflow, hypersaline brine, desert evaporation, and retreating shoreline.
Great Bear Lake
A northern Canadian freshwater record covering glacial basin form, long arms, Shield margins, Great Bear River outflow, ice cover, and Mackenzie drainage links.
Great Salt Lake
A Great Basin terminal-lake record covering shallow basin form, variable shoreline, river inflows, evaporation, salinity, and causeway-divided lake arms.
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Great Slave Lake
A Northwest Territories freshwater record covering a broad shallow western basin, the deep bedrock-controlled East Arm, Slave River inflow, Mackenzie River outflow, and subarctic ice controls.
Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre
An Australian interior record covering a two-part salt-pan system, below-sea-level basin floor, episodic Channel Country inflows, shifting flood extent, terminal evaporation, and desert climate controls.
Lake Albert
An Uganda–DR Congo lake record covering an elongated fault basin, steep escarpments, a shallow sedimented floor, Victoria Nile and Semliki inflows, Albert Nile outflow, and White Nile drainage links.
Lake Athabasca
A northern Alberta–Saskatchewan freshwater record covering a shallow western delta, deeper eastern Shield basin, major river inflows, reversing delta channels, seasonal ice, dunes, and Mackenzie drainage links.
Lake Baikal
A major inland-water record joining exceptional depth, shoreline form, and cold-region basin context.
Lake Balkhash
A Kazakhstan basin-lake record covering elongated shallow form, Ili River inflow, divided freshwater and saline waters, evaporation, and Balkhash-Alakol drainage links.
Lake Chad
A shallow Sahel lake record covering closed-basin setting, variable open water, reed wetlands, Chari-Logone inflow, evaporation, and climate controls.
Lake Como
A Lombardy lake record covering a branching glacially reshaped basin, steep mountain shores, 425-metre depth, Adda and Mera inflows, the Lecco outlet, and Alpine climate controls.
Lake Constance
A northern Alpine foreland lake record covering the deep Obersee, shallower Untersee, Seerhein connection, Alpine Rhine inflow, High Rhine outflow, glacial basin form, and snowmelt-driven water levels.
Lake Erie
A lower Great Lakes record covering shallow basin form, western islands, tributary inflow, Niagara River outflow, and lake-effect climate controls.
Lake Garda
A northern Italian lake record covering a deep glacial trough, broad southern foreland basin, Sarca inflow, Mincio outflow, contrasting shoreline relief, slow water exchange, and channelled local winds.
Lake Geneva
A deep Rhône-basin lake record covering an ice-shaped Alpine foreland basin, Grand Lac and Petit Lac, Rhône inflow and outflow, shoreline relief, and regional wind controls.
Lake Huron
A central Great Lakes record covering glacial basin form, Georgian Bay, island structure, St. Marys inflow, St. Clair outflow, and lake-effect climate controls.
Lake Issyk-Kul
A high Kyrgyz lake record covering a deep tectonic basin, Tian Shan mountain margins, snow-fed inflows, closed drainage, mild salinity, and continental climate controls.
Lake Kivu
A Rwanda–DR Congo lake record covering a segmented rift basin, volcanic shores, permanent deep-water layering, highland inflows, Ruzizi outflow, and Congo drainage links.
Lake Ladoga
A northwest Russian freshwater record covering glacial basin form, northern skerry shores, Svir, Volkhov, and Vuoksi inflows, Neva outflow, and Baltic drainage links.
Lake Malawi
A southern East African Rift lake record covering long basin form, steep margins, Ruhuhu inflow, Shire outflow, and Zambezi drainage links.
Lake Maracaibo
A northwestern Venezuelan record covering a shallow tectonic-basin water body, mountain-fed rivers, brackish circulation, the Strait of Maracaibo, and Caribbean climate connections.
Lake Michigan
A central Great Lakes record covering deep glacial basins, dune and bluff shores, tributary inflows, Straits of Mackinac exchange, and lake-effect climate controls.
Lake Mweru
A Zambia–DR Congo lake record covering a shallow fault-influenced basin, Luapula floodplain inflow, deeper northeastern hollows, Luvua outflow, seasonal rainfall, and upper Congo drainage links.
Lake Nasser
A southern Egypt and northern Sudan reservoir record covering the former Nile channel, drowned desert wadis, branching khors, level-dependent shores, sediment storage, regulated outflow, and arid climate controls.
Lake Nicaragua (Cocibolca)
A tropical Central American lake record covering tectonic basin form, shallow open water, volcanic islands, seasonal inflows, San Juan River outflow, and Caribbean drainage links.
Lake Okeechobee
A south-central Florida freshwater record covering a broad shallow basin, marsh-fringed shores, Kissimmee River inflow, wet-and-dry season water levels, managed outlets, and Greater Everglades connections.
Lake Onega
A northwestern Russian freshwater record covering glacial basin form, branching northern bays, island-rich shores, major river inflows, Svir outflow, seasonal ice, and Baltic drainage links.
Lake Ontario
A lower Great Lakes outlet record covering deep glacial basin form, Niagara River inflow, St. Lawrence outflow, shoreline barriers, and lake-effect climate controls.
Lake Peipus
An Estonia–Russia border lake record covering three shallow glacial basins, sandy and wetland shores, Velikaya and Emajõgi inflows, Narva outflow, wind mixing, seasonal ice, and Baltic drainage links.
Lake Superior
A northern Great Lakes record covering glacial basin form, rocky shores, short tributaries, St. Marys River outflow, and cold-lake climate controls.
Lake Tahoe
A high mountain lake record covering fault-bounded basin form, great depth, glacially altered shores, snow-fed tributaries, Truckee River outflow, and Sierra rain-shadow controls.
Lake Tanganyika
A Western Rift lake record covering long narrow basin form, steep margins, deep water, inflows, Lukuga outflow, and Congo drainage links.
Lake Titicaca
A high Andean plateau lake record covering Altiplano basin form, split lake basins, Andean inflows, Desaguadero outflow, and cool highland climate controls.
Lake Toba
A northern Sumatran lake record covering a vast volcanic caldera, steep rim relief, uplifted Samosir block, deep freshwater, Asahan River outflow, and tropical highland climate.
Lake Turkana
An East African Rift record covering a long closed basin, volcanic shores and islands, Omo River inflow, evaporation, salinity, and arid climate controls.
Lake Urmia
A northwestern Iranian record covering a shallow tectonic basin, mountain-fed rivers, terminal drainage, hypersaline water, broad salt flats, a causeway crossing, and semi-arid climate controls.
Lake Van
A high Eastern Anatolian lake record covering tectonic basin form, volcanic closure, deep western water, shallow eastern shelf, mountain inflows, soda-rich water, and continental climate.
Lake Victoria
A broad East African plateau lake record covering shallow basin form, indented shorelines, inflows, Nile outflow, and equatorial climate controls.
Lake Volta
A Ghanaian reservoir record covering drowned river valleys, branching shoreline form, Black Volta, White Volta, and Oti inflows, Akosombo Dam outflow, and tropical rainfall controls.
Lake Vostok
An interior East Antarctic record covering a long bedrock basin, nearly four kilometres of overlying ice, deep freshwater, hidden shorelines, basal melting and freezing, and subglacial drainage connections.
Lake Winnipeg
A central Manitoba freshwater record covering a shallow postglacial basin, north and south basins, the Narrows, major continental inflows, Nelson River outflow, seasonal ice, and Hudson Bay drainage links.
Poyang Lake
A northern Jiangxi floodplain record covering a broad shallow basin, five-river inflow, seasonal open-water change, the Hukou outlet, and two-way hydraulic influence with the Yangtze.
Qinghai Lake
A high Qinghai basin record covering a fault-shaped depression, broad shallow water, Buha River inflow, terminal drainage, saline chemistry, shifting shores, seasonal ice, and plateau climate controls.
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Tonle Sap
A central Cambodian lake record covering a shallow sedimentary basin, wide seasonal floodplain, local tributary inflow, reversal of the Tonle Sap River, and hydraulic exchange with the Mekong.
Thumbnail image credits 46 sources
Images are stored locally or hosted by the credited provider. Creator, source, and usage details for each centre-cropped thumbnail are listed below.
- Aral Sea — NASA. Collage by Producercunningham., Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Caspian Sea — Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Dead Sea — لا روسا, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Great Bear Lake — TomGonzales, CC BY-SA 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Great Salt Lake — Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Centre-cropped for display.
- Great Slave Lake — NASA Earth Observatory / Terra MODIS, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre — Goddard Space Flight Center’s Landsat Team and the Australian ground receiving station teams., Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Albert — Matson Photo Service / Library of Congress, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Athabasca — Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Baikal — Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Balkhash — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Chad — Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Como — SlipherD, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Constance — Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Erie — NOAA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Garda — Assaf Yekuel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Geneva — Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Huron — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Issyk-Kul — Қайырқан Әсем, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Kivu — Adam Jones, Ph.D., CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Ladoga — Yoneh, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Malawi — National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Maracaibo — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Michigan — Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center, ISS Expedition 60, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Mweru — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Nasser — NASA Earth Observatory, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Nicaragua (Cocibolca) — Zach Klein, CC BY 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Okeechobee — Fl295 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Onega — NormanEinstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Ontario — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Peipus — Modris Putns, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Superior — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Tahoe — Lara Farhadi, CC BY 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Tanganyika — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Titicaca — Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Toba — Bisajunisa, CC BY-SA 4.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Turkana — AdamPG, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Urmia — Ninara, CC BY 2.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Van — Wikimedia Commons contributor, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Victoria — Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Volta — Eggi, CC BY-SA 3.0 de. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Vostok — Goddard Space Flight Center, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Lake Winnipeg — NormanEinstein, CC BY-SA 3.0. Centre-cropped for display.
- Poyang Lake — European Space Agency, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Centre-cropped for display.
- Qinghai Lake — NASA, Public domain. Centre-cropped for display.
- Tonle Sap — lumoplank, CC0 1.0. Centre-cropped for display.