Some people (like me) just like fun facts. The knowledge helps with dominating family and friends when Jeopardy! comes on.
So, here we go (lakes version)…
At 1,412 feet below "sea level," the shores of the Dead Sea make it the lowest land-based elevation on Earth. At nearly 1,000 feet deep, it is also the deepest hypersaline lake on earth and also one of the "saltiest" bodies of water—9.6 times as salty as the ocean.
The Sea of Galilee, at around 700 feet below sea level, fluctuates in elevation based on rainfall and is the second-lowest lake in the world. Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake—the lowest one in the world.
The Sea of Galilee is also the most important lake when it comes to history—as much of the ministry of Jesus occurred on the lake or along its shores.
By comparison, Badwater Basin in California's Death Valley is the lowest point in North America at "merely" 282 feet below sea level.
Djibouti's Lake Assal is one lake that most people might not have heard about, but it has some interesting features. Assal is a saline crater lake in East Africa's Afar Triangle that lies 509 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest point on Earth after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. No outflow occurs from the lake, and due to high evaporation, the salinity level (approximately 34.8%) is 10 times greater than the world ocean, even more than the Dead Sea (33.7%) or the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake in Utah (31.7%).
Assal is considered the fifth-most saline body of water in the world.
At roughly 50% salinity, Lake Elton—a shallow lake in Russia, never over a meter in depth—is the saltiest.
Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories is the deepest lake (2,014 ft) in North America, while it is only the second largest lake by area in the Northwest Territories (that honor goes to Great Bear Lake). Great Slave Lake is still the tenth-largest lake in the world by area.
Lake Baikal in Russia is, by far, the deepest lake in the world at 5,387 ft.
Of the world's lakes that exceed 1,300 ft in depth, ten of them have their deepest point above sea level. Oregon's Crater Lake and Lake Tahoe (shared by California and Nevada) are two of them.
Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. Tahoe is the second deepest in the U.S.
When measuring lakes by area, Superior in the Great Lakes is the world's number 2 (31,700 square miles) if you count the Caspian Sea (150,000 sq mi)—a saline lake that some don't always consider a true lake. Lake Victoria in Africa—the source of the Nile—is the world's number 3, followed by Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes indeed.
There's a lot more to dig into, but hopefully you've learned a little something.
As always,
Brian
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