Lake Erie
Lake Erie (/ˈɪəri/ EER-ee; French: Lac Érié) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally.[6][10] It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes[11][12] and also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet (64 m) deep, making it the only Great Lake whose deepest point is above sea level.[13]
Not to be confused with Lake Eyre. For other uses, see Lake Erie (disambiguation).
Situated on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie's northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario, specifically the Ontario Peninsula, with the U.S. states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York on its western, southern, and eastern shores. These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake with water boundaries. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland, anchoring the third largest U.S. metro area in the Great Lakes region, after Greater Chicago and Metro Detroit. Other major cities along the lake shore include Buffalo, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio.
Situated below Lake Huron, Erie's primary inlet is the Detroit River. The main natural outflow from the lake is via the Niagara River, which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. as it spins huge turbines near Niagara Falls at Lewiston, New York, and Queenston, Ontario.[14] Some outflow occurs via the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which diverts water for ship passages from Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie, to St. Catharines on Lake Ontario, an elevation difference of 326 ft (99 m). Lake Erie's environmental health has been an ongoing concern for decades, with issues such as overfishing, pollution, algae blooms, and eutrophication generating headlines.[15][16]
Geology[edit]
Lake Erie was carved out by glacier ice[6] and in its current form is less than 4,000 years old, which is a short span in geological terms. Before this, the land on which the lake now sits went through several complex stages. A large lowland basin formed over two million years ago as a result of an eastern flowing river that existed well before the Pleistocene ice ages. This ancient drainage system was destroyed by the first major glacier in the area, while it deepened and enlarged the lowland areas, allowing water to settle and form a lake. The glaciers were able to carve away more land on the eastern side of the lowland because the bedrock is made of shale which is softer than the carbonate rocks of dolomite and limestone on the western side. Thus, the eastern and central basins of the modern lake are much deeper than the western basin, which averages only 25 feet (7.6 m) deep and is rich in nutrients and fish.[29] Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes because the ice was relatively thin and lacked erosion power when it reached that far south, according to one view.
As many as three glaciers advanced and retreated over the land, causing temporary lakes to form in the time periods in between each of them. Because each lake had a different volume of water, their shorelines rested at differing elevations. The last of these lakes to form, Lake Warren, existed between about 13,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was deeper than the current Lake Erie, and its shoreline existed about eight miles (13 km) inland from the modern one. The shorelines of these lakes left behind high ground sand ridges that cut through swamps and were used as trails for Native peoples and later, pioneers. These trails became primitive roads which were eventually paved. U.S. Route 30 west of Delphos, Ohio, and U.S. Route 20 west of Norwalk and east of Cleveland were formed in this manner. The ancient sand dunes are visible in the Oak Openings Region in Northwest Ohio. There, the sandy dry lake bed soil was not sufficient to support large trees with the exception of a few species of oaks, forming a rare oak savanna.[30]
History[edit]
Indigenous peoples[edit]
At the time of European contact, there were several Indigenous peoples living around the shores of the eastern end of the lake. The Erie tribe (from whom the lake takes its name) lived along the southern edge, while the Neutrals (also known as Attawandaron) lived along the northern shore. The tribal name "erie" is a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan, meaning "long tail".[31] The name may also come from the word eri, meaning "cherry tree".[32] Near Port Stanley, there is an Indigenous village dating from the 16th century known as the Southwold Earthworks where as many as 800 Neutral Indigenous peoples once lived; the archaeological remains include double earth walls winding around the grass-covered perimeter.[33] Europeans named the tribe the Neutral Indians since these people refused to fight with other tribes.[33]
Both the Erie and Neutrals were colonized and assimilated by their hostile eastern neighbors, the Iroquois Confederacy, between 1651 and 1657 during the Beaver Wars.[34] For decades after those wars, the land around eastern Lake Erie was claimed and utilized by the Iroquois as a hunting ground. As the power of the Iroquois waned during the last quarter of the 17th century, several other, mainly Anishinaabe, displaced them from the territories they claimed on the north shore of the lake.[35] There was a legend of an Indigenous woman named Huldah, who, despairing over her lost British lover, hurled herself from a high rock from Pelee Island.[21]
