What qualifies...?

Question

something as a lake? how deep or big does it have to be?

Answer 1

Lots of different factors - take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake#Charac... for further information

Answer 2

1. The lake surface area must be at least 1 hectare, or 2.471 acres. 1 hectare is 100 meters by 100 meters. Long-recognized lakes smaller than this size are grandfathered in; if ancient Hawaiians and Incas were willing to make the trek up to their sacred lake, that's good enough for me!

2. The lake must be at least 2 meters deep somewhere. You know, for swimming.

3. The lake must be mostly open water. If you can walk or hop all the way across it in your water-proofed hiking boots, it's not a lake, it's a marsh.

4. The lake must be perennial, lasting throughout the entire year. Specifically, the lake must retain at least 100 cubic meters of liquid water year-round. That's 10x10 meters by 1 meter deep - fish could live in that. It's okay for the lake to have a permanent surface layer of ice, like Lake Vostok in Antarctica, as long as there's water down below.

5. Someone has to visit the lake on the ground to verify and document it.

Answer 3

After studying modern Geography for almost 3 centuries, certain criteria can be set for what makes a lake.

1. It is an independent water body well within a continent. Appropriately shaped (breadth versus width) it should give an appearance that is different from a river with other bank visible. Should have good depth to support various strata of life forms.

2. It must be 'fresh water' lake as a rule, with rivers /streams flowing in and flowing out. If it is a dead end of a river, along with the life of a river the lake also evaporates as is the case with Aral Sea. Anything salty is called a sea though it is in the heart of a continent (Caspian Sea, Dead Sea). Some famous lakes are country-sized. Smaller ones which the locals call as lakes, may not come up to the global definition of a lake.

3. Limnologists (those studying flora and fauna including the microorganisms) must be satisfied that the lake possesses an eco-system of its own, not the seasonal one like 'Okavango' swamp.

4. Human interference: Must be vast enough to tolerate and regenerate such human excesses as if this is no additional burden to the debris created by already existing biota in it. Or else it can only be called a cess-pool.

5. It should be of a size to moderate the climate of the surrounding land, able to recharge the water table of the soils around, able to absorb (deep enough) the soil run-off and sediment from the nearby mountains. If it is a coastal lagoon, maintain its identity and character different from the sea; or else it can be termed as bay, bight or sound of that sea.

Answer 4

From the reference - There is no current internationally accepted definition of either "lake" or "pond" across scientific disciplines or political boundaries, and there likely never will be.