Lake Classification

Glacier Lakes

Lakes formed on surface of glaciers

Moraine

Debris deposited by a glacier

Subglacial lakes

Formed under glaciers in basins scoured by glacial activity

Cirque Lakes

Formed by downslope movement of glacier carves out depression in mountains

Paternoster Lakes

Chains of lakes associated with cirques

Kettle Lakes

Formed when ice block caught in glacial drift and then melted

Devil’s Lake

Glacial Lake

Lake Vostok

Subglacial Lake

Blanca Lake

Cirque Lake

Morris Lakes / most lakes in WI

Kettle Lake

Riverine Lakes

Lake that forms directly within a river valley, floodplain, or river channel, remaining closely connected to the flow and hydrology of a river

Oxbow Lakes

Formed when portion of meandering river is cutoff from flowing channel

Plunge Lake

Formed at base of waterfall

Floodplain lake

Formed in a low-lying area near river channel, does not receive much flow

Reservoirs

Formed by humans damming a river

Earthslide Lakes

Formed when release materials forms a dam or within the depression remaining after material is released

Tectonic Lakes

Formed by movements of Earth’s crust

Faulting

Troughs can form and fill with water, often deep

Graben Lakes

Formed in a downfaulted trough

Lawrence Lake

Floodplain lake

Hoover dam

Reservoir

Lake Baikal

Graben Lake

Lake Tanganika

Graben Lake

Lake Tahoe

Graben Lake

Uplift Lakes

Depressions creased by tectonic uplift (depressions in a sea floor that are uplifted)

Endoheic Water

Water comes in, but can’t leave, water evaporates, leaving behind salt

Caldera Lakes

Cone of erupted volcano, fills with precipitations with small watershed

Maar Lake

Underground magma mixes with groundwater and explode, leaving a crater

Caspian Sea

Uplift

Aral Sea

Uplift

The Great Lakes

Uplift

Crater Lake

Caldera Lake

Dissolution/Karst/Solution Lakes

Formed by dissolving of rock by water perculating through ground

Erosional Lakes

Wind erosion forms basins in sandy areas

Shoreline Lakes

Wave action can move shoreline material and close off a coastal area forming a lake

Red Lake

Dissolution/Karst/Solution

Chequamegan Bay in Lake Superior

Shoreline Lake

Seepage Lake

No inlet or outlet, only some overflow. Principal source of water is precipitation or runoff

Drainage Lake

Surface outlet and maybe inlet (Ex. Great Lakes)

Troph

Food, organic matter, carbon

Autotrophy

Food produced within lake

Oligotrophic

Low Producitivity

Mesotrophic

Intermediate productivity

Eutrophic

High productivity

Allotrophy

Food comes in

Dystrophic

Lake with stained water

Ombrotrophic

Water and nutrients supplied by rain water

Rheotrophic

Water and nutrients supplied by drainage

Minerotrophic

Water and nutrients supplied by groundwater