Lake Chicago
Videos
Page
Lake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes. Formed about 13,000 years ago and fed by retreating glaciers, it drained south through the Chicago Outlet River.
Early Lake Chicago at the edge of the ice sheet, near the head of the Chicago Outlet River, lower left
Stages of development of the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes
Videos
Page
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the east-central interior of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and they are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. Hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are a single body of water joined at the Straits of Mackinac. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes.
The Great Lakes seen from NASA's Aqua satellite in August 2010. From left to right: Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario
Chicago on Lake Michigan is in the western part of the lakes megalopolis and the site of the waterway linking the lakes to the Mississippi River valley
Lake Michigan–Huron with north oriented to the right; taken on April 14, 2022, during Expedition 67 of the International Space Station. Green Bay is at the upper right and Saginaw Bay is on the left.
South Bass Island in Lake Erie