Notable Lakes

Lake Michigan-Huron is the largest lake by surface area: 117,350 km². It also has the longest lake coastline in the world: 8,790 km. If Huron and Michigan are considered two lakes, Lake Superior is the largest lake, with 82,414 km². However, Huron still has the longest coastline at 6,157 km (2980 km excluding the coastlines of its many inner islands). The world's smallest geological ocean, the Caspian Sea, at 394,299 km² has a surface area greater than the six largest freshwater lakes combined, and it's frequently cited as the world's largest lake.

• The deepest lake is Lake Baikal in Siberia, with a bottom at 1,637 m. Its mean depth is also the greatest in the world (749 m).

It is also the world's largest lake by volume (23,600 km³, though smaller than the Caspian Sea at 78,200 km³), and the second longest (about 630 km from tip to tip).

• The longest lake is Lake Tanganyika, with a length of about 660 km (measured along the lake's center line).

It is also the second largest by volume and second deepest (1,470 m) in the world, after lake Baikal.

• The world's oldest lake is Lake Baikal, followed by Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania).

• The world's highest lake is the crater lake of Ojos del Salado, at 6,390 metres (20,965 ft). The Lhagba Pool in Tibet at 6,368 m (20,892 ft) comes second.

• The highest large freshwater lake in the world is Lake Manasarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

• The world's highest commercially navigable lake is Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia at 3,812 m (12,507 ft). It is also the largest freshwater (and second largest overall) lake in South America.

• The world's lowest lake is the Dead Sea, bordering Israel and Jordan at 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level. It is also one of the lakes with highest salt concentration.

Find out more about lakes.