The basin-forming mechanism responsible for the most abundant production of lakes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, is glaciation. The Pleistocene glaciers, which seem to have affected every continent, were especially effective in North America, Europe, and Asia. The retreat of ice sheets produced basins through mechanical action and through the damming effect of their ice masses at their boundaries.

In some cases, lakes actually exist in basins made of ice. In other cases, water masses may form within ice masses. Such occurrences are rare and are not very stable. Damming by ice masses is a more common phenomenon but is also likely to be relatively temporary. Glacial moraine (heterogeneous sedimentary deposits at glacier margins) is also responsible for the occurrence of dammed lake basins. The Finger Lakes of New York State are dammed by an end moraine.

Ice sheets moving over relatively level surfaces have produced large numbers of small lake basins through scouring in many areas. This type of glacial rock basin contains what are known as ice-scour lakes and is represented in North America, for example, by basins in parts of the High Sierra and in west-central Canada (near Great Slave Lake). Tens of thousands of these lakes are found in the ice-scoured regions of the world. Many of them are interconnected with short streams and may contain narrow inlets. Characteristically, they may be dotted with numerous islands and sprawling bays. Many are comparatively shallow. Where they are particularly abundant, they may cover up to 75 percent of the total surface, as in the Boundary Waters–Quetico canoe area of Minnesota and Ontario.

Glacier scouring associated with the freezing and thawing of névé (granular snow adjacent to glacier ice) at the head of a glaciated valley may produce a deepened circular basin termed a cirque. These are found in widely scattered mountain locations. The action of glaciers in valleys can produce a similar type of basin, often occurring in series and resembling a valley staircase. Ice movement from valleys through narrow openings has produced another type of rock basin, known as glint lake basins, particularly in Scandinavian regions.

Piedmont and fjord (i.e., a river valley that has been “drowned” by a rise of sea level) lakes are found in basins formed by glacial action in long mountain valleys. Excellent examples are found in Norway, England’s Lake District, the Alps, and the Andes. In North America, several regions contain this type of lake basin. Many good examples exist in British Columbia, the largest of which are the Okanagan and Kootenay systems. These are long, narrow lakes of substantial depth. In northwestern Canada some of the largest lakes, including Lake Athabaska, Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake, are of this type, although they are not found in the same type of mountainous terrain. These lakes, as well as the North American Great Lakes, resulted from the movements of large ice sheets that deepened existing valleys.

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hydrosphere: Lake waters

The Wisconsin (latest stage of Pleistocene glaciation) ice sheet was responsible for shaping the present Great Lakes system, which drains mainly eastward to the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence River, during its retreat. The principal stages in the history of these lakes have received much study, and several stages of retreat and advance of the ice sheet have been identified. Behind the lobes of the ice sheet, ice lakes developed that drained according to the modifications of preexisting valleys for glacial action. As the mass of ice retreated far to the north, glacial rebound (uplift of the Earth’s crust in response to removal of the loading by ice) caused a general tilting of the land surface; the new lake basins also contributed to the subsequent changes through their own erosional action.

The material comprising glacial moraines or glacial outwash may provide dams that confine postglacial waters. The Finger Lakes, in New York state, constitute one interesting group of this type. These lakes were formed through glacial scouring of existing valleys, which were blocked at both the northern and southern ends by morainic deposits.

A variety of basin types have been formed in the different types of glacial drift deposits, including basins in morainic material, kettle lakes, channels formed by water movement in tunnels beneath the ice masses, and lake basins formed by thawing in permafrost. An interesting example of glacial action is the formation of giant’s kettles, glacial potholes in the form of deep cylindrical holes. Their origin is still uncertain. Sand, gravel, or boulders are sometimes found at their bottom. The kettles vary from a few centimetres to a metre or more in diameter. Good examples are found in the Alps, Germany, Norway, and the United States.

Basins formed by fluvial and marine processes

Fluvial action in several forms can produce lake basins. The most important processes include waterfall action, damming by sediment deposition from a tributary (fluviatile dams), sediment deposition in river deltas, damming by tidal transport of sediments upstream, changes in the configuration of river channels (e.g., oxbow lakes and levee lakes), and solution of subsurface rocks by groundwater. This last mechanism has produced the well-known karst formations in Balkan Peninsula of Europe, which include subterranean and surface cavities and basins in limestone. The term karstic phenomena is applied to similar cases in many parts of the world (see cave). Solution lakes in Florida (e.g., Deep Lake) are also of this origin, as are Lünersee and Seewlisee in the Alps. Other rock types susceptible to solution basin formation include gypsum and halite. Mansfeldersee in Saxony was formed in this manner.

In some coastal areas, longshore marine currents may deposit sufficient sediment to block river outflows. This damming action may be of varying intensity, and it may also occur in lake regions, where such current action causes sediment deposition that leads to the formation of multiple lakes. Accumulation of organic plant material can also result in structures that produce lake basins; Silver Lake in Nova Scotia evolved from damming by plant material. Structural formations of coral are another potential cause of damming.

Basins formed by wind action, animal activity, and meteorites

Wind action may lead to dam or dune construction or erosion and thus can play a role in lake basin formation. The latter case has been demonstrated in North America; a number of basins in Texas and northward, on the plains east from the Rocky Mountains, are thought to have originated from wind erosion—at least in part. Moses Lake in Washington state was formed by windblown sand that dammed the basin.

Mammals have constructed lake-forming dams; the American beaver is highly skilled at this, and its activities in this connection have established it as a symbol of industriousness. Humans have also been busy in this regard and are fully capable of producing lakes that would rival the largest of the more natural variety. Plans once proposed for the damming of the Yukon River in Alaska would, if carried through, result in the formation of a lake larger than Lake Erie in surface area. Other human activities, such as quarrying and mining, also have produced cavities suitable for lake formation.

The last major mechanism of basin formation is that due to meteoritic impact. Meteorite craters are best preserved in arid climates and are often dry for this reason. A few lakes are known in craters, however, including Ungava Lake in Quebec. In many other cases it has not been possible to definitely confirm that basins that have the appearance of meteorite craters have indeed been produced by meteorite impact. Controversial ones include the bay lakes of southeast North America.