HELLO! Love the forum ... lookin for some help ...

[Em3rald]

Hi hi! I came across this forum while I was searching for help on a question I have.

 

First, introduction: I am 28; male; married to a rock singer; 2 kids (boy and girl); university edumakated; live in Alberta, Canada; and I drive a crappy car ;)

 

On to my question ... it's short, but difficult to answer:

 

How big does a body of water have to be to be officially called a "Lake"?

 

I'm off to read more forums ... see if I can find a search page.

 

Cheers!

 

Em3rald

[Turtle]

On to my question ... it's short, but difficult to answer:

 

How big does a body of water have to be to be officially called a "Lake"?

 

Cheers!

 

Em3rald

Greetings & Salutaion Em. Here is a take on your question from the USGS:

http://interactive2.usgs.gov/faq/list_faq_by_category/get_answer.asp?id=787

[CraigD]

Welcome to Hypography!

How big does a body of water have to be to be officially called a "Lake"?

Greetings & Salutaion Em. Here is a take on your question from the USGS:

http://interactive2.usgs.gov/faq/list_faq_by_category/get_answer.asp?id=787

While Turtle’s USGS note that there’s not a true “official” definition of a “Lake”, there’s certainly a cartographer’s convention dating back at least to the early 20th century, likely earlier, and common in at least the Northeast US: A lake has a surface area of 10 acres (about 40000 m^2) or more. Less, and it’s a pond.

[Tormod]

I'm off to read more forums ... see if I can find a search page.

 

Welcome! Try to click on the "Search" link in the forums menu, above.

[Buffy]

Greetings! Don't feel like a small fish in a big pond! What I want to know is why that question came up. Trivia game? Bar bet? Vacation at Walden-that's-not-a-Pond-its-a-Lake?

 

Welcome to Hypography!

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[IDMclean]

A pond by any other name, does it not sound so sweet?

What is in a name?

 

As always it's all about definition.

 

Welcome to Hypography, home of a bunch of circus folk, you will be amazed by their amazing feats of deduction, strength of resolve, and ever red-hot rapier wit.

 

-Defined as a fool,

KickAssClown, AKA KAC

[Em3rald]

Thanks for all the fantastic replies! What a welcoming community!

 

As far as "why" I am asking this question, I am actually participating on the wikipedia's LAKE project (wikipedia.org) and one of the fundamentally missing concepts is a clear definition of "what makes a lake a lake?"

 

I have researched pretty much every dictionary, encyclopedia, and "easily acquired" internet search result ... and came up with nothing. And while I am no stranger to google searching and superficial internet scouring (BSc in Genetics), I have not been previously able to nail down a referencible source of a clear def.

 

It was actually during one of my marathon searches (I work nightshift at a quiet petrochemicals refinery occasionally) that I found this wonderful forum, and I thought, "EUREKA!" ... my troubles have been solved!!!

 

CraigD: I don't suppose you happen to have a reliable reference for that info do you? It sounds "too good to be true" so to speak. Not that I am doubting your word at all ... far from it! But if you had any kind of accreditable documentation for that I would be forever in your debt. I may still (with your permission) use this information in the wikipedia for our project, but if I had a ref, it would go lightyears toward making the Wikipedia a credible encyclopedia resource.

 

Anyway, thank you all so much for your warm welcome and your excellent information & resources.

 

Em3rald

 

PS. This is the lake project I am contributing to {en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lakes} (I don't know if I am yet allowed to post links ...) and have a look and/or contribute :D CHEERS!!

[IDMclean]

I was wondering when it would be that we would attract a Wikipedia person, I mean I use Wikipedia for just about everything. If I could I would have PDF with Satcom just to have Wikipedia at my fingertips as close to 100% of my day as possible.

[CraigD]

CraigD: I don't suppose you happen to have a reliable reference for that info do you?

Humorously (you working on a WikiProject), I counted http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pond as a confirming reference.

 

I became acquainted with the “10 acre” rule for distinguishing ponds and lakes anecdotally. As a child, I played in a natural body of water near my grandparents’ house know as “West Lake” (41°21’ N 72°45’ W per Google Earth). It has a surface area of about 52000 m^2 (vs. the suggested 40000 m^2 minimum for a lake), and it’s status as a lake or a pond was the subject of much debate among the locals, who were able to reach a consensus only that “the lake” (it was never called “the pond”) was near the dividing point between a large pond and a small lake. My grandparents had a printed map of their neighborhood they believed had been prepared by a developer ca. 1900, on which the lake was labeled “West Lake Pond”.

 

Nearby 25000 m^2 “Clear Lake” was likewise labeled “Clear Lake Pond”. Although it was known locally as “Clear Lake”, nearly everyone agreed that it was a pond, not a lake.

 

Slightly more than a kilometer west of these 2 lake/ponds is the manmade reservoir Lake Gaillard, which, at about 4500000 m^2, all the locals agreed was most definitely a lake.

 

None of the modern maps and data sources I’ve looked at in researching this post (such as this CT state list of lakes and ponds) appear as concerned with the pond/lake distinction as the makers of my grandparents’ old map were: “West Lake” and “Clear Lake” are both named by these short forms. The old “*blank* Lake Pond” naming convention seems not to have endured.

 

I suspect these old maps could be found in public records departments and libraries. Without some physical, walk-around researching, I’m afraid all I can offer as references are my old childhood recollections. :hihi:

[Turtle]

I have mulled this for days & I have to ask now what is the difference between a pond & a puddle? :(