Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Surrounded in the north, west, and southwest by the province of Ontario in Canada, and in the south and east by the state of New York, USA, whose water boundaries meet in the middle of the lake. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, is named for lakes. Many of Ontario's most populous cities, including Toronto, Canada's most populous city, and Hamilton, are on the north or east shore of the lake. In Huron, the name OntarÃÆ''io means "Water Lake Shining". The main entrance channel is the Niagara River from Lake Erie. The latter in the Great Lakes chain, Lake Ontario serves as an outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River.
Video Lake Ontario
Geography
Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in the surface area (7,340 sq. Mi, 18,960 km 2 ), though it exceeds Lake Erie in volume (393 cuim, 1,639 km 3 ). This is the 14th largest lake in the world. When the islands are inserted, the lake has a 712-mile (1,146 km) coastline. As the last lake in the Great Lakes' hydrological chain, Lake Ontario has the lowest average surface elevation of the lake at an altitude of 243 feet (74 m) above sea level; 326 feet (99 m) lower than its upstream neighbor. Its maximum length is 193 kilometers statute (311 kilometers, 168 nautical miles) and its maximum width is 53 kilometers statute (85 km, 46 nmi). The average depth of the lake is 47 ft 1 ft (283Ã, ft; 86 m), with a maximum depth of 133 fathoms 4 feet (802Ã, ft; 244 m). The main source of the lake is the Niagara River, draining Lake Erie, with St. Lawrence serves as an outlet. The drainage basin covers 24,720 sq km (64,030 km 2 ). Like all of the Great Lakes, water levels are changing well within this year (due to seasonal changes in water input) and between years (due to long-term trends in precipitation). These water level fluctuations are an integral part of lake ecology, and produce and maintain extensive wetlands. The lake also has important freshwater fisheries, although it has been negatively affected by factors including overfishing, water pollution and invasive species.
The Baymouth bar built by prevailing wind and currents has created a large number of sheltered lagoons and harbors, mostly near (but not limited to) Prince Edward County, Ontario and the easternmost coast. Perhaps the most notable example is Toronto Bay, chosen as the location of the capital of Upper Canada (Ontario) for its strategic port. Other prominent examples include Hamilton Harbor, Irondequoit Bay, Presqu'ile Bay, and Sodus Bay. The bars themselves are long beach sites, such as Sandbanks Provincial Park and Sandy Island Beach State Park. These sand bars are often associated with extensive wetlands, which support a large number of plant and animal species, and provide an important resting place for migratory birds. Presqu'ile, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is very important in this regard. One of the unique features of this lake is the Quinte Z-shaped Bay that separates Prince Edward County from the Ontario mainland, saving for 2 miles (3.2 km) tipping near Trenton; This feature also supports many wetlands and aquatic plants, as well as related fisheries.
Large rivers that flow to Lake Ontario include the Niagara River, the Don River, the Humber River, the Trent River, the Cataraqui River, the Genesee River, the Oswego River, the Black River, the Little Salmon River, and the Salmon River.
Maps Lake Ontario
Geology
The lake's basin was carved from soft, silurian-age soft rocks by the Wisconsin ice sheet during the last ice age. The ice action occurs along the pre-glacial Ontaria River basin which has more or less the same orientation as today's basin. Materials pushed to the south by a layer of ice leave landscapes such as drums, kame, and moraines, both on the surface of modern soil and lake floor, reorganizing drainage systems throughout the region. As the ice sheet retreats to the north, the ice sheet still dammed the St. Lawrence, so the surface of the lake is at a higher level. This stage is known as Lake Iroquois. During that time the lake drained through Syracuse today, New York to the Mohawk River, then to the Hudson River and the Atlantic. Coastlines created during this stage can be easily recognized by the beach (now dry) and the 10 to 25 mile (15 to 40 km) wave hills from the current coastline.
When the ice finally recedes from the St. Lawrence, an outlet below sea level, and for a short time the lake became the bay of the Atlantic Ocean, in association with the Sea of ​​Champlain. Gradually the soil recovers from the release of the weight of about 6,500 feet (2,000 m) of ice that has been stacked on it. Still rebounding about 12Ã,¼ (30Ã, cm) per century in the St. Lawrence. Because the ice recedes from the area, the fastest rebound is still there. This means that the bottom of the lake gradually tilts to the south, flooding the south coast and turning the river valleys into bays. Both the north and south shore are experiencing coastline erosion, but tilting strengthens this effect on the south coast, causing losses for property owners.
History
The name Ontario comes from the word Huron OntarÃÆ''io , which means "big lake". The lake is the border between the Huron and the Iroquois Confederates in the pre-Columbian era. In the 1600s, Iroquois expelled Huron from southern Ontario and settled on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. When Iroquois resigned and Anishnabeg/Ojibwa/Mississaugas moved from north to south of Ontario, they retained the Iroquois name.
It is believed that the first Europeans to reach the lake were ÃÆ'â € ° tienne BrÃÆ' »là © Ã… © in 1615. Like their practice, the French explorers introduced other names to the lake. In 1632 and 1656, the lake is referred to as Lac de St. St. Louis or Lake St. Louis by Samuel de Champlain and cartographer Nicolas Sanson (possibly for Louis XIV of France) In 1660, the Jesuit historian Francis Creuxius coined the name of Lacus Ontarius . In the map drawn at the Relation des JÃÆ'  © suites (1662-1663), this lake has the legend of "Lac Ontario ou des Iroquois" under the name "Ondiara" in a smaller form. A French map produced in 1712 (currently in the Canadian History Museum), created by military engineer Jean-Baptiste de Couagne, identifies Lake Ontario as "Lac Frontenac" named Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau. He was a French soldier, retainer, and New French Governor General from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 until his death in 1698.
Norse-derived artifacts have been found in the Sodus Bay area, indicating the possibility of trading by indigenous peoples with Norse explorers on the east coast of North America.
A series of trading posts were established by the British and French, such as Fort Frontenac (Kingston) in 1673, Fort Oswego in 1722, Fort Rouillà ©  © (Toronto) in 1750. After the War of France and India, all fortress around the lake was under British control. The United States did not have a fortress in present-day America until the signing of the Jay Treaty in 1794. The permanent non-military European settlement began during the American Revolution. As the easternmost and closest lake to the Atlantic coast of Canada and the United States, population centers here include the oldest in the Great Lakes valley, with Kingston, Ontario, formerly the capital of Canada, dating from the 1670s (Fort Frontenac). The lake became the center of commercial activity after the War of 1812 by building canals on both sides of the border and a heavy journey with lake steamers. Steamer activity reached its peak in the mid-19th century before competition from the railway line.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a type of scow known as a stone prostitute was operating on the northwest coast, particularly around Port Credit and Bronte. Stonehooking is the practice of scratching Dundas fragments from the shallow bottom of the lake in the area for use in construction, especially in the growing city of Toronto.
Ecology and environmental issues
The Great Lakes watershed is a region with high biodiversity, and Lake Ontario is important for the diversity of birds, fish, amphibians and reptile plants. Many of these particular species are associated with coastlines, especially dunes, lagoons, and wetlands. The importance of wetlands to lakes has been appreciated, and many of the larger wetlands have protected their status. However, this wetland is partially changed due to fluctuations in natural water levels has been reduced. Many wetland plants depend on low water levels to reproduce. When the water level is stable, the area and diversity of the swamp decreases. This is especially true for pasture swamps (also known as wet grassland); for example, in Eel Bay near Alexandria Bay, lake level settings have resulted in the loss of wet grasslands. Often this is accompanied by an invasion of cattails, which replaces many native plant species and reduces plant diversity. Eutrophication can accelerate this process by providing nitrogen and phosphorus for faster growth of the dominant plant on a competitive basis. A similar effect occurs on the north coast, in wetlands like the Presqu'ile, which has an interdunal wetland called pannes, with a high diversity of plants and many unusual plant species.
Much of the forest around the lake is a deciduous forest dominated by trees including maple, oak, beech, ash and basswood. It is classified as part of the Eco Canada Plain Plains by Environment Canada, or as Eastern Great Lakes and Hudson Lowlands by the US Environmental Protection Agency, or as the Great Lakes Ecoregion by The Nature Conservancy. Deforestation around the lake has had many negative impacts, including the loss of forest birds, the extinction of the original salmon, and an increase in the amount of sediment flowing into the lake. In some areas, more than 90 percent of forest cover has been eliminated and replaced by agriculture. Certain tree species, such as hemlock, have also been severely depleted by previous logging activities. The guidelines for restoration emphasize the importance of maintaining and restoring forest cover, especially along streams and wetlands.
Open water is less affected by coastline features, such as wetlands, and is more affected by the level of nutrients that control algae production. Algae is the basis of an open water food net, and the primary source of production ends as Trout and Walleye lakes at the top of open water food webs.
Like other Great Lakes, Lake Ontario used to have important commercial fisheries. Most have been destroyed, mostly by over-fishing. Consider Lake Sturgeon as one example. Fish sturgeon fish are big fish - they can grow up to three meters and exceed 190 kg weight. Females ripen slowly and take decades to reach sexual maturity. It used to be an abundant species on Lake Ontario. "In 1860, this species, taken from other fish catches, was killed and thrown back into the lake, piling up on the beach to be dried and burned, fed to pigs, or dug into the soil as fertilizer." It's even stacked like wood and used to fuel steamers. Once the value is realized, "They are picked up by every available means of spear and jigging to set unranked feed lanes or hooks that are laid down onto trapnets, poundnets and gillnets." More than 5 million pounds were taken from adjacent Lake Erie in one year. The fisheries collapsed, mostly in 1900. They never recovered. Like most sturgeons, sturgeon lakes are scarce now, and protected in many areas. The population on the Oswego River is being actively managed for recovery.
This food network has been damaged not only by overfishing, and changes in nutritional levels, but also by other types of pollution from industrial chemicals, agricultural fertilizers, untreated waste, phosphates from laundry detergents, and pesticides. Some of the pollutant chemicals already found in the lake include DDT, benzo [ a ] pyrene and other pesticides; PCB, aramite, chromium, lead, mirex, mercury, and carbon tetrachloride. The International Joint Commission has identified areas where pollution is very intensive (point source) and maps it as a Caring Area. Remedial Action Plan has been developed for each area. Some of Lake Ontario's attention include the Oswego River and Rochester Embayment on the American side, and Hamilton Harbor and Toronto on the Canadian side.
In the 1960s and 1970s, increasing pollution caused algae to occur frequently in the summer. These flowers kill many fish, and leave piles of filament algae and dead fish along the coast. Sometimes the bloom becomes so thick that the waves can not break. Fish that eat birds such as osprey, bald eagles and cormorant birds are poisoned by contaminated fish. Since the 1960s and 1970s, environmental concerns have forced the cleaning of industrial and municipal waste. Cleaning has been done through better processing plants, more stringent environmental regulations, deindustrialization and increased public awareness. Today, Lake Ontario has restored some of its original qualities; for example, walleye, a species of fish considered a marker of clean water, is now found. However, regional air pollution remains a concern. The lake has also become an important sports fishery, although with introduced species (Coho and Chinook salmon) rather than native species. Bald eagle and osprey populations also began to recover.
Invasive species are a problem for Lake Ontario, especially lamprey and zebra mussels. Lamprey is being controlled by poisoning in the teenage stage in the river where they breed. Zebra mussels are particularly difficult to control, and pose great challenges for lakes and waterways.
Climate
This lake has a natural seiche rhythm of eleven minutes. The seiche effect is usually only about 3 / 4 inch (2 cm) but can be greatly amplified by earth movement, wind, and atmospheric pressure changes.
Due to its great depth, the lake as a whole has never frozen in the winter, but the ice covering between 10% and 90% of the lake area typically develops, depending on the severity of the winter. Ice sheets usually form along the coastline and in slack bay, where the lake is not as deep. During the winter of 1877 and 1878, the layer of ice covered 95-100% in most lakes. In the winter of 1812, the ice sheet was stable enough so that the American naval commanders stationed at Sackets Harbor feared the British attack from Kingston, on ice.
When the cold wind in winter passes through the warmer lake water, they take the humidity and drop it as a snow-effect lake. Since the prevailing winter wind comes from the northwest, the south and southeast shorelines of this lake are referred to as snowbelt . In some winters, the area between Oswego and Pulaski can receive twenty or more feet (600 cm) of snowfall. Also affected by the snow-lake effect is the Tug Hill Plateau, a tall land area some 20 miles (32 km) east of Lake Ontario, creating the ideal conditions for snow-effect rain. The "Hill", as it is often called, usually receives more snow than any other area in the eastern United States. As a result, Tug Hill is a popular location for winter fans, such as snowmobiles and cross-country skiers. Snow-effect snow often extends inland as far as Syracuse, with the city often recording the most winter snow accumulation in major cities in the United States. Other cities in the world receive more snow every year, such as Quebec City, which averages 135 inches (340 cm), and Sapporo, Japan, which receives 250 inches (640 cm) every year and is often regarded as the snowy city in this world.. Foggy conditions (especially in autumn) can be created by thermal contrast and may be a barrier to recreational floats. In normal winter, Lake Ontario will be at least a quarter covered in ice, in cool winters almost completely not frozen. Lake Ontario has been completely frozen for five recording times: from about January 20 to about March 20, 1830; in 1874; in 1893; in 1912; and in February 1934.
Lake breezes in spring tend to slow the bloom until the frozen danger passes, and in autumn delay the onset of frost, especially on the south coast. The cool breeze also slows down the early blooms of plants and flowers until later in the spring, protecting them from possible frost damage. Such microclimate effects have enabled the production of soft fruits in continental climates, with the southwest coast supporting the main fruit-growing areas. Apples, cherries, pears, plums, and peaches grow in many commercial gardens around Rochester. Between Stoney Creek and Niagara-on-the-Lake on the Niagara Peninsula is the main area that produces fruit and wine making. The wine-growing region stretches across the international border into the Niagara and Orleans region. Apple varieties that tolerate more extreme climates are planted on the north shore of the lake, around Cobourg.
Settlements
A large conurbation called the Golden Horseshoe occupies the most western shore of the lake, anchored in the cities of Toronto and Hamilton. Ports on the Canadian side include St. Catharines, Oshawa, Cobourg and Kingston, close to St Lawrence River outlets. Nearly 9 million people or more than a quarter of Canada's population live in Lake Ontario's waterways. The American beaches are mostly rural, with the exception of Rochester and the much smaller ports in Oswego and Sackets Harbor. The city of Syracuse is 40 miles (64 km) inland, connected to the lake by the New York State Canal System. More than 2 million people live in the Lake Ontario watershed.
The high speed passenger ferry, Spirit of Ontario I , was operated between Toronto and Rochester from June 17, 2004, until January 10, 2006, when the service was canceled. Crystal Lynn II, of Irondequoit, New York, has been operating between Irondequoit Bay and Henderson, New York since May 2000, operated by Captain Bob Tein.
- Ontario, Canada
- New York, U.S.A.
The Great Lakes Waterway connects the sidestream lake to the Atlantic Ocean through St. Lawrence Seaway, and upstream to another river in the chain through Welland Canal and to Lake Erie. The Trent-Severn Waterway for cruises connects Lake Ontario in Quinte Bay to the Georgian Bay (Lake Huron), via Lake Simcoe. Oswego Canal connects the lake in Oswego to the New York State Channel System, with outlets to the Hudson River, Lake Erie, and Lake Champlain.
The Rideau Canal, also for cruises, connects Lake Ontario in Kingston to the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario.
Lighthouse
- Canal Lighthouse Beach
- Braddock Point Light
- Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse
- Gibraltar Point Lighthouse
- Oswego Harbor West Pierhead Light
- Presqu'ile Lighthouse
- Selkirk Lighthouse
- Sodus Point Light
- Stony Point Light
- Thirty Flash Point
Island
Almost all islands in Lake Ontario are located on the east and north-east coasts, between the Edward County prince and lake outlets in Kingston. The Toronto Islands on the northwest coast are the remnants of sand spit formed by coastal erosion, while the larger eastern islands are mostly based on basement rocks found throughout the region. The largest island, is Wolfe Island, at the eastern end of the lake. It is accessible by ferry from Canada and the US.
- Toronto Islands
- Wolfe Island
- Island Association
- Galloo Island - and near Little Galloo Island, Calf Island, and Stony Island
- Amherst Island
- Simcoe Island
- Garden Island
- Grenadier Island
- Waupoos Island
- Nicholson Island
- Great Island
More topics
The Great Lakes Circle Tour and Seaway Trail is a beautiful road system that connects all the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence. Since the Seaway Trail is only installed on the US side, Lake Ontario is the only one of the five Great Lakes that do not have a bi-national circular tour.
In the 1800s, there were reports of alleged creatures, similar to the so-called Loch Ness Monster, seen in the lake. This creature is described as large with a long, green neck, and generally causes the breaking of surface waves.
Swim across the lake
By 2012, nearly 50 people have managed to swim across the lake. The first person to reach that achievement was Marilyn Bell, who did so in 1954 at the age of 16. Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto is named in his honor. The park opened in 1984, and is located just to the east of where Bell completed the pool. In 1974, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim across the lake against the current (from north to south). On August 28, 2007, 14-year-old Natalie Lambert from Kingston, Ontario, swam, left Sackets Harbor, New York, and reached the Confederate Kingston pool less than 24 hours after she entered the lake. On August 19, 2012, the 14-year-old Annaleise Carr became the youngest person to swim across the lake. He completed a 32 mile (52-km) cross from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Marilyn Bell Park in just under 27 hours.
Industrialization
The Ontario government, which holds the basic rights of the lake from the Canadian part of the lake under the Act of the Navigable Waters Act, does not currently allow offshore wind power to be produced offshore. In Trillium Power Wind Corporation v. Ontario (Natural Resources), the Court of Appeal of Justice states that the Trillium Force - since 2004 as a "Record Applicant" who has invested $ 35,000 in fees and, when in 2011 the Crown made policy decisions on offshore windfarms, claimed injuries of $ 2, 25 billion - expressed no reasonable cause.
While Great Lakes once supported industrial-scale fisheries, with record hauling in 1899, overfishing then damaged the industry. Currently only recreational fishing activities are available.
Images
See also
- Charity Shoal Crater
- Engagement on Lake Ontario
- Fort Niagara
- Glacial Lake Admiralty
- Glacial Lake Iroquois
- Iroquois settlement from the north shore of Lake Ontario
- Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
- Ontario Lacus, a hydrocarbon lake on Saturn's moon named Titan after Lake Ontario
- The Wyandot People
Great Lakes in general
References
Bibliography
- May, Gary (2008). "The Day the Lake Froze Over". Watershed Magazine (Winter 2008/2009). Ã, Smith, Donald B. (1987) Smith's classic "citation id =" CITEREFSmith1987 "class =" book ". Holy Plum . University of Toronto Press. ISBNÃ, 0-8020-6732-8.
- Wright, John W., ed. (2006). The New York Times Almanac (ed 2007). New York, New York: Penguin Books. ISBN: 0-14-303820-6.
External links
- Geographic data related to Lake Ontario in OpenStreetMap
- Lake Ontario NOAA sea chart # 14820 online
- EPA Great Lakes Atlas
- Great Lakes Coast Watch
- Bathymetry Lake Ontario
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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