2007-03-28 04:01:40 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment
How are they fresh when they share an outlet out into the Atlantic Ocean? (St. Lawrence river)
2007-03-28 04:06:38 · update #1
They are fresh water. In fact, with the Saint Lawrence River, they compose the largest fresh-water system in the world.
2007-03-28 04:04:30 · answer #1 · answered by DavidK93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This may be an answer you are looking for. Follow the Wikipedia site with the estuary explanations. The salinity does vary slightly in all waters both fresh and salt. The fresh water becomes saltier and the saltwater loses salinity, and it will vary with the depth of the water and time of the year. The great tidal shifts in the Bay of Fundy might interest you. I was a sailor on most of the Great Lakes, but never went all the way down the St. Lawrence.
2007-03-28 04:20:17 · answer #2 · answered by lyyman 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fresh water might be a subjective term since I know I wouldn't want to drink out of some parts of Lake Erie, but it is not sea water, it is "fresh" water.
additional: The Mississippi, Nile and Amazon all empty into oceansalso, but they are fresh water just like the St. Lawrence. You will even find fresh water fish miles out to sea near the outlet because the fresh water has not dissipated.
2007-03-28 04:07:53 · answer #3 · answered by Doc E 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fresh water, but sea creatures have entered them in the form of mussels from up the St. Lawrence River from the Atlantic attaching themselves to ships crossing the great lakes on their way to say Chicago or Detroit or any other city.
2007-03-28 04:06:34 · answer #4 · answered by Ted 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm..i used to live near Lake Superior which is one of the great lakes and i do think they are fresh water. Yea, I am certain that it is fresh water because there are no other sea water near them...the great lakes may empty into bodies of other sea water but i don't think they are sea water themselves. The only bodies of water that are sea water is the oceans. Therefore, the great lakes in my OPINION is fresh water.
2007-03-28 04:06:53 · answer #5 · answered by ••••Unknown••• 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fresh water
2007-03-28 04:04:10 · answer #6 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fresh water.
2007-03-28 04:04:24 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are fresh. The lake's levels are above sea level so they flow down hill in to the ocean. Gravity keeps the ocean from flowing uphill into the lakes.
2007-03-28 05:27:48 · answer #8 · answered by sonnie_b 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water; one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water (only the polar ice caps and Lake Baikal in Siberia contain more); 95 percent of the U.S. supply. Spread evenly across the continental U.S., the Great Lakes would submerge the country under about 9.5 feet of water.
2007-03-28 04:05:56 · answer #9 · answered by zoogrl2001 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if it is called a lake it is fresh water ,
if it was salt it would be called an inland sea
there is always an exeption ofcourse like salt lake
but generally this is the rule
the great lakes are fresh water
2007-03-28 18:01:42 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋