what determines the difference between a lake and a pond?

Answer 1

According to: http://www.mlci.org/students/Page.aspx?id=1#L

POND: A permanent, inland body of standing water with no sustained directional flow detectable to the naked eye. Ponds have light penetration all the way across the body of water and will have only one or two layers during summer stratification. Lakes by contrast, have sufficient depth that light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom in the deepest parts of the lake and often stratifies into three distinct layers of water during the summer. In Maine, this general rule of distinguishing lakes from ponds was not used in naming the bodies of water. Therefore some ponds are called lakes and some lakes are called ponds.

LAKE: A permanent, inland body of standing water with no sustained directional flow detectable to the naked eye. In general, a lake has sufficient depth that light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom in the deepest parts of the lake and often stratifies into three distinct layers of water during the summer. Ponds by contrast, have light penetration throughout the body of water and will have only one or two layers during stratification. In Maine, this general rule of distinguishing lakes from ponds was not used in naming the bodies of water.

Hope this is helpful!

--Bill Pardue
Arlington Heights Memorial Library http://www.ahml.info
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Answer 2

It's size and depth.

From Google:
"A lake is a large body of water. It is usually fed by several streams. It is larger and deeper than a pond."

Answer 3

A lake is a natural occurence, a pond is a man made water hole.

Answer 4

There are many differences, and sites differ as to what determines each one. However, here is a site from the EPA, a reliable source, which I hope helps.
http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/aquatic/lake-r.html


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Answer 5

A lake is natural but other is small and man made.

Answer 6

If you can sail a boat on it, it's a lake.