One-fifth of the World's Fresh Water!

[lakes]

Watersheds of the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes were probably formed from a lowland area that originally drained south via the Mississippi. The basins of these lakes were scraped out by repeated glacial action. From about 10,000 years ago until about 5,000 years ago, the predecessors to Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior drained through the French and Mattawa rivers to the Ottawa river valley. In more historical times, French voyageurs travelled west via the same water corridor to avoid conflict with native people in the southern Great Lakes region.

Although the Great Lakes hold a lot of water, much of it is "fossil water": not readily renewable since it was left behind by the last glaciation.

Two major migration routes for birds cross over the Great lakes - the Mississippi flyway which follows the Mississippi River watershed to the south and the Atlantic flyway which mainly follows the east coast of North America meet a bit north of the Great Lakes.

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