A Superior Quiz

Answer: First

By its surface, not by volume, Lake Superior is the largest lake, covering 31,700 square miles. If the shoreline of the lake were pulled out in a straight line, it would extend from Duluth, Minnesota to the Bahamas Islands, approximately 2,725 miles. Shoreline is difficult to measure accurately as it changes and also includes several islands.

The maximum length of the lake is about 350 miles, and its width 160 miles.

Answer: False

It would be more like twelve inches deep! With about 300 rivers, streams and tributaries pouring into Superior, its volume is tremendous. The Nipigon River is the greatest incoming source. From the lake at St. Mary's River (the Sault Ste. Marie), there is a small outflow that runs into Lake Huron. The replacement time for a complete turnover is about 200 years.

There is a drop of 25 feet between the two lakes, so the Sault Ste. Marie (pr. Soo Saint Marie) locks are used. Lake Superior tends to be at its highest level in October and November, and lowest in March and April. Its average above sea level is 600 feet.

Answer: Lakes Huron, Michigan, Ontario and four Eries

Superior holds about ten percent of Earth's fresh water. The huge lake rarely freezes over, and when it does it is usually only for a few hours. There was complete freezing for limited times in 2009, 2003, 1979, and 1962. In 2007, the lake was at a low point during the summer.

Icebergs and glaciers hold much of the Earth's fresh water.

The Caspian Sea, a larger inland lake, is not entirely fresh as it contains brackish water. It has also been connected at times to the Mediterranean through the Black Sea.

Lake Superior is third on the planet in volume, Lake Baikal in Siberia being first and Lake Tanganyika in East Africa being second.

Answer: False

Superior is only about 10,000 years old, one of Earth's younger features, but it contains much older rocks, some estimated at about 2.7 billion years old. Most of these are found on the Ontario shore of the lake. The lake shores are rich in mineral deposits from prehistoric times: copper, silver, gold, nickel, and iron findings gave rise to many mining towns around the lake.

The lake lies in an extinct rift and also has deposits of amethyst, limestone, shale and other marketable minerals. Tribes began inhabiting the lakeshore around 10,000 years ago, and trickled down from the Plano tribes to the present day Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians whose ancestry goes back about 500 years in that area.

Answer: 1335

The average depth is only about 485 feet, but there are much deeper regions. The average temperature is about 39 degrees F. The old expression "Superior doesn't give up its dead" refers to submerged bodies being too cold in the water for bacteria to grow on, so there is little or no bloating from decay and gasses, and the bodies sink rather than rise.

Answer: 25 to 30 feet

The average underwater visibility recorded is about 25 feet, but there are some locations where it is possible to see 30 feet. There are photos taken of various wrecks on the bottom. The wreckage of the 420-foot ore carrier Cyprus found in 2007 was discovered 100 years after it sank in 460 feet of water. It was on only its second voyage, from Superior, Wisconsin to Buffalo, New York.

Answer: 80

Fish tails/tales vary, but about 80 types have been recorded living in the lake at the beginning of the 21st century. This figure will keep changing as dominant or invasive species sometimes take over areas, but the lake is probably large enough for all to survive.

Answer: 31 feet

Some mighty waves have been seen and felt on the lake. There are great storms out there, and about 350 shipwrecks have been recorded, one immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The huge iron ore ship went down in a storm in 1975 with 29 men on board.

The wreckage was found in 1994, the name still visible on the side. Because of the way the top of the ship sheared off from the bottom, it is estimated that a rogue wave, the third in a chain, smashed it apart.

The two parts lie about 170 feet from each other. Waves higher than 31 feet have been claimed but not verified.

Answer: Gitchigoomie

The name is mentioned in the poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1668, it had been named Lac Tracy by a Jesuit priest, but the name never became popular. The several Indian tribes that lived in and around the lake and its islands had many names for it, but Kitch-Gummi or Gitchigoomie was generally the name remembered, meaning great water.

The Indians believed that all things in nature have a spirit and they would offer tobacco and prayers to the great lake spirit before setting out on their boats.

A calm surface could quickly become a raging gale. The spirit of a giant lynx with a fish tail was thought to inhabit the lake, and images of it can still be seen in many locations in the area.

Answer: 8:35 pm

That's about half a time zone difference. Duluth, Minnesota, at the western tip of Superior, is the most inland port on the lakes. The area known as "The Graveyard of The Great Lakes" lies between Grand Marais and Whitefish Point areas in Michigan.