Lake Ontario
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Lake Ontario For the hydrocarbon lake on Titan, see Ontario Lacus. Lake Ontario (French: Lac Ontario) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot (Huron) lan- guage, ontarío means “Lake of Shining Waters”. It is the last in the Great Lakes chain and serves as the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River. Lake On- tario is also the only one of the five Great Lakes not to share a shoreline with the American state of Michigan. View from Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York 1 Geography Historic cannon at Fort Niagara; Toronto across the lake draining Lake Erie, with the St. Lawrence River serving as the outlet. The drainage basin covers 24,720 square Lake Ontario Basin miles (64,030 km2).[1][5] As with all the Great Lakes, wa- Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and ter levels change both within the year (owing to seasonal the smallest in surface area (7,340 sq mi, 18,960 km2),[1] changes in water input) and among years (owing to longer although it exceeds Lake Erie in volume (393 cu mi, term trends in precipitation). These water level fluctua- 3 tions are an integral part of lake ecology, and produce and 1,639 km ). It is the 14th largest lake in the world. When [6][7] its islands are included, the lake has a shoreline that is 712 maintain extensive wetlands. The lake also has an im- miles (1,146 km) long. As the last lake in the Great Lakes’ portant freshwater fishery, although it has been negatively affected by factors including over-fishing, water pollution hydrologic chain, Lake Ontario has the lowest mean sur- [8] face elevation of the lakes at 243 feet (74 m)[2] above and invasive species. sea level; 326 feet (99 m) lower than its neighbor up- Baymouth bars built by prevailing winds and currents stream. Its maximum length is 193 statute miles (311 have created a significant number of lagoons and shel- kilometres; 168 nautical miles) and its maximum width tered harbors, mostly near (but not limited to) Prince Ed- is 53 statute miles (85 km; 46 nmi).[2] The lake’s av- ward County, Ontario and the easternmost shores. Per- erage depth is 47 fathoms 1 foot (283 ft; 86 m), with haps the best-known example is Toronto Bay, chosen a maximum depth of 133 fathoms 4 feet (802 ft; 244 as the site of the Upper Canada (Ontario) capital for m).[2][3] The lake’s primary source is the Niagara River, its strategic harbour. Other prominent examples include 1 2 3 HISTORY Hamilton Harbour, Irondequoit Bay, Presqu'ile Bay, and lake became a bay of the Atlantic Ocean, in association Sodus Bay. The bars themselves are the sites of long with the Champlain Sea. Gradually the land rebounded beaches, such as Sandbanks Provincial Park and Sandy from the release of the weight of about 6,500 feet (2,000 Island Beach State Park. These sand bars are often as- m) of ice that had been stacked on it. It is still rebounding sociated with large wetlands, which support large num- about 12 inches (30 cm) per century in the St. Lawrence bers of plant and animal species, as well as providing area. Since the ice receded from the area last, the most important rest areas for migratory birds.[9][10] Presqu'ile, rapid rebound still occurs there. This means that the lake on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is particularly sig- bed is gradually tilting southward, inundating the south nificant in this regard. One unique feature of the lake shore and turning river valleys into bays. Both north and is the Z-shaped Bay of Quinte which separates Prince south shores experience shoreline erosion, but the tilting Edward County from the Ontario mainland, save for a amplifies this effect on the south shore, causing loss to 2-mile (3.2 km) isthmus near Trenton; this feature also property owners. supports many wetlands and aquatic plants, as well as as- sociated fisheries. Major rivers draining into Lake Ontario include the Ni- 3 History agara River; Don River; Humber River; Trent River; the Cataraqui River; the Genesee River; the Oswego River; the Black River; and the Salmon River. 2 Geology Lake Ontario bathymetric map.[11][12][13] The deepest point is marked with "×".[14] The lake basin was carved out of soft, weak Silurian- age rocks by the Wisconsin ice sheet during the last ice age. The action of the ice occurred along the pre- glacial Ontarian River valley which had approximately the same orientation as today’s basin. Material that was pushed southward by the ice sheet left landforms such Map of Lac de Frontenac (now Lake Ontario), showing as drumlins, kames, and moraines, both on the modern Teiaiagon and Lac Taronto (now Lake Simcoe) land surface and the lake bottom,[15] reorganizing the re- gion’s entire drainage system. As the ice sheet retreated Ontario, or 'beautiful great lake' derives its name from the toward the north, it still dammed the St. Lawrence val- Iroquois / Haudenosaunee first nation which inhabited the ley outlet, so that the lake surface was at a higher level. area around the lake until about 1700. The lake was a bor- This stage is known as Lake Iroquois. During that time der between the Huron and their vassals and the Iroquois the lake drained through present-day Syracuse, New York Confederacy in pre-European times. In the 1600s, the into the Mohawk River, thence to the Hudson River and Iroquois drove out the Huron from southern Ontario and the Atlantic. The shoreline created during this stage can settled the northern shores of Lake Ontario. When the be easily recognized by the (now dry) beaches and wave- Iroquois withdrew and the Anishnabeg / Ojibwa / Missis- cut hills 10 to 25 miles (15 to 40 km) from the present saugas moved in from the north to southern Ontario, they shoreline. retained the Iroquois name.[16] When the ice finally receded from the St. Lawrence val- The first documented European to reach the lake was ley, the outlet was below sea level, and for a short time the Étienne Brûlé in 1615. As was their practice, the 3 French explorers introduced other names for the lake. In 1632 and 1656, the lake was referred to as Lac de St. Louis or Lake St. Louis by Samuel de Champlain and cartographer Nicolas Sanson respectively (likely for Louis XIV of France)[17] In 1660 Jesuit historian Francis Creuxius coined the name Lacus Ontarius. In a map drawn in the Relation des Jésuites (1662–1663), the lake bears the legend “Lac Ontario ou des Iroquois” with the name “Ondiara” in smaller type. A French map pro- duced in 1712 (currently in the Canadian Museum of Civ- ilization[18]), created by military engineer Jean-Baptiste de Couagne, identified Lake Ontario as “Lac Frontenac” named after Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau. He was a French soldier, courtier, and Gover- Wetlands on a lakeshore nor General of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698. Artifacts which are believed to be of Norse origin have ever, these wetlands are changing in part because the nat- been found in the area of Sodus Bay, indicating possible ural water level fluctuations have been reduced. Many earlier visits by Europeans, but this remains unproven. wetland plants are dependent upon low water levels to reproduce.[20] When water levels are stabilized, the area A series of trading posts was established by both the and diversity of the marsh is reduced. This is particu- British and French, such as Fort Frontenac (Kingston) in larly true of meadow marsh (also known as wet meadow 1673, Fort Oswego in 1722, Fort Rouillé (Toronto) in wetlands); for example, in Eel Bay near Alexandria Bay, 1750. After the French and Indian War, all forts around regulation of lake levels has resulted in large losses of the lake were under British control. The United States wet meadow.[21] Often this is accompanied by invasion by did not take possession of forts on present-day American cattails, which displace many of the native plant species territory until the signing of the Jay Treaty in 1794. Per- and reduce plant diversity. Eutrophication may accel- manent, non-military European settlement began during erate this process by providing nitrogen and phospho- the American Revolution. As the easternmost and near- rus for the more rapid growth of competitively domi- est lake to the Atlantic seaboard of Canada and the United nant plants.[22] Similar effects are occurring on the north States, population centres here are among the oldest in the shore, in wetlands such as Presqu'ile, which have inter- Great Lakes basin, with Kingston, Ontario, formerly the dunal wetlands called pannes, with high plant diversity capital of Canada, dating to the 1670s (Fort Frontenac). and many unusual plant species.[23] The lake became a hub of commercial activity following the War of 1812 with canal building on both sides of the Most of the forests around the lake are deciduous forests border and heavy travel by lake steamers. Steamer ac- dominated by trees including maple, oak, beech, ash and tivity peaked in the mid-19th century before competition basswood. These are classified as part of the Mixedwood from railway lines.