There are more than 3,000 named

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s, and dry lakes in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Largest lakes

In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gulf ...

, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupies in the southeast corner of the state, but because it is shallow it only holds about of water.

Tulare Lake Tulare Lake () ( Spanish: ''Laguna de Tache'', Yokuts: ''Pah-áh-su'') is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century ...

in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

was larger, at approximately , until it was drained during the later years of the nineteenth century. In terms of volume, the largest lake on the list is Lake Tahoe, located on the California–Nevada border. It holds roughly of water. It is also the largest freshwater lake by area, at , and the deepest lake, with a maximum depth of . Among freshwater lakes entirely contained within the state, the largest by area is Clear Lake, which covers . Many of California's large lakes are actually reservoirs: artificial bodies of fresh water. In terms of both area and volume, the largest of these is Lake Shasta, which formed behind

Shasta Dam Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the List of tallest dams in the United States, eighth-tallest dam in ...

in the 1940s. The dam can impound of water over .

Lake Elsinore Lake Elsinore is a natural freshwater lake in Riverside County, California, located east of the Santa Ana Mountains and fed by the San Jacinto River. Originally named ''Laguna Grande'' by Spanish explorers, it was renamed for the town of Elsino ...

, which covers , is billed as the largest natural freshwater lake in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

List

The list is alphabetized by the name of the lake, with the words ''lake'', ''of'', and ''the'' ignored. To sort on a different column, click on the arrows in the header row. Geographic coordinates, approximate elevations, alternative names, and other details may be obtained by following the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

links in the third column. Note: Lakes grow and shrink due to

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

, evaporation, releases, and diversions. For this reason, many of the surface areas tabulated below are very approximate. For reservoirs, the areas at maximum water storage are indicated. Reservoirs used for

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

are seldom allowed to reach maximum storage.

References

External links

*
Alphabetical Index of California Reservoirs
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Lakes In California * * Lakes

Largest lakes

List

See also

References

External links