This a partial list of prehistoric lakes. Although the form of the names below differ, the lists are alphabetized by the identifying name of the lake (e.g., Algonquin for Glacial Lake Algonquin). YBP = Years

Before Present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...

North America

Endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
s

* Estancia Valley, Central

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, United States ** Lake Estancia, glacial paleolake that once hosted

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...

* Plains of San Agustín, Central New Mexico, United States ** Lake San Agustín,

present day The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...

site of the

Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~ west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twen ...

Tularosa basin The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States. Geography The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...

, Southern New Mexico, United States **

Lake Otero Lake Lucero is a Dry lake, playa located within that section of the Tularosa Basin that is contained within White Sands National Park in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The playa is noted for the unusually high quantity of water-deposited and win ...

Lake Lucero Lake Lucero is a playa located within that section of the Tularosa Basin that is contained within White Sands National Park in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The playa is noted for the unusually high quantity of water-deposited and wind-deposi ...

; Once much larger, the present day lake is an alkali lake and the main source of gypsum for

White Sands National Park White Sands National Park is an American national park located in the state of New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range. The park covers in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a field of white sand dun ...

, the largest gypsum dune field in the world. *

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...

Lee Vining, California. Rapidly shrinking due to

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...

damming tributaries.

Atlantic Drainage

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

drainage, i.e., the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

Champlain Sea The Champlain Sea (french: Mer de Champlain) was a prehistoric inlet of the Atlantic Ocean into the North American continent, created by the retreating ice sheets during the closure of the last glacial period. The inlet once included lands in ...

; 11,800 – 8,200 YBP on the lower St. Lawrence, from

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

to the Gulf of St. LawrenceWeb animation; University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; 2001 **

Lake Ontario Lake 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 U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

basin: 8,400 YBP ***

Early Lake Ontario Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * E ...

; 8,700 – 11,800 YBP ***

Lake Admiralty Admiralty Lake was a proglacial lake in the basin of what is now Lake Ontario. The shoreline of Admiralty Lake was about lower than Lake Ontario. The shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois, an earlier proglacial lake, was much higher than Lake O ...

; 10,000 YBP ***

Lake Frontenac Lake Frontenac was a proglacial lake in the basin of what is now Lake Ontario. The sudden influx of fresh water into the Atlantic, as the retreat of the Laurentian Glacier triggered a sudden drop in the lake's water level, may in turn have trig ...

; 12,000 – 11,000 YBP covering the Ontario basin and to the northeast up the St. Lawrence Valley covering the low lands north to the

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. ***

Glacial Lake Iroquois Glacial Lake Iroquois was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed at the end of the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. The lake was essentially an enlargement of the present Lake Ontario that formed because the St. Lawrence River down ...

; 13,000 – 10,500 YBP and covered all of the Ontario basin and southward across central New York, reaching to the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

. **

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

plus 12 minor lakesGlacial Lakes of Western New York; H.L. Fairchild; Bulletin of the Geological Society of America; Vol. 6, PP, 353-274, Pls. 18-23; Rochester, New York; April 12, 1895 ***

Dansville Lake Danville or Dansville may refer to: ;Canada *Danville, Quebec ;United States *Danville, Alabama * Danville, Arkansas *Danville, California * Danville, Georgia *Danville, Illinois *Danville, Indiana * Danville, Iowa * Danville, Kansas * Danville, K ...

in the Canaseraga valley *** Scottsburg Lake in the Conesus valley *** Naples Lake in the Canandaigua valley ***

Hammondsport Lake Hammondsport is a Village (New York), village at the south end of Keuka Lake, in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, one of the Finger Lakes of New York (state), New York, United States. The Village of Hammondsport is in the Urbana, New Yo ...

in the Keoka valley. *** Watkins Lake in the Seneca valley *** Ithaca Lake in the Cayuga valley **

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

(8,400 YBP) basin ***

Early Lake Erie Early Lake Erie was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed at the end of the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. The early Erie fed waters to Glacial Lake Iroquois. The ancient lake was similar in size to the current lake during glaci ...

; 11,800 – 8,700 YBP in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and

and located in the Erie basin ***

Lake Lundy 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 larger ...

; 2,000 YBPThe History of Lake Eire; Michael C. Hansen; Ohio Geology Newsletter; Div of Geological Survey, State of Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; 1989 in

, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and New York *** Lake Elkton stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level *** Lake Dana stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level *** Lake Grasmere stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level ***

Lake Tonawanda Lake Tonawanda was a prehistoric lake that existed approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, in Western New York, United States.Ernest H. Muller (1977)LATE GLACIAL AND EARLY POSTGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS IN WESTERN NEW YORKAnnals o ...

; 10,000 YBP in western

*** Lake Wayne; ended by 12,000 YBP in

, and

, expanding from Lake Warren to cover most of the Erie basin ***

Lake Warren Lake Warren was a proglacial lake that formed in the Lake Erie basin around 12,700 years before present (YBP) when Lake Whittlesey dropped in elevation. Lake Warren is divided into three stages: Warren I , Warren II , and Warren III , each define ...

; 12,700 YBP in

, Pennsylvania, and New York, covering southern portion of the basin ***

Lake Whittlesey Lake Whittlesey was a proglacial lake that was an ancestor of present-day Lake Erie. It formed about 14,000 years ago. As the Erie Lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier retreated at the end of the last ice age, it left melt-water in a previously-existing ...

; 13,000 – 12,700 YBP in

, and Pennsylvania. It covered the western half of the Erie basin and north over southwest Ontario to the tip of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. ***

Lake Arkona Lake Arkona was a stage of the lake waters in the Huron-Erie-Ontario basin following the end of the Lake Maumee levels and before the Lake Whittlesey stages, named for Arkona, Ontario, about east of Sarnia. Beaches The ice sheet had withdrawn ...

; 13,600 – 13,200 YBP in

, Ontario, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Covered two-thirds of the Erie basin, north across southwest Ontario to include the southern tip of Lake Huron, the ‘thumb’ of Michigan and low lands south and west of

Saginaw Bay Saginaw Bay is a bay within Lake Huron located on the eastern side of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms the space between Michigan's Thumb region and the rest of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Saginaw Bay is in area. It is located in part ...

. ***

Lake Maumee Lake Maumee was a proglacial lake and an ancestor of present-day Lake Erie. It formed about 17,500 calendar years, or 14,000 Radiocarbon Years Before Present (RCYBP) as the Huron-Erie Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated at the end of the W ...

; 14,000 – 13,000 YBP in

, Ontario and Michigan. The western basin reaching to

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. ** Lake Rouge in

south of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. **

Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair (french: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day ...

and the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...

: *** Early Lake St. Clair: 12,500 – 5,500 YPB in Lake St. Clair; Michigan and

. **

basin *** Later Lake Saginaw in

on the lower peninsula of

. ***

Nipissing Great Lakes Nipissing Great Lakes was a prehistoric proglacial lake. Parts of the former lake are now Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and Lake Michigan. It formed about 7,500 years before present (YBP). The lake occupied the depression left by the L ...

; 5,500Reconstruction Low Lake Levels of Lake Michigan; Timothy Fisher; University of Toledo;

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant provides education, research, and funding to help strengthen and preserve the ecosystems and communities of the southern Lake Michigan region, 104 miles of heavily urbanized and industrialized shoreline in Illinois and I ...

College Program; University of Illinois; Urbana, IL; 2006 - 4,500 YBPGeological History of Glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes; Curtis E. Larsen; U.S. Geological Survey bulletin; 1801; United States Government Printing Office; Washington, D.C.; 1987} ***

Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (; french: lac Nipissing, oj, Gichi-nibiinsing-zaaga’igan) is a lake in the Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under ...

; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800. *** Lake Stanley-Hough; 8,700 YBP, the water levels had risen to connect both Lake Stanley and Lake Hough into a single body of water. ***

Lake Stanley Lake Stanley, also called the ''Stanley unconformity'', is a postglacial freshwater lake that occupied part of what is now the basin of Lake Huron during a hydrologically significant period from 10,000 years Before Present (B.P.). The lake’s s ...

; 9,000 YBP covered only the northern and eastern portion of the main Huron basin with channels into Lake Hough. ***

Lake Hough 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 larger ...

; 9,000 YBP covered

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

, Ontario. ***

Glacial Lake Algonquin Lake Algonquin was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in east-central North America at the time of the last ice age. Parts of the former lake are now Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Nipigon, and Lake Nipissing ...

; 9,000 – 7,000 YBP ***

; to 10,000 YBP ***

Lake Saginaw Lake Saginaw occupied the basin of Saginaw Bay. There were two periods when it was an independent lake, not associated with a larger body of water in the Huron basin. The first Lake Saginaw was a contemporary of the last stages of Lake Maumee. ...

; 13,500 YBP 10,300 YBP along the southern shore of Saginaw Bay and the low lands to the southwest. **

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

(1,500 YBP) basin ***

: 5,500 - 4,500 YBP ***

; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800. ***

; 9,000 – 7,000 YBP ***

Lake Chippewa Lake Chippewa was a prehistoric proglacial lake. The basin is now Lake Michigan. It formed about 10,600 years before present (YBP). The lake occupied the depression left by the Michigan Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.University of Wisconsin ...

; 10,700 – 7,500 YBP, covered the lowest elevations in the Lake Michigan basin forming a linear lake in the middle, linked by a narrow proto-

Straits of Mackinac The Straits of Mackinac ( ; french: Détroit de Mackinac) are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is wide with a maximum depth of , and connects ...

and the Mackinac Falls to Lake Stanley. ***

Lake Chicago Lake Chicago was a prehistoric proglacial lake that is the ancestor of what is now known as Lake Michigan, one of North America's five Great Lakes. Fed by retreating glaciers, it drained south through the Chicago Outlet River. Origin The c ...

; 14,000 – 11,000 YBP along the southern shore and growing slowly northward. **

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

basin *** Precursor Lakes, before the formation of basin wide bodies of water.Professional Paper 154—A, Moriaines and Shore Lines of Lake Superior Basin: Frank Leverett; United States Government Printing Office, Washington; February 9, 1929; (Pages 1-72) **** Lake Ashland **** Lake Brule ****

Lake Nemadji 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 larger ...

**** Lake Ontonagon **** Lake St. Louis ***

: 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.; - 5,500; - 4,500 YBP *** Lake Houghton; 8,700 – 8,000 YBP covered the Superior basin in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and

. *** Fenton Lake; 9,500 YBP occupied a shallow basin in the eastern side of Lake Superior after Lake Minong had shrunk below rock sills internal to the lake basin. ***

Lake Minong Lake Minong was a proglacial lake that formed in the Lake Superior basin during the Wisconsin glaciation around 10,000 B.P. This was the last glacial advance that entered Michigan and covered only part of the upper peninsula. Lake Minong occu ...

; 10,300 – 9,800 YBP "Post-Valders Lake Stages in the Lake Superior Basin", in Glacial and Postglacial Geologic History of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan by N. King Huber, USGS Geological Survey Professional Paper 754-A covering most of the modern Superior basin. *** Post-Duluth Lake; 10,600 YBP along the Wisconsin and Michigan shore, reaching less than halfway across the basin. *** Lake Duluth; 11,500 – 11,000 YBP in the western half of the Superior basin. *** Glacial Lake St. Louis occupied St. Louis Bay at the southern tip of modern Lake Superior. *** Lake Keweenaw; 12,500 – 12,000 YBP in the western Superior basin. *

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Lake Albany Glacial Lake Albany was a prehistoric North American proglacial lake that formed during the end of the Wisconsinan glaciation. It existed between 15,000 and 12,600 years ago and was created when meltwater from a retreating glacier, along with water ...

in the valley of the Hudson River.http://eos.tufts.edu/varves ; retrieved May 12, 2014 **

Glacial Lake Block Island A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

off the south coast of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, west of

Block Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...

. **

Glacial Lake Cape Cod Glacial Lake Cape Cod was a glacial lake that formed during the late Pleistocene epoch inside modern Cape Cod Bay. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, glacial ice melt accumulated at the terminal moraine and blocked up the escape of glacial m ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. ** Lake Colebrook on the border of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and New Hampshire, crossing into

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. ** Lake Coos on the border of

and New Hampshire. **

Lake Connecticut Glacial Lake Connecticut formed over what is now Long Island Sound and coastal Connecticut at the fore edge of the ice sheet of the Wisconsin glaciation, as the lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet began to retreat, some 18 to 20,000 years before pres ...

; 20,000 – 18,000 YBP, covered

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

.U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-002; Geological Framework Data from Long Island Sound, 1981-1990: A Digital Data Release; CERC Technical Report 81-3; Sand Resources and Geological Character of Long Island Sound; S. Jeffress Williams; 1981 ** Glacial Lake Hitchcock; 15,000 YBP in the valley of the Connecticut River. **

Glacial Lake Nantucket Sound Glacial Lake Nantucket Sound was a glacial lake that formed during the late Pleistocene epoch inside modern Nantucket Sound. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, glacial ice melt washed over the terminal moraine of Cape Cod and the glacial me ...

. **

Glacial Lake Narragansett A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

covered

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

in Rhode Island. **

Lake Merrimack Lake Merrimack was a glacial lake that formed during the late Pleistocene epoch. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, glacial ice melt accumulated at the terminal moraine and blocked up the Merrimack River, creating the narrow lake. The lake ex ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

in the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...

valley **

Lake Passaic Lake Passaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 19,000–14,000 years ago.Stanford, Scott D. “Glacial Lake Passaic.” ''Unearthing New Jerse ...

; 19,000 – 14,000 YBP in New Jersey ** Glacial Lake Rhode Island off the south coast of

, east of

** Lake Sciota; in the eastern Poconos

. ** Lake Stowe; 15,000 YBP in central

. **

Lake Vermont Lake Vermont, also called Glacial Lake Vermont, was a temporary lake created by the retreating glaciers during the close of the last ice age. The lake once included land in the Canadian province of Quebec and the American states Vermont and New Y ...

in Vermont, New York states, and the province of Quebec. **

Lake Winooski 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 larger ...

in Vermont. ** Lubbock Lake in Texas (see

Lubbock Lake Landmark Lubbock Lake Landmark, also known as Lubbock Lake Site, is an important archeological site and natural history preserve in the city of Lubbock, Texas. The preserve is 336 acres and is a protected state and federal landmark. There is evidence of ...

)

Via the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

basin ** Glacial Lake Calvin in southeast Iowa *

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

basin ** Lake Baroda in

on the lower St. Joseph River.Using The Fluvial-Lacustrine Interface In A Glaciodeltaic Deposit To Redefine The Valparaiso Moraine, Berrien County, Michigan, USA Kincare, K.A., Michigan Geological Survey Stone, B.D., and Newell, W.L., U.S. Geological Survey; 7thInternational Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology –Lincoln, Nebraska; ca 2000 ** Lake Dowagiac in

on the lower

Dowagiac River The Dowagiac River is a southwesterly flowing U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 19, 2011 stream in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is tributary to ...

, now a branch of the St. Joseph River which now flows into

. **

Lake Madron 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 larger ...

at the junction of the St. Joseph River and the

. ** Lake Kankakee; 13,600 – 13,200 YBPDunes of Northwestern Indiana; Edward Barrett; Forty First Annual Report of Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Indiana; pg 11-22; Fort Wayne Printing Company; 1916 **

Glacial Lake Ottawa A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

on the upper Illinois River.Earth Science Field Trip, Guide Leaflet, Kankakee Area, May 18, 1957; John C. Frye; State Geological Survey; Urbana, Illinois;l 1957 **

Glacial Lake Pontiac A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

in Illinois on the lower Vermillion River. **

Glacial Lake Wauponsee A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

in Illinois at the headwaters of the

. ** Lake Watseka in Illinois on the Iroquois River. *

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

basin **

Lake Monongahela Lake Monongahela was a proglacial lake in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It formed during the Pre-Illinoian ice epoch when the retreat of the ice sheet northwards blocked the drainage of these valleys to the north. The lake form ...

, along the Allegheny, Monongahela and upper

Rivers. **

Glacial Lake Tight Lake Tight, named for geologist William G. Tight, was a glacial lake in what is present-day Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, during the Ice Age the early Pleistocene before 700,000 years. History Lake Tight's origins date to nearly 2 million y ...

, named for William G. Tight along the

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

border. * Upper

basin **

Lake Upham The proglacial lakes of Minnesota were lakes created in what is now the U.S. state of Minnesota in central North America in the waning years of the last glacial period. As the Laurentide Ice Sheet decayed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, l ...

north of

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. ** Lake Aitkin along the Mississippi River near

Grand Rapids, Minnesota Grand Rapids is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States, and it is the county seat. The population is 11,126 according to the 2020 census. The city is named for the long rapids in the Mississippi River which was the uppermost limit ...

.Ojakangas, Richard W.; Matsch, Charles L (1982). Minnesota's Geology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ** Lake Minnesota at the great bend in the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It ris ...

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 United States ...

** Glacial Lake Baraboo, communicating with

Glacial Lake Wisconsin Glacial Lake Wisconsin was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed from approximately 18,000 to 14,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, in the central part of present-day Wisconsin in the United States. Formation and demise Before t ...

br>here
** Glacial Lake Grantsburg, draining through the St. Croix River, **

Lake Oshkosh 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 larger ...

; 13,600 - YBP. on the central Wisconsin River. **

; 18,000 – 14,000 YBP in Wisconsin along the

Wisconsin River The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskousi ...

. * Missouri River basin ** Glacial Lake Great Falls; 17,000 – 13,000 YBP in MontanaPleistocene Glaciation and Diversion of the Missouri River in Northern Montana; William Moak, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Omaha, Nebraska; ca, 1991 near

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...

. ** Lake Cut Bank in Montana on the

Marias River The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Med ...

near Cut Bank. ** Lake Chouteau in Montana ** Lake Musselshell in Montana on the

Musselshell River The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long from its origins at the confluence of its North and South Forks near Martinsdale, Montana to its mouth on the Missouri River. It is located east of the Continental divide entir ...

. ** Lake Jordan in Montana ** Lake Circle in Montana, ** Lake Glendive in Montana on the Yellowstone River, upstream from its junction with the Missouri River. ** Lake Crow Flies High in North Dakota between Williston and

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

.Geology of the Lewis and Clark Trail in North Dakota; The Missouri River ** Lake McKenzie in North Dakota from the

Great Bend Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

, south to the

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

border. *

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

basin ** Lake Alamosa in Colorado ** Lake Cabeza de Vaca in extreme southern New Mexico, United States, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico; once the ultimate destination of the Rio Grande until it was captured by the

Pecos River The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...

*** Pluvial Lake Palomas in the same area, but fed by the now-endorheic

Mimbres River The Mimbres is a river in southwestern New Mexico. Course The Mimbres forms from snowpack and runoff on the southwestern slopes of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in the Black Range at in Grant County. The river ends in the Guzmán Basin, a smal ...

; now a major source of sand for the Médanos de Samalayuca

Arctic Drainage

* MacKenzie River basin ** Lake MacKenzie in the Northwest Territories. **

Lake McConnell Lake McConnell was a very large proglacial lake that existed in what is now Canada from 11,800 to 8,300 years ago. Other sources give starting and ending dates of about 12,000 and between 9,000 and 8,000 years ago, respectively. It covered parts of ...

; 11,800 – 8,400 YBP **

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, it ...

; 12,875 – 8,480 YBPExamining the progression and termination of Lake Agassiz: Michael J. Michalek; 2013 in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

and

, stretching south in the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

valley of North Dakota and Minnesota. **Modern:

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...

Cedar Lake (Manitoba) Cedar Lake is a lake just north of Lake Winnipegosis in Manitoba, Canada. Cedar Lake's water level is controlled by the Grand Rapids dam. The town of Grand Rapids and the First Nations town of Easterville are nearby. The lake is known to have ex ...

Lake Winnipegosis Lake Winnipegosis is a large (5,370 km2) lake in central North America, in Manitoba, Canada, some 300 km northwest of Winnipeg. It is Canada's eleventh-largest lake. An alternate spelling, once common but now rare, is Lake Winipigoos or ...

, Lake Manitoba, Lake of the Woods ***

Lake Edmonton 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 larger ...

in Alberta ***

Lake Peace Lake Peace was a post ice-age glacial lake in what is now the Peace River basin in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. It formed approximately 14,000 BCE, after the Last Glacial Maximum, as the Laurentide Ice Sheet and Cordil ...

in Alberta and British Columbia *** Lake Regina *** Lake Hind in southwestern Manitoba *** Lake Souris across North Dakota and Manitoba **

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

drainage *** Tyrell Sea; 7,000 – 6,000 YBP ***

Lake Ojibway Lake Ojibway was a prehistoric lake in what is now northern Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Ojibway was the last of the great proglacial lakes of the last ice age. Comparable in size to Lake Agassiz (to which it was likely linked), and north of the ...

; 8,500 – 8,200 YBP *** Lake Antevs *** Lake Nakina in Ontario, east of

Lake Nipigon Lake Nipigon (; french: lac Nipigon; oj, Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan) is part of the Great Lakes drainage basin. It is the largest lake entirely within the boundaries of the Canadian province of Ontario. Etymology In the Jesuit Relations the lake is ...

Pacific Drainage

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

: **

Lake Atna Lake Atna (; also known as Lake Ahtna) was a prehistoric proglacial lake that initially formed approximately 58 ka (thousand years ago) in the Copper River Basin, an area roughly centered around northeast of modern-day Anchorage, Alaska. The ...

drained from present-day Copper River Basin **

Glacial Lake Bretz A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

drained north from present-day Puget Sound in Washington **

Lake Cahuilla Lake Cahuilla ( ; also known as Lake LeConte and Blake Sea) was a prehistoric lake in California and northern Mexico. Located in the Coachella and Imperial valleys, it covered surface areas of to a height of above sea level during the Holocen ...

in Southern California at the Salton Sea and today's cities of Indio, Mexicali, and El Centro, CA ** Glacial Lake Hood formed in the southern hook of the

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,Glacial Lake Russell During the Vashon Glaciation a series of lakes formed along the southern margin of the Cordilleran Ice Cap. In the Puget Sound depression, a series of lakes developed, of which Lake Russell was the largest and the longest lasting. Early Lake R ...

at Tacoma and the Black River Valley to the Chehalis River. **

Lake Modoc Lake Modoc is a former lake in California and Oregon, in the location of present-day Upper Klamath Lake, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake. It existed during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, its formation probably influenced by volcanism and fa ...

formed on the

Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...

, at

Upper Klamath Lake Upper Klamath Lake (sometimes called Klamath Lake) ( Klamath: ?ews, "lake" ) is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range in south-central Oregon in the United States. The largest body of fresh water by surface area in Oregon, it ...

Lower Klamath Lake Lower Klamath Lake is a lake in Siskiyou County, California. At one time it was connected to Upper Klamath Lake. It currently is used to hold overflow water for Klamath Project irrigation uses. The lake is in Northern California, near the borde ...

and

Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The eleva ...

Lake Nisqually Lake Nisqually is used to identify the freshwater lake formed in the Puget Sound trough, west of Tacoma. It is sometime confused with Early Lake Russell which covered the same area during a previous northward retreat of the glacier. The glacier re ...

preceded Lake Russell and waters, west of Tacoma, including the Narrows. **

Lake Puyallup Lake Puyallup developed along the south edge of the Puget Sound Glacier. The glacier was in retreat northward after having reached its most southerly point. Drainage off the north face of Mount Rainier and the melting ice of the glacier was tr ...

was on the middle and upper

Puyallup River The Puyallup River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The ...

and preceded Lake Tacoma. **

Glacial Lake Russell During the Vashon Glaciation a series of lakes formed along the southern margin of the Cordilleran Ice Cap. In the Puget Sound depression, a series of lakes developed, of which Lake Russell was the largest and the longest lasting. Early Lake R ...

drained south from present-day Puget Sound in Washington. **

Glacial Lake Sammamish A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

preceded

Lake Sammamish Lake Sammamish is a freshwater lake east of Seattle in King County, Washington, United States. The lake is long and wide, with a maximum depth of and a surface area of . It lies east of Lake Washington and west of the Sammamish Plateau, a ...

, draining into

’s bay in the Lake Russell’s bay in the Lake Washington basin east of Seattle. ** Lake Skokomish drained the southeast flank of the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

in the Skokomish River basin. *

Lake Tacoma Lake Tacoma is the name given the freshwater lake in the basin of the Puyallup River and the Green River (Duwamish River) at the point in time that the Vashon Glacier had receded northward into Commencement Bay. Prior to this, it was referred to ...

was at the southern end of the Vashon Glacier in

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

covering Commencement Bay, extending south up the Puyallup River valley. Washington basin east of Seattle. **

Glacial Lake Snoqualmie A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

in Washington State *

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

basin: **

Lake Allison Lake Allison was a temporary lake in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, formed periodically by the Missoula Floods from 15,000 to 13,000 BC. The lake is the main cause of the rich and fertile soil that now characterizes the Willamette Valley. Histor ...

; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. ** Lake Canadian on the Washington/Oregon border above the Dalles **

Lake Condon Lake Condon was a temporary lake in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, formed periodically by the Missoula Floods from 15,000 to 13,000 BC. The restricted flow of waters from cataclysmic floods from Glacial Lake Missoula, and pluvial ...

; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP on the

on the Washington/Oregon border above the Dalles and below

Wallula Gap Wallula Gap () is a large water gap of the Columbia River in the northwest United States in southeast Washington. It cuts through the Horse Heaven Hills basalt anticlines in the Columbia River Basin, just south of the confluence of the Wall ...

. **

Lake Lewis Lake Lewis was a temporary lake in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, largely formed by the Missoula Floods in about the 14th millennium B.C. Lake Lewis was formed when the restricted flow of waters from periodic cataclysmic floods f ...

; 16,000 YBP in central Washington, new

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

. **

Glacial Lake Columbia Glacial Lake Columbia was the lake formed on the ice-dammed Columbia River behind the Okanogan lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet when the lobe covered of the Waterville Plateau west of Grand Coulee in central Washington state during the Wis ...

in central

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

State ** Glacial Lake Spokane in eastern Washington near

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. **

Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about and contained about of water, half the volume of Lake Mic ...

; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in western

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. *

of California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon & Idaho: **

Lake Lahontan Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic Pleistocene lake of modern northwestern Nevada that extended into northeastern California and southern Oregon. The area of the former lake is a large portion of the Great Basin that borders the Sacramento Rive ...

; 12,700 – 9,000 YBP in Nevada, California and Oregon. **

Lake Alvord 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 larger ...

in Oregon and Nevada ** Lake Amboy in California **

Lake Bonneville Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperature ...

; 32,000 – 14,500 YBP in Utah and Idaho and Nevada. ** Lake Carpenter in Nevada ** Lake Chewaucan in Oregon ** Lake Clover in Nevada **

Lake Dixie 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 larger ...

in Nevada **

Lake Franklin 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 larger ...

in Nevada ** Lake Harney-Malheur in Oregon **

Lake Klamath A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), 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 World Ocean, oce ...

in California and Oregon ** Lake Madeline in California **

Lake Manly Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by act ...

; 186,000 – 10,000 YBP, covered Death Valley **

Lake Mojave Lake Mojave is an ancient former lake fed by the Mojave River that, through the Holocene, occupied the Silver Lake and Soda Lake basins in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. Its outlet may have ultimately emptied into the C ...

in California ** Lake Owens in California ** Lake Panamint in California **

Lake Railroad 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 larger ...

in Nevada ** Lake Russell in Nevada and California ** Lake Searles in California **

Lake Spring 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 larger ...

in Nevada ** Lake Steptoe in Nevada ** Lake Tecopa ** Lake Thompson **

Lake Toiyabe 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 larger ...

in Nevada ** Lake Tulare in California ** Lake Tule in California ** Lake Waring in Nevada

Europe

* Lake Komi, a

proglacial lake In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine during the retreat of a melting glacier, a glacial ice dam, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ...

formed in the vicinity of the present-day Russian

Komi Republic The Komi Republic (russian: Республика Коми; kv, Коми Республика), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. Its capital is the city of Syktyvkar. The population of the ...

* White Sea Ice Lake, freshwater period of the

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...

Baltic Ice Lake The Baltic Ice Lake is a name given by geologists to a freshwater lake that evolved in the Baltic Sea basin as glaciers retreated from that region at the end of the last ice age. The lake existed between 12,600 and 10,300 years Before Present ...

, freshwater period of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

* Ancylus Lake, freshwater period of the

Lake Harrison Lake Harrison or Lake Bosworth is the name given to a lake that in parts of the Ice Age may have covered much of the Midlands in England around Warwick, Birmingham and Leicester. It is suggested that it was formed when ice sheets over Wales and N ...

in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Lake Lapworth Lake Lapworth was a postulated glacial lake in Great Britain, believed to have formed during the last ice age when glaciers ended the northern outlet of the Severn. This ran through the Dee (which passes by Chester). At some point or points it ran ...

in Shropshire in England * Lake Orcadie of the

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Lake Pickering Lake Pickering was an extensive proglacial lake of the Devensian glacial. It filled the Vale of Pickering between the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds, when the (largely Scandinavian) ice blocked the drainage, which had flowed north-east ...

between the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

and the

Yorkshire Wolds The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in north-eastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie. On the western edge, the Wolds rise to an escarpment wh ...

in England * Ebro endorheic lake system, in the

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

Basin, (Spain) * Duero endorheic lake system, in the

Duero The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

Basin, (Spain) *

Gjende Gjende or Gjendin is a lake in Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Jotunheimen mountain range and also inside Jotunheimen National Park. The proglacial lake shows typical characteristics of glacial formation, ...

Lake in the

Jotunheimen Jotunheimen (; "the home of the Jötunn") is a mountainous area of roughly in southern Norway and is part of the long range known as the Scandinavian Mountains. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are all located in the Jotunheimen mountains, in ...

mountains of Norway *

Zechstein Sea The Zechstein (German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of Englan ...

covering all of central and Northern Europe (Saltwater)

South America

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Alti ...

Lake Humboldt Lake Humboldt or Humboldt Lake is an endorheic basin lake in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County in the state of Nevada in the United States. The lake has the name of Alexander von Humboldt, a German natural scientist. The la ...

, Pleistocene lake on the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is situated in the Eastern Range ...

* Altiplano Boliviano ** Cabana, a lake level highstand of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, ...

** Lake Escara ** Inca Huasi ** Mataro, a lake level highstand of

** Lake Minchin ** Ouki ** Sajsi ** Salinas ** Lake Tauca ** Cancosa paleolake *

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

** Great Tehuelche Paleolake

Asia

* Mundafan, Arabia *

West Siberian Glacial Lake The West Siberian Glacial Lake, also known as West Siberian Lake (russian: Западно-Сибирское море) or Mansiyskoe Lake (russian: Мансийское озеро), was a periglacial lake formed when the Arctic Ocean outlets for ...

Lake Bandung Lake Bandung ( su, Situ Hiang) was a prehistoric lake located in and around the city of Bandung, Parahyangan highlands, West Java, Indonesia. believed to exist between 126,000 and 20,000 BCE in the Pleitocene due to the violent eruption of Mou ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

* Lake Tengger

Africa

Lake Makgadikgadi Lake Makgadikgadi ( tn, Letsha la Makgadikgadi, label=Setswana, ) was a paleolake that existed in what is now the Kalahari Desert in Botswana from 2,000,000 years BP to 10,000 years BP. It may have once covered an area of from and was 30 m de ...

in the Kalahari Desert in Africa *

Lake Ptolemy Lake Ptolemy is a former lake in Sudan. This lake formed during the Holocene in the Darfur region, during a time when the monsoon over Africa was stronger. The existence of the lake is dated between about 9,100–2,400 years before present. This ...

* Chad Basin what is now

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

* Lake Congo, what is now the

Congo Basin The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...

Lake Suguta Lake Suguta is a former lake in Africa. It formed in the Suguta Valley, which is part of the East African Rift, south of Lake Turkana during the Holocene African humid period. The lake existed a number of times during history, most recently du ...

Oceania

* Lake Carpentaria, Australia *

Lake Bungunnia The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Australia's longest ...

in the Murray Basin, Australia *

Eromanga Sea Eromanga or Erromanga may refer to: * Eromanga, Queensland, Australia **Eromanga Refinery, a small oil refinery in the town * Eromanga Basin, Australia ** Eromanga Sea, a prehistoric epicontinental sea that once covered the Eromanga Basin * Erroman ...

in the

Eromanga Basin The Eromanga Basin is a large Mesozoic sedimentary basin in central and northern Australia. It covers parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, and New South Wales, and is a major component of the Great Artesian Basin. The E ...

, Australia *

Lake Manuherikia Lake Manuherikia was a prehistoric lake which once stretched over some in what is now inland Otago in New Zealand's South Island. It stretched from Bannockburn, New Zealand, Bannockburn and the Nevis River, Nevis valley in the west to Naseby, Ne ...

, Central Otago, New Zealand * Lake Walloon, Lake Winton, and Lake Dieri, Australia, of which the modern

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...

is a remnantDr Vincent Kotwicki's "Floods of Lake Eyre"
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prehistoric Lakes, List of * *Prehistoric

Lakes 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 larger ...

Glacial lakes

North America

Endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...s

Atlantic Drainage

Via the Gulf of Mexico

Arctic Drainage

Pacific Drainage

Europe

South America

Asia

Africa

Oceania

See also

References

Endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...
s