The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took...
-
Upload
leslie-wilkerson -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took...
![Page 1: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Great LakesMichael W. Rowan, Ph.D.
![Page 2: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
The Great Lakes
• Began to form ~500,000 years ago• Took present shape ~10,000 years ago• Watershed area = 196,000 sq. miles
– 34 million people (27.5 million U.S., 6.4 million Canada)
• Water surface area = 94,700 sq. miles• U.S. Great Lakes shoreline > U.S. east
coast shoreline
![Page 3: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Unique ecosystem, and unique resources
• Largest surface freshwater system on earth
• Contains 84% of North America’s surface freshwater
• Contains 21% of the world’s surface freshwater
![Page 4: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Characteristic Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario
Length (miles) 350 307 206 241 193
Width (miles) 160 118 183 57 53
Depth, Average & Max. (feet) 489 / 1,333 279 / 923 195 / 750 62 / 210 283/802
Volume (cubic miles) 2,935 1,180 849 116 393
Surface Area (sq. miles) 31,700 22,300 23,000 9,910 7,340
Drainage Basin Area (sq.miles) 49,300 45,600 50,700 22,700 23,400
Shoreline (miles) 2,730 1,640 3,830 871 712
Elevation (feet) 601 577 577 569 243
Outlets
St. Mary's River
Mackinac Straits
St. Clair River Niagara Falls St. Lawrence River
Chicago River Welland Canal
Water Replacement Time (yrs) 173 62 21 2.7 6
Human Population 672,116 12,052,743 2,960,359 12,532,977 5,692,178
Source: Sea Grant and MSU Extension, 2000
![Page 5: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
![Page 6: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Great Lakes Environmental Issues
• Invasive species• Nonpoint source pollution• Urban sprawl• Mercury in fish• Contaminated sediments (dredging?)• Nutrient loading• Water diversion• Climate change• Endocrine disrupters• Atmospheric deposition
![Page 7: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Erie – Our Great Lake
• Smallest in volume, depth, retention time, watershed area
• Largest human population• Warmest, most nutrient-rich, and most
productive• Fishery is more productive than the
fisheries of other four Great Lakes combined
• Largest percentage of land in agriculture
![Page 8: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
![Page 9: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
![Page 11: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Cuyahoga River FireNovember 1952
![Page 12: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus)
• Ubiquitous benthic catfish distributed throughout the great lakes
• Vulnerable to many hydrophobic contaminants (PAHs)
• Sediment PAHs linked to high tumor rates and changes in blood variables
![Page 13: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Tri-C Eastern Campus BIO 2806 - Environmental Science for Educators: Promoting Watershed Stewardship July 2007
BROWN BULLHEAD (Ameiurus nebulosus)
![Page 14: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Tri-C Eastern Campus BIO 2806 - Environmental Science for Educators: Promoting Watershed Stewardship July 2008
![Page 15: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Something Fishy
• 34 species of Lake Erie Fish are rare, threatened, or endangered
• Blue pike – extinct• Lake sturgeon, brook trout, lake
trout, . . . • Fish consumption advisories due
to mercury and PCBs
![Page 16: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
CREDITS
• Thanks to Michael Rowan, PhD from Tri-C East who donated his Power Point slides so graciously.
• Course: “Promoting Watershed Stewardship” for Environmental Science Educators
![Page 17: The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.. The Great Lakes Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000.](https://reader030.fdocuments.us/reader030/viewer/2022032804/56649e4b5503460f94b3f533/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Educator Resources
• Great Lakes Environmental Atlas - USEPA• Great Lakes science activities – OSU/Ohio
Sea Grant• NASA - Visible Earth – satellite images of
the Great Lakes– Animation: lake effect snow
• Great Lakes Commission• International Joint Commisison• Great Lakes Information Network• Lake Erie: Beyond the Surface -Channel 3