Lake Erie

Lake Erie is one of the five large freshwater Great Lakes in North America, the world's largest such lakes. Lake Erie itself is the world's 13th largest natural lake, if the Caspian and Aral Seas are counted. It is named after the Erie tribe of Native Americans who lived along its southern shore before European contact.
It has a surface area of 24,000 km² (10,000 sq. miles), an average depth of 19 meters (62 feet), and a retention time of 2.6 years. It contains 483 cubic kilometers of water. For comparison, Lake Superior has an average depth of 483 feet (147 m), a volume of 12,232 cubic km and a retention time of 191 years.
Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River (from Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair) and drains via the Niagara River and Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario. Navigation downstream is provided by the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other major tributaries of Lake Erie include the Grand River, the River Raisin, the Maumee River the Huron River and the Cuyahoga River.
The American states Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York are located to the south of Lake Erie; Michigan lies to the west, and the Canadian province of Ontario lies to the north. Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, is located on a peninsula extending into the lake. Several islands are found in the western end of the lake; these belong to Ohio except for Pelee Island, which is part of Ontario.