Interestingly enough the whole great lakes area was a sea, 400 million years ago. There are massive salt mines deep underground from those times.
Why would there be deep underground salt mines from 400 million years ago?
Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
161–170 of 222 posts
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#162It is indeed mostly semantics. Interestingly (to me anyway) I was just following the news about Lake Powell being at a very low level, and noticed on a map just how "non-lake like" its shape is (even when at full capacity).... it just looks like a river and tributaries that are somewhat wider than they were before a dam was built. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+Powell/@37.0518007,-1... Meanwhile, why is Green…
Australia has 3x the land area as Greenland so the line is probably somewhere in between there.
True but it is all arbitrary. If there was an island twice as big as Greenland, what would it be called? And why is Europe considered a continent when it is more accurately just a peninsula off of Asia? And if we are talking seas, why is the Caribbean a sea when it is just a region of the Atlantic ocean? Even moreso for the Sargasso sea, which is a region right out in the middle of the Atlantic (it doesn't even have any land boundaries).
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Canada Unlike you, the author of the AtlasObscura piece seems to have a blind spot to the other country in which almost all of the Great Lakes exist. What an appalling oversight.
As a French guy, I have always associated the Great Lakes with Canada. I had to look it up to realize that most of it is within US borders.
Only Lake Michigan is within US borders, while the others are almost evenly split between Canada and the U.S.A., thus my irritation with the AtlasObscura piece.
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#164Interestingly enough the whole great lakes area was a sea, 400 million years ago. There are massive salt mines deep underground from those times.
Why would there be deep underground salt mines from 400 million years ago?
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I grew up a five minute walk from Lake Erie in a small town several hours SW of Toronto near the Grand River. Like people who live on the coasts it gets into your blood. The summers really are something else. I don’t miss my home county so much, but I have a vivid image of the rolling countryside and summer drives listening to music. It’s a memory I tap into often. These days I live in Dundas and if you haven’t made…
Oh, hi neighbour. I'm up north of Waterdown on 6 acres. Dundas is where we do most of our "town time." The archaeology dig I was talking about was @ Cootes on the RBG lands.
Go figure. Guess I'm preaching to the choir!
How long have you lived in this part? I caught in another comment that you're into poetry. Do you frequent The Printed Word here in town? We only moved into Dundas a little over a year ago, and I finally made it into that shop and could easily lose a lot of money there. A recent haul of mine included a first edition of The Old Ways by Gary Snyder—and there are many more gems!
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Politically brighter Congressmen might see such a repeal not as a one-off special event, but instead as a precedent for further "inter-state resource raids". You could say the same about Texas's abortion private bounty hunting bill. Doesn't seem to have stopped them.
That's because no other state has yet passed a law allowing that kind of bounty hunting of Texas political bodies.
Right, but despite that being the obvious response - California's already talking about doing the same approach against guns - it didn't stop Texas from doing the stupid thing in the first place.
The same may be true for water wars.
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#167Seas or not, I love the lakes and the land around them, in the 20+ years since I moved myself here they've taken over my heart. I'm from the aspen parkland of central Alberta; thin trees, dry air, small muddy leach-infested kettle lakes, big skies, poplar and birch land. When I was 8 we did a trip across Canada, and I remember us camping by the shores of Superior when a massive thunderstorm came rolling in, and it le…
European (and much smaller) version of the story - I moved to Switzerland to shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman for locals), from eastern part of Europe with much drier and colder climate.
Its blessing in many ways - the air is pleasantly humid, but nothing tropical apart from proper heatwave in summer (happens once every few years it seems). Humidity makes winter much more bearable (although it makes 0 degrees celzius properly cold), but its not too much and there are no mold issues. Lake is huge temperature reservoir - keeps the winter cold milder and summer heat lower. Its great for swimming in summer (water has easily 15m visibility, very sea-like experience). A lot of public access to it so you can swim for free or in worst case pay few francs for places with extra facilities.
I love mountains too, and the Alps are everywhere on south side, literally rising 1500m higher straight from the lake. On the other side, Jura mountain range is rather just hills but pretty (and more approachable for easy goers). On south-facing steep north slopes, beautiful Unesco heritage vineyards.
For somebody who grew far from any lake, from landlocked country and former communism that prevented any meaningful travel, I am 11+ years on vacation and still in awe (when I don't work).
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chicago local here, and Lake Michigan kitesurfer and surfer. The best swells hit when in the fall and spring, so you better have a good wetsuit. That said, since getting into the sports it makes me love the lake even more. You quickly get over the temp, and just get to enjoying the water. Its also nice to not have to worry about sharks! Some of the best surfing in the area is up in Sheboygan, WI, the Malibu of the Mi…
I practically live in Lake Michigan in Chicago, because of my dog, and learning to embrace the cold means you get the beauty of seeing this huge, open expanse of water with nobody else around, because they are sane and are avoiding the cold. https://perardi.info/photography/0.jpg https://perardi.info/photography/9.jpg
great shots!
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Water from the Great Lakes cannot leave the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Compact prevents construction of any water withdrawal that will move water outside of the watershed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Compact
By act of Congress, not Constitutional amendment. It could be repealed in a matter of weeks if Congress saw fit.
It could certainly be changed, but it's actually an international treaty with Canada so it's a bit more complicated than that.
Re: Are the Great Lakes really inland seas?
#170Not salty, not seas.
Not reading the article, not sure why you're commenting.