Human impacts on Lake Superior

Question 1

Stats

Answer 1

• Lake Superior
• Largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area
• Central north america
• Carries 10% of world’s freshwater

Question 2

Human impacts

Answer 2

• urbanisation of surrounding area
• agriculture, mining, hydroelectric dams and land use practices → increase runoff and erosion
• Mining → destroys fish habitat, poison drinking water, and pollute great lakes
• concentrations of mercury and PCBs exceed water quality standards
• Development of the shoreline
• highest ratio of non-native invasive species to native species of all the Great Lakes → eg. Sea lampreys kill thousands of lake trout each year