There are more than 3,000 named lakes, reservoirs, and dry lakes in the U.S. state of California.
Largest lakes
In terms of area covered, the largest lake in California is the Salton Sea, a lake formed in 1905 which is now saline. It occupies 376 square miles (970Â km2) in the southeast corner of the state, but because it is shallow it only holds about 7,500,000 acre feet (9,300,000Â dam3) of water. Tulare Lake in the San Joaquin Valley was larger, at approximately 690 square miles (1,780Â km), until it was drained during the later years of the nineteenth century.
In terms of volume, the largest lake on the list is Lake Tahoe, located on the Californiaâ€"Nevada border. It holds roughly 36 cubic miles (150 km3) of water. It is also the largest freshwater lake by area, at 191 sq mi (490 km2), and the deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1,645 feet (501 m).
Among freshwater lakes entirely contained within the state, the largest by area is Clear Lake, which covers 68 square miles (180Â km2).
Many of California's large lakes are actually reservoirs: artificial bodies of fresh water. In terms of both area and volume, the largest of these is Lake Shasta, which formed behind Shasta Dam in the 1940s. The dam can impound 4,552,000 acre feet (5,615,000Â dam3) of water over 29,740 acres (12,040Â ha).
Lake Elsinore, which covers 3,000 acres (1,200Â ha), is billed as the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California.
List
The list is alphabetized by the name of the lake, with the words lake, of, and the ignored. To sort on a different column, click on the arrows in the header row.
Geographic coordinates, approximate elevations, alternative names, and other details may be obtained by following the Geographic Names Information System links in the third column.
Note: Lakes grow and shrink due to precipitation, evaporation, releases, and diversions. For this reason, many of the surface areas tabulated below are very approximate. For reservoirs, the areas at maximum water storage are indicated. Reservoirs used for flood control are seldom allowed to reach maximum storage.
See also
- Geography of California
- List of dams and reservoirs in California
- List of lakes in Lake County, California
- List of lakes in the San Francisco Bay Area
- List of lakes in the United States
- List of largest reservoirs of California
- List of rivers of California
- Water in California
References
External links
- Media related to Lakes of California at Wikimedia Commons
- Alphabetical Index of California Reservoirs
