Talk:Detroit River

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I removed the comment added by anon user that the river is in fact a strait, not a river. This is completely wrong. Yes, the name means "strait" in French, but a strait connects two bodies of water at the same which are geologically actually the same, but only separated by a narrow channel (as are Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, which are geologically the same lake, at the same altitude above sea level). This is not true of Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. There is a shallow gradient between the two, and the lake levels fluctuate independently of each other. -- Decumanus 18:40, 2004 Nov 5 (UTC)

Interesting. Do you have a reference for this definition? It's certainly not clearly laid out in the Wiki page, strait. I think there's controversy about this term. Many references list the Detroit River, St. Clair River, and Niagara River as straits.[1] [2] [3] --RattBoy 12:05, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is. The straits article says "Although rivers and canals often form a bridge between two large lakes or a lake and a sea, and these seem to suit the formal definition of straits, they are not usually referred to as straits. Straits are typically much larger, wider structures that do not have water running in a single direction, and normally connect two seas." Rmhermen 14:41, 10 February 2006 (UTC)