Talk:List of lakes by area

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 List of lakes by area is part of WikiProject Lakes, a WikiProject which aims to systematically improve lake-related articles using the tools on the Project page. You are welcome and encouraged to edit the article attached to this page and to join the project.
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Contents

[edit] Lake Nasser

why lake nasser not in the list? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nasser it is largest man made lake —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.0.35.194 (talk) 11:04, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Merge to lake?

How is "List of world's largest lakes" an article in and of itself? Should it not be merged with the article on 'Lakes' in general? Hulces 05:59, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Just an excerpt taken from Wikipedia editing policies: "If a page is very short and cannot or should not be expanded terribly much, it often makes sense to merge it with a page on a broader topic." Hulces 06:01, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd say that the Lake article would be too long if this is merged there. It is a good idea to keep list articles separate, so the main articles are more compact. Also consider how the River article deals with the issue by having a similar separate list, List of rivers by length. No need for a merge. P.S. I created this article. feydey 10:04, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Oppose merge. This list is similar to a large number of other lists on Wikipedia and doesn't need a separate justification for its continued existence. Rmhermen 20:32, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I removed the merge tag per above discussion. feydey 11:05, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] By Continent

Should we add a list of largest lakes of each continent, or does that belong elsewhere? If it belongs here, can someone who knows how to use these tables add this?

Hmmm, I ran quickly a check on the data You gave and found [1] a lake not in our list, Lake Maracaibo in South America. I'm wondering why it isn't in our list? Should it be etc. When this is cleared up, then the by continent list should be added to the article. feydey 10:04, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
I added this list to the lake article, which states:

Note: Lake Maracaibo can be considered as the largest lake in South America. It however lies at sea level with a relatively wide opening to sea, so it is better described as a bay.

--Lethargy 19:17, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Lake Maracaibo may belong in this list, but we'll need to check out some more sources first. One more thing: should we add this list to this article, keep it in the lake article, or both? --Lethargy 06:05, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps both, and also the top10 largest lakes could be added to the lake article, like in the river article? feydey 12:15, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name?

This article doesn't seem to follow the de facto naming policy for geographical lists; for instance List of countries by area, rather than List of world's largest coutries. (Admittedly that article actually has a more complex name, but the principle is there.) Especially in the case of lakes, 'biggest' is ambiguous (does it refer to area, length, depth, volume?). I propose a move to List of lakes by area. Hairy Dude 00:21, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Where is this "de facto naming policy for geographical lists" given? feydey 02:50, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
I agree with Hairy Dude -- this article's name should be normalized to List of lakes by area. Citynoise 23:18, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Michigan-Huron?

Lake Michigan-Huron is a single hydrologic feature (see also the lake article). Should we include it in this list as one lake or two? I'm inclined to change it to one lake, since this list is primarily of hydrological, rather than hydronymical, interest. Thoughts? Citynoise 23:18, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

In the spirit of being bold, I've made the change for now.Citynoise 17:31, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps Michigan and Huron could be listed but not ranked, for comparison, the way some non-country entities are listed for comparison in list of countries by population. Chuck 20:55, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
"Lake Michigan-Huron" is not a recognized body of water and should not be on this list. Just because there's a term for what are customarily referred to as two separate lakes doesn't make them one. If we're going to go that route we might as well put "The Great Lakes" on this list as well. To someone who's grown up around those lakes it sounds about as ridiculous as referring to "The Pacifitlantindiarctic Ocean"
The lakes should be listed separately, they are not a single lake. This is the first time I have heard it being called Lake Michigan-Huron and I was born in Ontario, and we learn that they are called Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Gsingh 09:40, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ephemeral lakes such as Lake Torrens should be in a separate list

This is what the Lake Torrens article says: "Lake Torrens is usually a dry salt flat. It has only been filled with water once in the past 150 years.". In other words, most of the time, it's not a lake. If it is included then other salt flats and playas which occasionally flood, such as Etosha, Makgadikgadi Pan, etc should be included. I suggest the existing table be titled "Permanent lakes", and a second table for "Ephemeral Lakes" (ie those that dry up) should be put in for Torrens, etc. Secondly, criteria should be established on how to rank seasonally highly variable lakes - rank by minimum, average (if known)? Rexparry sydney 05:46, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

You make a good point. feydey 06:20, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
Disagree. Saline lakes are denoted with an asterisk, perhaps it would better to add some other marker for non-permanent bodies. Lake Eyre (near Torrens, and quite comparable) is potentially an inland sea with enough rainfall, and has been a permanent body of water as recently as 1000 years ago. Especially with the changing climate, it's fair to say that no lake has completely static characteristics.

[edit] Where's Lake Vostok?

It's the largest freshwater lake by volume. It deserves mention in the table. Alx xlA 03:58, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The offer on addition

It is necessary to add the following lakes: Lake Taymyr, Qinghai Lake, Khanka Lake. Yuriy75 (talk) 09:34, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The largest lake in China

It is Lake of Poyang, not Dongting, which is on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.112.240.230 (talk) 05:08, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lake Toba

Is there a reason Lake Toba isn't on the list? 1,130 km3 would be 17--68.9.117.174 (talk) 02:47, 16 February 2008 (UTC)