Water Bodies: Great Lakes

This photo was taken from the Space Shuttle. You can see portions of all five Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are the largest combined body of fresh water in the world. They cover 246,050 square km (95,000 square miles). The Great Lakes were formed about 12,000 years ago at the end of the ice ages. Glaciers carved their basins. Glacial meltwater filled them. Water from the Great Lakes flows eastward into the St. Lawerence River and then into the Atlantic Ocean.