This a partial list of prehistoric lakes. Although the form of the names below differ, the lists are alphabetized by the identifying name of the lake (e.g., Algonquin for Glacial Lake Algonquin). YBP = Years Before Present.
Lake Frontenac; 12,000 – 11,000 YBP[4] covering the Ontario basin and to the northeast up the St. Lawrence Valley covering the low lands north to the Ottawa River and Montreal.[1]
Lake Arkona; 13,600 – 13,200 YBP[7] in Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Covered two-thirds of the Erie basin, north across southwest Ontario to include the southern tip of Lake Huron, the ‘thumb’ of Michigan and low lands south and west of Saginaw Bay.[1]
Lake Nipissing; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.[1]
Lake Stanley-Hough; 8,700 YBP, the water levels had risen to connect both Lake Stanley and Lake Hough into a single body of water.[1]
Lake Stanley; 9,000 YBP[1] covered only the northern and eastern portion of the main Huron basin with channels into Lake Hough.[1]
Lake Nipissing; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.[1]
Lake Chippewa; 10,700 – 7,500 YBP,[1] covered the lowest elevations in the Lake Michigan basin forming a linear lake in the middle, linked by a narrow proto-Straits of Mackinac and the Mackinac Falls to Lake Stanley.[1]
Lake Chicago; 14,000 – 11,000 YBP[1] along the southern shore and growing slowly northward.
Nipissing Great Lakes: 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.;[1] - 5,500;[9] - 4,500 YBP[10]
Fenton Lake; 9,500 YBP occupied a shallow basin in the eastern side of Lake Superior after Lake Minong had shrunk below rock sills internal to the lake basin.[12]
Lake Minong; 10,300 – 9,800 YBP [13] covering most of the modern Superior basin.[1]
Post-Duluth Lake; 10,600 YBP[1] along the Wisconsin and Michigan shore, reaching less than halfway across the basin.[1]
Lake Duluth; 11,500 – 11,000 YBP[13] in the western half of the Superior basin.[1]
Glacial Lake St. Louis occupied St. Louis Bay at the southern tip of modern Lake Superior.
Lake Cabeza de Vaca in extreme southern New Mexico, United States, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico; once the ultimate destination of the Rio Grande until it was captured by the Pecos River
Lake Tacoma was at the southern end of the Vashon Glacier in Puget Sound covering Commencement Bay, extending south up the Puyallup River valley. Washington basin east of Seattle.
^Barnett, P.J. 1988. History of the northwestern arm of the Champlain Sea. Pp 25-36 in Gadd, N.R. (ed.) The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin. Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 36. Map 5.
^Postglacial chronology and the origin of deep lake basins in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Conference on Great Lakes Research, 1964 - International Association for Great Lakes Research; Terasmae, E Mirynech; 1964
^"Glacial Lake Outflow via the St. Lawrence Pathway Prior to the Champlain Sea Invasion and During the Younger Dryas"; American Geophysical Union; Occhietti, S.; Anderson, T. W.; Karrow, P. F.; Lewis, M. C.; Mott, R. J.; Parent, M.; Richard, P. J.; Rodrigues, C. G.; Stea, R.; 2005; Retrieved 2009-10-15.
^Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch; Richard Foster Flint; 2008-11; Retrieved 2009-09-26.
^ abcdefgGlacial Lakes of Western New York; H.L. Fairchild; Bulletin of the Geological Society of America; Vol. 6, PP, 353-274, Pls. 18-23; Rochester, New York; April 12, 1895
^ abcdefghiThe History of Lake Eire; Michael C. Hansen; Ohio Geology Newsletter; Div of Geological Survey, State of Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; 1989
^Ernest H. Muller (1977), Late Glacial and Early Postglacial Environments in Western New York; Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 288 (1), 223–233. 1977
^ abcdReconstruction Low Lake Levels of Lake Michigan; Timothy Fisher; University of Toledo; Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program; University of Illinois; Urbana, IL; 2006
^ abcdeGeological History of Glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes; Curtis E. Larsen; U.S. Geological Survey bulletin; 1801; United States Government Printing Office; Washington, D.C.; 1987}
^Professional Paper 154—A, Moriaines and Shore Lines of Lake Superior Basin: Frank Leverett; United States Government Printing Office, Washington; February 9, 1929; (Pages 1-72)
^A late Lake Minong transgression in the Lake Superior bain as documented by sediments from Fenton Lake, Ontario; Andy Breckenridge, Thomas V. Lowell, Timothy G. Fisher, Shiyong Yu; Springer Science +Business Media B.V.; 2010
^ ab"Post-Valders Lake Stages in the Lake Superior Basin", in Glacial and Postglacial Geologic History of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan by N. King Huber, USGS Geological Survey Professional Paper 754-A
^U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-002; Geological Framework Data from Long Island Sound, 1981-1990: A Digital Data Release; CERC Technical Report 81-3; Sand Resources and Geological Character of Long Island Sound; S. Jeffress Williams; 1981
^ abcUsing The Fluvial-Lacustrine Interface In A Glaciodeltaic Deposit To Redefine The Valparaiso Moraine, Berrien County, Michigan, USA
Kincare, K.A., Michigan Geological Survey Stone, B.D., and Newell, W.L., U.S. Geological Survey; 7thInternational Conference on Fluvial Sedimentology –Lincoln, Nebraska; ca 2000
^Dunes of Northwestern Indiana; Edward Barrett; Forty First Annual Report of Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Indiana; pg 11-22; Fort Wayne Printing Company; 1916
^ abcdEarth Science Field Trip, Guide Leaflet, Kankakee Area, May 18, 1957; John C. Frye; State Geological Survey; Urbana, Illinois;l 1957
^Waters, Thomas F. (1977). The Streams and Rivers of Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
^ abcOjakangas, Richard W.; Matsch, Charles L (1982). Minnesota's Geology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
^Dott, Robert H., Jr; John W. Attig (2004). Roadside Geology of Wisconsin. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company. pp. 199-205.
^Montagne J.L. "Quaternary System, Wisconsin Glaciation." Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region. Denver: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, 1972.
^ abcdefPleistocene Glaciation and Diversion of the Missouri River in Northern Montana; William Moak, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Omaha, Nebraska; ca, 1991
^Physiography and Glacial Geology of Eastern Montana and Adjacent Areas; William C. Alden; United States Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C.; 1932
^ abGeology of the Lewis and Clark Trail in North Dakota; The Missouri River
^Machette, M.N., Coates, M-M., and Johnson, M.L., 2007, 2007 Rocky Mountain Section Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip—Quaternary geology of the San Luis Basin of Colorado and New Mexico, September 7–9, 2007: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007–1193, 197 p.
^Smith, Derald G. (1994). "Glacial lake McConnell: Paleogeography, age, duration, and associated river deltas, mackenzie river basin, western Canada". Quaternary Science Reviews 13 (9-10).
^Examining the progression and termination of Lake Agassiz: Michael J. Michalek; 2013
^Lajeunesse, P.; St-Onge, G. (2007). "Reconstruction of the Last Outburst Flood of Glacial Lake Agassiz-Ojibway in Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait". American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
^ abBjornstad, Bruce (May 1, 2006). On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods: A Geological Guide to the Mid-Columbia Basin. San Point, Idaho: Keokee Books. ISBN978-1879628274.
^Nevada Division of State Parks: Lahontan State Recreation Area Lake Lahontan Yacht Club
