this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
56 points (100.0% liked)

MapPorn

3195 readers
1 users here now

Discover Cartographic Marvels and Navigate New Worlds!

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The oldest lakes on earth, ranging in age from 130,000 years to many millions of years.

The map was sourced from this research paper:

Hampton, Stephanie & Mcgowan, Suzanne & Ozersky, Ted & Virdis, Salvatore & Vu, Tuong-Thuy & Spanbauer, Trisha & Kraemer, Benjamin & Swann, George & Mackay, Anson & Powers, Stephen & Meyer, Michael & Labou, Stephanie & Oreilly, Catherine & DiCarlo, Morgan & Galloway, Aaron & Fritz, Sherilyn. (2018). Recent ecological change in ancient lakes. Limnology and Oceanography. 63. 10.1002/lno.10938.

top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm curious about their definition of "lakes" here. Lake Eyre in Australia is an enormous salt pan. Once every few years when it rains in the desert it briefly becomes flooded. Does that make it a lake?

[–] kersploosh 4 points 1 year ago

The research paper doesn't get into that detail in their definition of "lake," but the authors do seem okay with including lakes that occasionally dry up. They mention in the paper that, "Lake Victoria, presently the world’s largest tropical lake, desiccated during the late Pleistocene (Stager et al. 2011)."

[–] carl_the_llama 6 points 1 year ago

Aral Sea?? More like Aral Pond. cries