Name______

Great Lakes Webquest Assignment

Directions: Use the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website to answer the questions below.

***Go to

  1. Label the five Great Lakes on the map below (an easy way to remember them is with the acronym HOMES).

  1. How much of North America’s surface freshwater supply is contained in the Great Lakes?
  2. How much of the world’s surface freshwater supply is contained in the Great Lakes?

***Click on the highlighted “Physical Facts” and fill in the chart below:

Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario

Average Depth (ft.)

Maximum Depth (ft.)

Volume (miles3)

Drainage Area (miles2)

Shoreline length (miles)

Population 1990

Retention time (years)

  1. Based on the information in the chart on the previous page, how does Lake Erie compare to the other lakes in terms of size, depth, and amount of water?
  1. Based on the information in the chart on the previous page, how does Lake Erie compare to the other lakes in terms of population?
  1. Based on your answers to questions 4 & 5, predict how Lake Erie’s environmental health may compare to the other lakes.

***Go back to ”Basic Information”

  1. What are the major stresses in the lakes?
  1. Outflow from the Great Lakes is relatively small compared to the total volume of water. What effect does this have in terms of pollutants in the system?
  1. Why is addressing the problem of pollution a difficult one to solve in the Great Lakes basin?
  1. Write a brief description of each of the lakes:

Lake Superior-

Lake Michigan-

Lake Huron-

Lake Erie-

Lake Ontario-

***Go to the “Environmental Atlas and Resource Book”

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Great Lakes

  1. How have the Great Lakes been exploited?
  1. What types of chemical substances were dumped into the Great Lakes after the turn of the 20th century?
  1. Are toxic contaminants a threat to humans or just wildlife? Explain.

Chapter 2: Natural Processes in the Great Lakes

  1. How thick were the glaciers that covered the Great Lakes region (creating the basins) during the Pleistocene Epoch?
  1. What are wetlands?
  1. What are the four basic types of wetlands?
  1. What is lake stratification and turnover?
  1. How many fish species are indigenous (native or natural) to Lake Erie?

Chapter 3: People and the Great Lakes

Briefly summarize a history of each of the uses below and how they have impacted the Great Lakes:

  1. Agriculture-
  1. Logging and Forestry-
  1. Canals, Shipping and Transportation-
  1. Commercial Fisheries-
  1. Sport Fishery-
  1. Recreation-

Chapter 4: The Great Lakes Today-Concerns

31. What is eutrophication?

32. What is BOD? How is it used to assess water quality?

***Click on “Lake Erie”

33. What is the Lake Erie “Dead Zone”?

34. There are 12 Lake Erie Areas of Concern. Which one is closest to us?

***Go back to Chapter 4

35. What are the pathways or sources of pollution in the Great Lakes?

36. What is bioaccumulation or biomagnification?

37. How has the Great Lakes basin been altered, causing an adverse affect on habitat and biodiversity in the region?

38. What are some examples of exotic species that have invaded the Great Lakes?

39. For what three groups are the fish consumption advisories strictest?

40. What is sustainable development?

41. What are some of the Major Diversion Proposals presented for the Great Lakes?

Chapter 6: New Directions for the Great Lakes Community

42. What is being done to protect “The Future of the Great Lakes”?