End of Year Geography Quiz, Question 10:

[gh]

10. Half of all the world's lakes are located in a single country. Which one?

[dukehjsteve]

Russia

[Daisy]

Russia

Minnesota?

Actually, as more serious answer, I'm guessing Canada with the shield geology that goes on forever.

[DrJay]

I'd guess Canada, or maybe Russia. Seem to remember a gazillion blue specks on the map of Finland.

[Daisy]

I'd guess Canada, or maybe Russia. Seem to remember a gazillion blue specks on the map of Finland.

I was thinking Finland too, but Canada is so big.

[tandfman]

Finland would be my guess, too, although, like DrJay, my first thoughts were Canada and Russia. I don't remember a map with a gazilliion blue specks, but I think I recall reading somewhere that Finland had more lakes than any other country.

[dukehjsteve]

Well, I got first dibs on the question, and I opted for Russia; surely it is either Russia or Canada. For better or worse I picked the former.

[Daisy]

Well, I got first dibs on the question, and I opted for Russia; surely it is either Russia or Canada. For better or worse I picked the former.

Russia might work too with its size. But here is a picture of the Canadian shield. Imagine that multiplied a few times over.

http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages ... eld03.html

[Marlow]

It has to be Canada, because Minnesota is Baja Canada and it is the Land of 1000 Lakes!

[mcgato]

It has to be Canada, because Minnesota is Baja Canada and it is the Land of 1000 Lakes!

Missed a zero there, it's 10,000 lakes. Also missed a comma.

[Marlow]

It has to be Canada, because Minnesota is Baja Canada and it is the Land of 1000 Lakes!

Missed a zero there, it's 10,000 lakes. Also missed a comma.

Even moreso! The comma is optional, BTW! The interweb can justify ANYTHING!

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) suggests to never use a comma or a point as thousands separator

Wiki says:

Minnesota's official count of lakes more than ten acres (40,000 m²) in size is actually more than ten thousand at approximately 11,842.

[ed gee]

Canada

[gh]

.....I think I recall reading somewhere that Finland had more lakes than any other country.

True, but the clue there is that Walden Pond was named after the Finnish word for "lake": Wäldenitti Pondinen.

[gh]

Tis indeed Canada, and since the Gee was the only one to definitively state so, he's out of round 11.

[tandfman]

Wiki is useless on this:

The number of lakes larger than three square kilometres is estimated at close to 31,191 by the Atlas of Canada. There is no official estimate of the number of smaller lakes.

There are 187,888 lakes in Finland larger than 5 ares (500 square metres). Most are small, but there are 309 lakes or reservoirs larger than 10 km².

I'm inclined to take gh's word for it--presumably he found a reliable source for that info. It makes sense, too, given Canada's size.

It's possible, by the way, that I was not mistaken in my recollection of having read somewhere that Finland had more lakes than any other country. Given the uncertainty of how big a body of water must be before it's considered a lake, I can see Finland claiming that distinction by considering as lakes things that Canada might consider just a pond.

OK, while we're at it, let's add to the confusion. Here's what Wiki says about ponds and lakes:

A pond is a body of water smaller than a lake, both being examples of terrain features. Although the term pond is universally used to describe waterbodies that are smaller than lakes, an internationally recognised size cutoff has not yet been agreed, with values ranging from 2 hectares (20,000 m2) to 8 hectares (80,000 m2) used to distinguish the smaller from the larger waterbody.