The Lake Erie Quadrangle

Lake Erie
Lake Erie on January 9, 2014
The Great Lakes, with Lake Erie highlighted in darker blue
Location	North America
Group	Great Lakes
Coordinates	42°12′N 81°12′W / 42.2°N 81.2°W / 42.2; -81.2Coordinates: 42°12′N 81°12′W / 42.2°N 81.2°W / 42.2; -81.2
Lake type	Glacial
Primary inflows	Detroit River
Primary outflows	Niagara River Welland Canal
Basin countries	Canada United States
Max. length	241 mi (388 km)
Max. width	57 mi (92 km)
Surface area	9,910 sq mi (25,667 km2)
Average depth	62 ft (19 m)
Max. depth	210 ft (64 m)
Water volume	116 cu mi (480 km3)
Residence time	2.6 years
Shore length1	799 mi (1,286 km) plus 72 mi (116 km) for islands
Surface elevation	569 ft (173 m)
Islands	24+ (see list)
Settlements	Buffalo, New York Erie, Pennsylvania Toledo, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio
References
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Erie (/ˈɪəri/; French: Lac Érié) is the fourth-largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the eleventh-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet (64 metres) deep.

Situated on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie's northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario, with the U.S. states of Michigan Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York on its western, southern and eastern shores. These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake with water boundaries.

The lake was named by the Erie people, a Native Americans people who lived along its southern shore. The tribal name "erie" is a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan, meaning "long tail".

Situated below Lake Huron, Erie's primary inlet is the Detroit River. The main natural outflow from the lake is via the Niagara River, which provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. as it spins huge turbines near Niagara Falls at Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario. Some outflow occurs via the Welland Canal, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which diverts water for ship passages from Port Colborne, Ontario on Lake Erie, to St. Catharines on Lake Ontario, an elevation difference of 326 ft (99 m). Lake Erie's environmental health has been an ongoing concern for decades, with issues such as overfishing, pollution, algae blooms and eutrophication generating headlines.