# Are most lakes round? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516 "2010-06-17T04:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/21 "2010-06-17T17:19:13Z")
Many of the lakes on Alaska’s North Slope are actually somewhat rectangular. It’s a noticable phenomenon when you fly over. The reason is that as they beging to thaw along their edge in the Spring, high winds from the north push them against the far bank causing them to pound and gouge out a bit of a trough. Over time they elongate in that direction, all parallell to the other elongated lakes. I assume this probably happens around the rest of the Arctic Circle as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/22 "2010-06-17T17:32:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, the glacier doesn’t physically retreat either, it melts. Meltwater from a large enough glacier can easily cause a new river to form, so anything left there won’t remain for long. Well, that’s the point, isn’t it? The round ice “boulder” melts to make the round kettle lake. What wasn’t clear to me was why it was round, not how the glacier got out of the way. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/23 "2010-06-17T17:53:34Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > [Kettles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_%28landform%29)are a particular type of very round shallow lake formed by drainage from a receding glacier. Often they’re unconnected to the nearby river systems and they become bogs. Wow, that explains all the cranberry bogs in Plymouth County, MA which has over 350 of those kettle ponds. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/24 "2010-06-17T17:59:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Well, that’s the point, isn’t it? The round ice “boulder” melts to make the round kettle lake. What wasn’t clear to me was why it was round, not how the glacier got out of the way. Even if the calved glacier starts with an irregular shape, it’ll become round as it melts – any corners are more exposed and melt faster. Plus melt water will pool and drain at the bottom of the glacier, which can create a sinkhole. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/25 "2010-06-17T18:06:42Z")
Interesting thread! Most lakes here in Southern California are not round. They’re actually kind of snakey, since they’re damned up in between two mountains. Head up the 395 to Mammoth, however, and you’ll see some rounder (although, not perfectly round) lakes. Maybe it’s because of the volcanic activity or snow and ice, like previously mentioned in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/26 "2010-06-17T18:51:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Even if the calved glacier starts with an irregular shape, it’ll become round as it melts – any corners are more exposed and melt faster. Plus melt water will pool and drain at the bottom of the glacier, which can create a sinkhole. That’s not at all obvious – I’ve seen bergs calving off glaciers that are extremely far from round. Even granted that the thinner parts melt first, you wouldn’t get a circle – you could get an ellipse, but more likely you’d get an irregular shape. And a very irregular mass depressing the earth would, I would think, create an irregular depression. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/27 "2010-06-17T19:26:42Z")
While several of the kettles in the Wiki picture appear roundish, I don’t see any literature either there, in a brief online search or in my Dictionary of Geological Terms that lists roundness as a defining feature of kettles. [These kettles](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://oz.plymouth.edu/~sci_ed/Turski/Courses/Earth_Science/Images/2.kettlelakes.jpg&imgrefurl=http://oz.plymouth.edu/~sci_ed/Turski/Courses/Earth_Science/chp5.html&usg=__f2bSyrXoquLHmvYXSF9SKAAZwWw=&h=582&w=866&sz=80&hl=en&start=4&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=37mY5LMkl8hisM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=145&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkettle%2Blakes%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1) for example most certainly are anything but. So the long and short of it appears to be that some are and some aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/28 "2010-06-18T00:07:50Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Interesting thread! > > Most lakes here in Southern California are not round. They’re actually kind of snakey, since they’re damned up in between two mountains. Head up the 395 to Mammoth, however, and you’ll see some rounder (although, not perfectly round) lakes. Maybe it’s because of the volcanic activity or snow and ice, like previously mentioned in this thread. Same here in the Cascades of Washington. On a recent drive up highway 97, I had a hard time telling when we were next to a lake and when we were next to a river. From my perspective, they were all long and narrow. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/29 "2010-06-18T00:56:53Z")
[Randon slab of Central Ontario.](http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bancroft&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=62.110303,103.535156&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bancroft,+Hastings+County,+Ontario&ll=45.063579,-77.989883&spn=0.263836,0.404434&t=h&z=12) Note the non-round lakes. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/30 "2010-06-18T01:33:17Z")
Not a chance. Pull up Google maps and zip around any part of Minnesota (15,000 lakes) or NW Wisconsin or up into Canada north of Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/31 "2010-06-18T01:44:52Z")
If you wanna get picky, then nothing is really perfectly round. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516/32 "2010-06-18T11:40:34Z")
> [@teletype](#): > > Here’s a round lake I’ve always found cool: [Manicouagan](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=manicouagan&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Manicouagan,+Quebec,+Canada&ll=51.440313,-68.57666&spn=1.516823,4.460449&t=h&z=8), an annular lake in Quebec. That’s the one I had in mind but I couldn’t remember its name! Thanks! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-most-lakes-round/543516.md?page=1)