# Difference between Lake and Pond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 3, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726 "2014-08-03T17:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/1 "2014-08-03T17:43:04Z")
I know a lake is bigger, but what is the cutoff? I have heard that a lake must either be 100 feet deep at some point, or must be over a mile across at the widest point. Are either of these true? Both? Or is it some other definition? ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/2 "2014-08-03T19:21:27Z")
According to [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pond) there is no standard definition. There are definitions based not only on size but also depth and wave action. There are certainly regional variations. Where I grew up in southern Ontario some of what we called a pond would be a lake where I live now in southern Alberta. The majority of surface water in prairie Alberta is made up of shallow sloughs full of mud, leaches and ‘ditch itch’, anything decent enough to swim in (and many not) is called a lake. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/3 "2014-08-03T19:44:45Z")
A real estate agent told me “it’s a lake if you’re selling, and a pond if you’re buying”. If I can cast more than half way across, I say it’s a pond. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/4 "2014-08-03T19:45:48Z")
Previous thread on the topic is [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331312). Warning: nothing really gets settled, but we’re left at a more sophisticated level of confusion by the end. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/5 "2014-08-03T20:33:20Z")
Not to hijack this post, but is there any difference between a pond and a lagoon? I tend to think they are the same, but we have a retention pond in our development and nobody calls it a lagoon. OTOH, parks have lagoons. Is that the difference? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/6 "2014-08-03T20:34:13Z")
If the Atlantic Body of Water is a Pond, this I suppose the Pacific Body of Water is a Lake. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/7 "2014-08-03T20:47:53Z")
One definition I’ve heard is a pond can support vegetation all across the bottom while a lake can not. This is mentioned in these [definitions](http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/pond-lake.html): > [@](#): > > The Question: > > Why is a pond called a pond and a lake called a lake? I have a body of water that is 5 acres, 15 to 20 feet deep. How do I know what to call it? > The Answer: > > Ponds and lakes are very similar. Both are small bodies of water, either natural or man-made, that are completely surrounded by land. The primary difference between the two is their size. Simply put, lakes are larger and ponds are smaller. However, there is no standardization of lake sizes. Some sources claim lakes are bodies of water larger than 2 acres. In Montana, the minimum water surface area of a lake is 20 acres. But since the size of your body of water isn’t a clear indicator, here are a few more factors to consider: > > Generally, a lake is an area of open, relatively deep water that is large enough to produce a wave-swept “washed” shoreline, which can prevent vegetation from growing along the shore. > > Another difference can be seen in the water’s temperature. Lakes, because they are deeper, have a stratified temperature structure that depends on the season. During summer months three distinct layers develop: The top layer stays warm at around 65–75 degrees. The middle layer drops dramatically, usually to 45–65 degrees F. The bottom layer is the coldest, staying at around 39–45 degrees F. Ponds, on the other hand, have a more consistent temperature throughout. > > If the water is deep enough that light does not penetrate to the bottom, and photosynthesis is limited to the top layer, the body of water is considered a lake. > > A pond is a body of water shallow enough to support rooted plants. Many times plants grow all the way across a shallow pond. There is little wave action and the bottom is usually covered with mud. Plants can, and often do, grow along a pond’s edge. > > Even in cold climates, most lakes are large enough so that they don’t freeze solid, unlike ponds. > > Finally, if the lake is large enough, it can affect the surrounding climate, whereas ponds are usually affected by the surrounding climate. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/8 "2014-08-03T20:50:34Z")
Ponds dry up in hot dry weather. They get stagnant, scummy on top and smelly. Lake levels drop in dry weather. I can’t recall them getting stagnant like pond water does. There’s a nice pond in a golf course and park near my job. I often go there to eat my lunch. Watch the ducks swimming and sometimes people fishing. Typically by August the water is getting stagnant and the city puts up “Warning do not fish signs”. The ducks disappear too. I guess they don’t want to swim in that water either. The pound gets back to normal water levels during the winter. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/9 "2014-08-03T21:17:49Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Not to hijack this post, but is there any difference between a pond and a lagoon? I tend to think they are the same, but we have a retention pond in our development and nobody calls it a lagoon. OTOH, parks have lagoons. Is that the difference? I think, properly speaking, a lagoon is a body of water formed when some small (and usually relatively shallow) part of a larger body of water is cut off by a relatively small land barrier from the larger body. Typically, lagoons are formed by the sea (and, as in the case of coral atolls, need not even be fully cut off from the sea as a whole) but perhaps it is also correct to call a similar body of water cut off from a lake a lagoon. Very likely, though, the word is often used incorrectly just to make ponds sound more exotic. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/10 "2014-08-03T21:25:17Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > Where I grew up in southern Ontario some of what we called a pond would be a lake where I live now in southern Alberta. The majority of surface water in prairie Alberta is made up of shallow sloughs full of mud, leaches and ‘ditch itch’, anything decent enough to swim in (and many not) is called a lake. In Newfoundland, virtually every interior body of water that has been named is officially known as a pond. Only a few exceptionally large lakes are exceptions, on an island that has tens of thousands of ponds. Herea re three of them with names shown: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Newfoundland%2Band%2BLabrador,%2BCanada&hl=en&ll=47.14443,-53.208847&spn=0.070054,0.127201&sll=28.829558,-96.975845&sspn=0.180462,0.254402&oq=newfoundland&hnear=Newfoundland%2Band%2BLabrador,%2BCanada&t=m&z=13 In the Dakotas, the Alberta-like ponds are called “pothole lakes”, no matter how small. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/11 "2014-08-03T21:27:54Z")
One common definition, though it’s not a hard and fast rule by any means: Ponds are generally spring or seepage fed, and have no inlets or outlets. Lakes have streams which fill them and streams which drain them. The waters of a lake should end up in one of the oceans as a result. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/12 "2014-08-03T21:28:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I think, properly speaking, a lagoon is a body of water formed when some small (and usually relatively shallow) part of a larger body of water is cut off by a relatively small land barrier from the larger body. Typically, lagoons are formed by the sea (and, as in the case of coral atolls, need not even be fully cut off from the sea as a whole) but perhaps it is also correct to call a similar body of water cut off from a lake a lagoon. Very likely, though, the word is often used incorrectly just to make ponds sound more exotic. There is (or was 50 years ago) a body of water in Douglas Park in Chicago which we called a lagoon. It was isolated from any other waters and probably was man-made. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/13 "2014-08-03T21:29:24Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > In Newfoundland, virtually every interior body of water that has been named is officially known as a pond. Only a few exceptionally large lakes are exceptions, on an island that has tens of thousands of ponds. Herea re three of them with names shown: > > [Google Maps](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Newfoundland+and+Labrador,+Canada&hl=en&ll=47.14443,-53.208847&spn=0.070054,0.127201&sll=28.829558,-96.975845&sspn=0.180462,0.254402&oq=newfoundland&hnear=Newfoundland+and+Labrador,+Canada&t=m&z=13) > > In the Dakotas, the Alberta-like ponds are called “pothole lakes”, no matter how small. To get to the old figure of10,000 lakes Minnesota had to count a lot of lakes which we always figured as ponds when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/14 "2014-08-03T21:33:29Z")
Lake Charles, LA, is not a body of water, it’s a city. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/15 "2014-08-03T22:27:29Z")
> [@DingoelGringo](#): > > To get to the old figure of10,000 lakes Minnesota had to count a lot of lakes which we always figured as ponds when I was a kid. Minnesota counts lakes that are larger than ten acres in size - some of them are pretty swampy and shallow. There are almost 12,000 of them by that measurement. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/16 "2014-08-03T22:59:53Z")
[Lake](http://www.bellazon.com/main/uploads/monthly_08_2009/post-774-1250719765.jpg) [Pond](http://i.imgur.com/fmcHnDD.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/17 "2014-08-03T23:03:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Another difference can be seen in the water’s temperature. Lakes, because they are deeper, have a stratified temperature structure that depends on the season. During summer months three distinct layers develop: The top layer stays warm at around 65–75 degrees. The middle layer drops dramatically, usually to 45–65 degrees F. The bottom layer is the coldest, staying at around 39–45 degrees F. Ponds, on the other hand, have a more consistent temperature throughout. By coincidence I read this yesterday. Experts on lakes are called limnologists. They describe this phenomenon as epilimnion and hypolimnion. The top area is the epilimnion. The cold water below it, which may not warm up much during the summer if the lake is at all deep, is the hypolimnion. > [@](#): > > Epilimnion > The root of both epilimnion and hypolimnion is the classical Greek limnion, the diminutive of limne, a lake. Limnologist and the subject of study, limnology, are very closely related — they derive from limne. Epi- is Greek for upon or above, while hypo- is from Greek hupo, under. > > The epilimnion and hypolimnion are separated by a thinnish layer where the temperature drops quickly. You might guess this is sometimes called the metalimnion (Greek meta-, with or across), though it’s commonly referred to as the thermocline. > > Most examples of epilimnion are in scientific contexts, though it also crops up very occasionally in SF: > > \*The brown sphere was spotted after some days by a prowling ameba, quiescent in the eternal winter of the bottom. Down there the temperature was always an even 4°, no matter what the season, but it was unheard of that a spore should be found there while the high epilimnion was still warm and rich in oxygen. \* > Surface Tension, by James Blish, 1952. > **[World Wide Words: Newsletter: 02 Aug 2014](http://www.worldwidewords.org/bi-lglo.html)** > > Issue 889 of the World Wide Words newsletter, dated 02 Aug 2014. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/18 "2014-08-03T23:06:26Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Lake Charles, LA, is not a body of water, it’s a city. It’s named after the lake, upon whose shores it lies, clearly visible when crossing on I-10… Several miles from the much larger and more conspicuous Calsasieu Lake. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/19 "2014-08-03T23:16:54Z")
You guys think _you’ve_ got problems. In Australia, not only do we have ponds, lakes and lagoons, we also have [billabongs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billabong). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726/20 "2014-08-03T23:51:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [Lake](http://www.bellazon.com/main/uploads/monthly_08_2009/post-774-1250719765.jpg) > > [Pond](http://i.imgur.com/fmcHnDD.jpg) Absolutely. I don’t know how they could be mixed up since one is a blonde and the other is a redhead. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-lake-and-pond/694726.md?page=2)