Maximum depth of Lake Superior

I don’t want to drop any names of who it was, but clearly someone a long ways away from the Great Lakes Region. This adult was someone who I saw as well educated, and I believe any U.S. citizen should be able to answer this question with ease. However, that’s easy to say for those who live only a few hundred yards off the shore of Lake Superior. Throughout my trip I was frequently educated people on the Great Lakes and wanted to share…

Why Lake Superior is the Greatest Lake on Earth, and why it kicks your lake’s butt…

How big is Lake Superior?

• Largest fresh water lake in the world (by surface area)
• Surface area: 31, 820 square miles
• Water volume: 2, 900 cubic miles
• Shore length: 2, 725 miles
• Maximum length: 350 miles
• Maximum width: 160 miles
• Surface elevation: 609 feet
• Average depth: 482 feet
• Maximum depth: 1, 332 feet
• Maximum depth: 723 feet below sea level

There is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land mass of North and South America with a foot of water.

How Lake Superior compares

• Lake Superior is the size of South Carolina
• Lake Superior is larger than 10 states: WV, MD, HI, MA, VT, NH, NJ, CT, DE, and RI
• Lake Superior is larger than the countries of: Czech Republic, Ireland, Latvia, Croatia, Switzerland, Belgium, Rwanda, and dozens of others
• Lake Superior is 33.6% of the entire surface area and 53.5% of the entire volume of all Great Lakes combined
• Lake Superior is 18.7 times greater in surface area than the Great Salt Lake
• Lake Superior is 2.6 times greater in surface area than Lake Baikal, however, Lake Baikal has twice the volume
• At the deepest point Lake Superior would drown the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the John Hancock Center (The Sears Tower will still stand 398 feet out the water)

Many people near Lake Champlain consider it to be the “6th Great Lake”. Lake Superior is 28 times greater in surface area, and 465 times the water volume than Lake Champlain.