List of lakes by depth explained

These articles lists the world's deepest lakes.

Lakes ranked by maximum depth

This list contains all lakes whose maximum depth is reliably known to exceed 400m (1,300feet)

Geologically, the Caspian Sea, like the Black and Mediterranean seas, is a remnant of the ancient Tethys Ocean. The deepest area is oceanic rather than continental crust. However, it is generally regarded by geographers as a large endorheic salt lake. Of these registered lakes; 10 have a deepest point above sea level. These are: Issyk-Kul, Crater Lake, Quesnel, Sarez, Toba, Tahoe, Kivu, Nahuel Huapi, Van and Poso.

	Name	Country	Region	Depth	Depth^2/area
(meters)	(feet)
1.	Baikal^[1]		Southern Siberia: Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast
2.	Tanganyika	Burundi Zambia	African Great Lakes
3.	(Caspian Sea^[2])	Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Azerbaijan	Caspian Endorheic basin
4.	Viedma	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province	~900	~2953	N/D
4.	Vostok^[3]		Under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet	~900	~2953
6.	O'Higgins-San Martín^[4]	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
7.	Malawi	Malawi Mozambique	African Great Lakes
8.	Issyk Kul	Kyrgyzstan	Tien Shan Mountains
9.	Great Slave	Canada	Northwest Territories
10.	Crater^[5]	United States	Oregon
11.	Matano	Indonesia	Southern Sulawesi
12.	General Carrera-Buenos Aires	Chile Argentina	General Carrera Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
13.	Hornindalsvatnet	Norway	Vestland
14.	Quesnel		British Columbia
15.	Sarez	Tajikistan	Gorno-Badakhshan
15.	Toba	Indonesia	Sumatra
17.	Tahoe	United States	California and Nevada
18.	Argentino	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province
19.	Salvatnet	Norway	Trøndelag
20.	Kivu	Rwanda	African Great Lakes
21.	Grand Lake	Canada	Newfoundland			N/D
22.	Nahuel Huapi	Argentina	Río Negro Province and Neuquén Province
23.	Hauroko	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
24.	Cochrane / Pueyrredón	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
24.	Seton	Canada	British Columbia			N/D
24.	Lake Tinn	Norway	Telemark
27.	Adams	Canada	British Columbia
28.	Chelan	United States	Washington (state)
28.	Mjøsa	Norway	Innlandet and Akershus
30.	Van	Turkey	Eastern Anatolia Region
31.	Poso	Indonesia	Sulawesi
32.	Fagnano	Argentina Chile	Tierra del Fuego
33.	Great Bear	Canada	Northwest Territories
34.	Manapouri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
35.	Como	Italy	Lombardy
35.	Te Anau	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
37.	Tazawa	Japan	Akita Prefecture, Honshu
38.	Khantayskoye		Krasnoyarsk Krai			N/D
38.	Wakatipu	New Zealand	Otago, South Island
40.	Colico	Chile	Araucanía Region			N/D
41.	Grey	Chile	Magallanes Region			N/D
42.	Superior	Canada United States	Ontario (Canada) and Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin (United States)

Lakes ranked by mean depth

Mean depth can be a more useful indicator than maximum depth for many ecological purposes. Unfortunately, accurate mean depth figures are only available for well-studied lakes, as they must be calculated by dividing the lake's volume by its surface area.^[6] A reliable volume figure requires a bathymetric survey. Therefore, mean depth figures are not available for many deep lakes in remote locations. The average lake on Earth has the mean depth 41.8 meters (137.14 feet)

The Caspian Sea ranks much further down the list on mean depth, as it has a large continental shelf (significantly larger than the oceanic basin that contains its greatest depths).

Of the 114 registered lakes; 60 are known to be cryptodepressions. These include: Vostok^{[3] [7]} (subglacial surface), (Caspian Sea^[2]) (subsea surface), Dead Sea (subsea surface) and Jökulsárlón (glacial lagoon estuary). The remaining 54 lakes have their entire basin above sea level.

This list contains all lakes whose mean depth is reliably known to exceed 100 metres (328 ft).

	Name	Country	Region	Depth
(meters)	(feet)
1.	Baikal		Southern Siberia: Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast
2.	Tanganyika	Burundi Zambia	African Great Lakes
3.	Vostok		Under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
4.	General Carrera-Buenos Aires	Chile Argentina	General Carrera Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
5.	Crater	United States	Oregon
6.	Tahoe	United States
7.	Adams	Canada	British Columbia, (Shuswap)
8.	Malawi	Malawi Mozambique	African Great Lakes
9.	Tazawa	Japan	Honshu
10.	Issyk Kul	Kyrgyzstan	Tien Shan Mountains
11.	Shikotsu	Japan	Hokkaido
12.	Crveno	Croatia	Imotski Area
13.	Kivu	Rwanda	African Great Lakes
13.	Matano^[8]	Indonesia	Sulawesi
15.	Hornindalsvatnet	Norway	Vestland
16.	Quilotoa	Ecuador	Cotopaxi Province
17.	Toba	Indonesia	Sumatra
18.	Heaven	China	Jilin Province (China) and Ryanggang Province (North Korea)
19.	(Caspian Sea)	Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Azerbaijan	Caspian Endorheic basin
20.	Karakul	Tajikistan	Pamir Mountains
21.	Sarez	Tajikistan	Gorno-Badakhshan
22.	Kurile		Kamchatka Peninsula
23.	Fagnano	Argentina Chile	Tierra del Fuego
24.	Todos los Santos	Chile	Los Lagos Region
25.	Lake Tinn	Norway	Telemark
26.	Dead Sea	Jordan Israel	Middle East
27.	Llanquihue	Chile	Llanquihue Province and Osorno Province
28.	Chapo	Chile	Los Lagos Region
29.	Maggiore	Italy Switzerland	Lombardy, Piedmont (Italy) and Ticino (Switzerland)
30.	Ranau	Indonesia	Sumatra
30.	Teletskoye		Altai Mountains
32.	Brienz	Switzerland	Bern
33.	Lundevatnet	Norway	Rogaland and Agder
34.	Slocan	Canada	British Columbia, (West Kootenay)
34.	Van	Turkey	Eastern Anatolia Region
36.	Te Anau	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
37.	Lácar	Argentina	Neuquén Province
38.	Riñihue	Chile	Valdivia Province
39.	Nimpkish	Canada	British Columbia,(Vancouver Island)
40.	Azure	Canada	British Columbia, (Wells Gray)
41.	Nahuel Huapi	Argentina	Río Negro Province and Neuquén Province
41.	Quesnel	Canada	British Columbia, (Likely and Horsefly)
43.	Suldalsvatnet	Norway	Rogaland
44.	Argentino	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province
45.	Ohrid	Albania	Balkans
45.	Salvatnet	Norway	Trøndelag
47.	Atitlán	Guatemala	Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre
47.	Como	Italy	Lombardy
49.	Geneva	Switzerland France	Vaud, Geneva, Valais (Switzerland) and Haute-Savoie (France)
50.	Jökulsárlón	Iceland	Vatnajökull National Park
51.	Harrison	Canada	British Columbia, (Coast Mountains)
52.	Mjøsa	Norway	Innlandet and Akershus
52.	Powell	Canada	British Columbia, (Sunshine Coast)
54.	Menéndez	Argentina	Chubut Province
55.	Manapouri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
55.	Singkarak	Indonesia	Western Sumatra
57.	Lake Superior	Canada United States	Ontario (Canada) and Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin (United States)
58.	Chelan	United States	Washington (state)
59.	Huechulafquen	Argentina	Neuquén Province
59.	Pend Oreille	United States	Idaho
61.	Nemrut	Turkey	Bitlis Province
61.	Redoubt	United States	Alaska, (Baranof Island)
63.	Storsjøen	Norway	Innlandet
64.	Khövsgöl	Mongolia	Nearby the, Eastern Sayan Mountains
65.	Mashū	Japan	Hokkaido
66.	Lonar	India	Deccan Plateau
66.	Ørsdalsvatnet	Norway	Rogaland
68.	Garda	Italy	Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino
68.	Thun	Switzerland	Bern
70.	Ikeda	Japan	Kyushu
71.	Lugano	Switzerland Italy	Ticino (Switzerland) and Lombardy (Italy)
72.	Loch Ness	United Kingdom	, Caledonia
73.	Oppstrynsvatnet	Norway	Vestland
74.	Wakatipu	New Zealand	Otago, South Island
75.	Breimsvatnet	Norway	Vestland
76.	Mainit	Philippines	Mindanao
77.	Yelcho	Chile	Palena Province
78.	Great Central	Canada	British Columbia, (Vancouver Island)
78.	Iseo	Italy	Lombardy
80.	Greve	Chile	Southern Patagonian Ice Field
81.	Anderson	Canada	British Columbia, (Lillooet)
82.	Bandak	Norway	Telemark
83.	Fyresvatnet	Norway	Telemark
83.	Kanas	China	Xinjiang, Altay Prefecture
83.	Towuti	Indonesia	Southern Sulawesi
86.	Garibaldi	Canada	British Columbia, (Coast Mountains)
87.	Toya	Japan	Hokkaido
88.	Hauroko	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
89.	Mabel	Canada	British Columbia, (Shuswap)
90.	Poteriteri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island
91.	Mascardi	Argentina	Río Negro Province
91.	Puelo	Argentina	Chubut Province
93.	Lake Taupō	New Zealand	Waikato, North Island
94.	Öskjuvatn	Iceland	Highlands of Iceland
95.	Chilko	Canada	British Columbia, (Chilcotin)
96.	Titicaca	Peru	Puno Region (Peru) and La Paz Department (Bolivia)
97.	Tatlayoko	Canada	British Columbia, (Chilcotin)
98.	Seton	Canada	British Columbia, (Lillooet)
99.	Gander	Canada	Newfoundland
100.	Guinas	Namibia	Oshikoto Region, Tsumeb
100.	Kauhakō Crater	United States	Hawaii, (Molokai)
100.	Maninjau	Indonesia	Central Sumatra
103.	Walen	Switzerland	St. Gallen and Glarus
104.	Lucerne	Switzerland	Central Switzerland
105.	Rivadavia	Argentina	Chubut Province
106.	Takla	Canada	British Columbia, (Mount Blanchet)
107.	Cochrane / Pueyrredón	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
108.	Clearwater	Canada	British Columbia, (Wells Gray)
109.	Futalaufquen	Argentina	Chubut Province
110.	Hāwea	New Zealand	Otago, South Island
111.	Nueltin	Canada	Nunavut and Manitoba
111.	Rara	Nepal	Karnali Province
111.	Taal	Philippines	Southern Luzon
111.	Viedma	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province

Greatest maximum depth by continent

• Africa - 1: Tanganyika, 2: Malawi, 3: Kivu
• Antarctica - 1: Radok (surface lake); Vostok (subglacial lake)^[3]
• Asia - 1: Baikal, 2: Issyk Kul, 3: Matano
• Eurasia - 1: Baikal, 2: Caspian Sea, 3: Issyk Kul
  • Europe - 1: Hornindalsvatnet, 2: Salvatnet, 3: Lake Tinn North America - 1: Great Slave, 2: Crater, 3: Quesnel
  • Central America - 1: Atitlán, 2: Chicabal
    • Oceania - 1: Hauroko, 2: Manapouri, 3: Te Anau Australia - 1: St Clair
• South America - 1: Viedma, 2: O'Higgins/San Martín, 3: General Carrera-Buenos Aires

Greatest mean depth by continent

• Africa - 1: Tanganyika, 2: Malawi, 3: Kivu
• Antarctica - 1: Vostok^[3]
• Asia - 1: Baikal, 2: Tazawa, 3: Issyk-Kul
• Europe - 1: Crveno, 2: Hornindalsvatnet, 3: Lake Tinn
• North America - 1: Crater, 2: Tahoe, 3: Adams
• Oceania - 1: Te Anau, 2: Manapouri, 3: Wakatipu
• South America - 1: General Carrera-Buenos Aires, 2: Quilotoa, 3: Fagnano

See also

• List of lakes by area
• List of lakes by volume
• List of largest lakes of Europe

Notes

Note: Lake depths often vary depending on sources. The depths used here are the most reliable figures available in recent sources. See the articles on individual lakes for more details and data sources.

Sources

• Worldlakes.org, Deepest lakes

External links

• Environmentalgraffiti.com - 10 deepest lakes with pictures

Notes and References

1. Lake Baikal is also the largest freshwater lake by volume.
2. The Caspian Sea is generally regarded by geographers, biologists and limnologists as a huge inland salt lake. However, the Caspian's large size means that for some purposes it is better modeled as a sea. Geologically, the Caspian, Black, and Mediterranean seas are small oceans, remnants of the ancient Tethys. Politically, the distinction between a sea and a lake may affect how the Caspian is treated by international law.
3. [Lake Vostok]
4. • CECS, Depth sounding of Lake O'Higgins/San Martín
5. [Crater Lake]
6. Cael. B. B.. Heathcote. A. J.. Seekell. D. A.. 2017. The volume and mean depth of Earth's lakes. Geophysical Research Letters. en. 44. 1. 209–218. 10.1002/2016GL071378. 2017GeoRL..44..209C . 1944-8007. 1912/8822. 132520745 . free. 2021-09-11. 2021-08-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20210824114754/https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016GL071378. dead.
7. News: The Conversation . What Lies Beneath Antarctica's Ice? Lakes, Life and the Grandest of Canyons . July 17, 2016 . Christine . Dow. Felicity . McCormack. Sue . Cook . June 25, 2018.
8. Book: Walter K. Dodds. Matt R. Whiles. Freshwater Ecology: Concepts and Environmental Applications of Limnology. 22 February 2012. 23 September 2010. Academic Press. 978-0-12-374724-2. 141–142.