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walleye express |
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 Member Posts: 2680 Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Question 1. What specific species of wildlife are being endangered by the pollution of the Great Lakes? Answer: Pollution in the Great Lakes affects the water itself as well as the life in and around the water. This includes the lives of many species of wildlife, not to mention humans beings. The decline in health of the wildlife in the Great Lakes region is a testament to our duty to clean up the Great Lakes and keep them clean. Every animals is vulnerable to pollutants, but some moreso than others. Amphibians, such as frogs, are especially at risk from pollution because they have thin skins and chemicals can pass through this barrier with ease. Animals that are higher in the food chain are exposed to even greater numbers of toxic chemicals due to their diets. Heavy metals (like mercury and lead) and human-made organic chemicals (like pesticides) bioaccumulate as they move up the food chain, resulting in tumors, deformities, and death for many animals, including tadpoles and frogs, old lake trout, herring gulls, mallard ducks, Canadian geese, loons, cranes, eagles, and wolves. Question 2. What caused the eutrophication of Lake Erie? Answer: The eutrophication of a body of water occurs when too many nutrients (in the case of Lake Erie, phosphorous is to blame) become dissolved in the water. Although nutrients can be helpful to the ecosystem of the Great Lakes in general, there is a delicate balance that must be upheld. Too much of any one substance (or group of substances) can cause toxic contamination and -- as with Lake Erie -- rapid aging and filling in of the lake from the overgrowth of algae. This causes the depletion (lack of) oxygen, which is needed by the lifeforms in the lake to survive. Eutrophication can be caused by runoff water carrying fertilizers and other organic wastes into a lake or by direct point source pollution, such as the dumping of seawge. Question 3.What are the meanings behind the names of the Great Lakes? Answer: Most of the Great Lakes are named after groups of Native Peoples of the Great Lakes Region or after particular words in their languages. For example, in the language of the Iroquois, the word Ontara means "lake," and Ontario translates to "beautiful lake." On early maps, what is now called Lake Huron was often labeled in French as Lac des Hurons, which means "Lake of the Huron (Indians)". Question 4.How were the Great Lakes formed? Answer: The Great Lakes basin is a relatively new phenomenon because it was formed by glacier activity only during the last 10,000 years. Geologically speaking, this is as short a time for the planet as a single second is out of your busy day! The foundation of the Lakes, however, was laid through several geologic eras spanning millions and millions of years. The continental glaciers repeatedly moved from what is now Canada over the Great Lakes region again and again as they thawed and melted, only to be later reformed. As these glaciers inched forward -- some of them up to 2,000 meters (that's about 6,500 feet) thick -- they scoured the surface of the earth, leveled hills, and altered forever the previous ecosystem. Small valleys created by the river systems of the previous era were deepened and enlarged to form the basins for what are now the Great Lakes. Bonus Question 5. What is biggest boat that ever traveled on any one of the Great Lakes? The Paul R. Tregurtha, also known as the "Queen of the Lakes," is the largest ship to ever travel Great Lakes waters. She measures in at 1013’ 06" in length -- that's over three football fields! --and has a cargo capacity of 68,000 tons. She was originally christened on April 25, 1981, as the William J. DeLancey. This vessel was the last Great Lakes ship built at the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio, and was also the last of the 13 ships in the thousand-footer class to enter Great Lakes service Class dismissed for today.  | ||
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| JAKE |
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| walleye express |
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Member Posts: 2680 Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | JAKE - 12/3/2004 10:30 AM thanks dan. a little education is nice. as i fish around the detroit river, i'm always fascinated by the ships that pass, especially the big ones, sometimes as close as 50 - 100 ft. here’s a little more on the paul r. tregurtha. http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/prtrgrth.htm Holy makeral Jake. Now that link was a vault of knowledge.  | ||
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