doughboy1956 Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Alaska More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska. Amazon The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States. Antarctica Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, I.e.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert. Brazil Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around. Canada Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village." Chicago Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world. Detroit Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere. Damascus, Syria Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence. Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents. Los Angeles Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula --and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A. New York City The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ohio There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade. Pitcairn Island The smallest Island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km. Rome The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent. Siberia Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests. S.M.O.M. The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is. Sahara Desert In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years. Spain Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.' St. Paul, Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there. Roads Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75% Texas The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide. United States The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. Waterfalls The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls. So, didn't it feel good to learn something new today??? I have always said you should learn something new every day. Unfortunately, most of us are at that age where what we learn today, we forget tomorrow. But, i gave it a shot anyway!....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIwhitetailhunter Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! I can honestly say I learned something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! Cool stuff! I learned some stuff today too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tp793 Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! My favorite is the 3 inch wide hole in Texas!! Learned a lot more today than I did in a year of school Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! Those are pretty interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! I bet that 3"wide hole in Texas is where Hoffa is buried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! Cool. More trivia to bore Tom with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! Out of all of those ive only heard one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggs Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! [ QUOTE ] Ohio There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade. [/ QUOTE ] not true, Punderson Lake in Geauga County is a natural lake, formed by glaciers. But it is one of the few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doughboy1956 Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Re: INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY!!! [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Ohio There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade. [/ QUOTE ] not true, Punderson Lake in Geauga County is a natural lake, formed by glaciers. But it is one of the few. [/ QUOTE ] Right on Muggs Here is a lot more about the lakes there. When is a lake not a lake? Most of Ohio’s favorite lakes are not natural-born bodies of water Ohio’s 33 Natural Lakes as listed by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History LAKE COUNTY Aquilla Geauga ,Bass Geauga Kelso Geauga ,Punderson Geauga ,Snow Geauga ,Braden Logan ,Newell Logan ,Ruby Logan ,Silver Logan ,Chippewa Medina ,Silver Miami ,Crystal Portage ,Dollar Portage ,East Twin Portage ,Muzzy Portage ,Pippen Portage ,Sandy Portage ,Stewart Pond Portage ,West Twin Portage ,Wingfoot Portage ,Congress Stark ,Luna Stark ,Meyers Stark ,Odell Stark ,Bath Pond Summit ,Long Summit ,Singer Summit ,Springfield Summit ,Turkeyfoot,Mud and Rex Summit White Pond Summit Fox Wayne Mud Williams Nettle Williams When is a lake not a lake? That may sound like the kind of riddle you passed around in the second grade. But the answer might stump a classroom-full of PhDs. Ohio has at least 50,000 lakes and ponds worthy of those names, with more than 2,000 that cover five acres or more. But not all are true lakes, or at least not true “natural” lakes that were here in Ohio before early settlers began building farm ponds, reservoirs and canals. In fact, aside from Lake Erie, most of the well-known recreational lakes in Ohio – the water we enjoy the most to boat, swim, fish or otherwise unwind – are definitely man-made. Virtually all are reservoirs, held back by dams and built for water supply or flood control where no lake existed before. Today these reservoirs are centerpieces for popular state parks or wildlife areas. Lake Hope, East Fork, Alum Creek, Dillon Lake, Mosquito Creek Reservoir and Salt Fork Lake come to mind. Some popular reservoirs fall into a separate category of man-made lakes, tracing their origins to small, natural bodies of water that were greatly enlarged in the 1800s to become feeder-lake reservoirs for Ohio’s canals. You would be hard pressed to find any trace of their natural shorelines today. These include Indian Lake, Buckeye Lake and the Portage Lakes chain – now among the most-visited Ohio State Parks. And don’t forget western Ohio’s Grand Lake St. Marys, a canal feeder that was once the largest reservoir in the world. Just where are the true, natural lakes in Ohio? How many are there and how can you tell the difference? That’s where the answers get tricky, for even the experts don’t always agree. Geologists with the Ohio Department of Natural History say there are two types of natural lakes in Ohio. First are the glacial and kettle-holes lakes, both kinds created thousands of years ago when glaciers moved out of Ohio and left behind a trail of melting ice. Think of those as large, Ice Age puddles and look for them mostly in northern Ohio, where glaciers once reigned. Lake Erie is of course Ohio’s grand-champion glacial remnant, followed in size by 385-acre Chippewa Lake in Medina County. Perhaps Ohio’s best known and best preserved inland glacial lake is the 100-acre beauty at Punderson State Park in Geauga County. While so many of Ohio’s glacial lakes have disappeared over the past two centuries – filled in or drained as the state was settled – Punderson Lake has remained an open body of “natural” water. What ancient glaciers left behind, modern-day Ohioans can enjoy today for fishing, swimming and boating (electric motors only). Triangle Lake is a kettle-hole bog that supports a wide variety of unique plants. Other glacial lakes have been lost over time to natural processes that transformed them into something quite different: glacial bog meadows. One fascinating example, still in transition, is Triangle Lake Bog State Nature Preserve, just off Interstate 76 in Portage County. While some of the ancient lake remains, you can clearly see how vegetation is slowly closing in on the open water. This nature preserve protects one of the finest and least disturbed kettle-hole bogs in Ohio, supporting a wide variety of unique plants. For example, there’s a stand of tamarack trees, themselves a remnant of Ohio’s Ice Age. The second type of natural lake in Ohio is more likely to be found in southern counties, though they’re few and far between. These are oxbow lakes, formed when a bend in a winding river became separated from the main flow – either by floods or erosion – then was left on its own as a free-standing body of water. These lakes are not very large and are not very long lasting, therefore most of them tend not be named. Even knowing all of this about reservoirs, glacial lakes and oxbows, you still might be surprised to learn that only three dozen or so of Ohio’s 50,000 lakes and ponds make the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s list of “natural” lakes. Jim Bissell, the museum’s curator of botany, places the count at 33. He’s been helping compile a list since 1988, and he includes one special qualifier that goes beyond the lake’s geological history. Bodies of water making Bissell’s list must not only have natural origins, but also be home to certain floating and deep-water vegetation – often these plants are rare and even endangered. In some cases, these plants may be found exclusively in just one specific lake! He says there are other naturally occurring lakes in Ohio beyond his list of 33, but they no longer support the types of vegetation he looks for as hallmarks of these unique ecosystems. Bissell fears that Ohio’s precious few natural lakes will become fewer still, as human encroachment and invasive plant species – yellow iris, purple loosestrife and the like – continue to take their toll. When is a lake not a lake? For those of us without science degrees or clever second-graders, the answer to that riddle is whatever you want it to be. For me: if it’s wet, if you can fish or swim in it, boat on it or just sit back and enjoy the sun setting across its waters – then it’s a lake. And in this season of Earth Day, we can be grateful that Ohio is blessed with so many of them. -30- Past Outdoor Notebook Columns For Further Information Contact: Laura Jones (614) 265-6811 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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