Lakes_in_Switzerland

List of lakes of Switzerland

List of lakes of Switzerland

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This article contains a sortable table listing all major lakes of Switzerland. The table includes all still water bodies, natural or artificial, that have a surface area of at least 30 hectares (74 acres), regardless of water volume, maximum depth or other metric. These lakes are ranked by area, the table including also the elevation above sea level and maximum depth. They are either natural (type N), natural but used as reservoirs (NR) or fully artificial (A). For a list of artificial lakes only, see List of dams and reservoirs in Switzerland. For a list of lakes above 800 metres (2,600 ft) that includes smaller water bodies, see List of mountain lakes of Switzerland.

Map of major lakes and rivers of Switzerland labelled in the relevant local language (French, German or Italian).

Along with the mountains, lakes constitute a major natural feature of Switzerland, with over 1,000 km (620 mi) of shores within the country.[Nb 1] Lakes, large and small, can be found in almost all cantons and provide an important source of water, leisure opportunities, as well as suitable habitat for fish-eating birds. The two most extensive, Lake Geneva and Lake Constance, are amongst the largest in Europe and mark the border of the Swiss Plateau, along with the Alps and the Jura Mountains. The largest wholly Swiss lake is Lake Neuchâtel. The remaining lakes over 100 km2 (39 sq mi) are Lake Maggiore and Lake Lucerne. In total 103 lakes exist that are more than 30 ha (74 acres) in surface area, and a considerable number of smaller lakes. All these lakes are found in the four major river basins of Switzerland: Rhine, Rhone, Po and Danube,[Nb 2] at almost all elevations below the permanent snow line.

Distribution

There are several thousand lakes in Switzerland, with estimations up to 7000,[1] although those include very small water bodies, traditionally referred to as "lakes".[Nb 3] On this list, only the 103 largest lakes, which are over 30 hectares in area, are included. Among these, 58 are over 1.0 km2, 17 are over 10 km2, and just five are over 100 km2 in area. Of these lakes, 37 are natural, 21 are natural, but are used as reservoirs, and 45 are manmade reservoirs. These 103 lakes are shared among 21 cantons, out of the 26.[Nb 4] Some of these lakes are also shared with neighboring France, Germany, Austria, and Italy (for simplicity purposes, only the total area of the lake is indicated). Four of the cantons (Grisons, Bern, Valais, and Ticino) have more than 10 of the lakes, apiece, and just over one-half of the cantons (14) have one or more lakes of over 100 km2 in area. Most of these lakes are either below 800 metres above sea level (mostly natural lakes), or above 1600 metres (mostly manmade lakes). A large majority of the lakes, 66, are located in the Rhine basin (partly via the Aare River); 17 in the Rhone basin (partly via the Doubs River); 14 in the Po River basin (mostly via the Ticino River); and six are in the Danube River basin (all via the Inn River).

Largest in area and volume: Lake Geneva
Lowest and deepest: Lake Maggiore
Highest: Muttsee
More information Canton, By area ...

Main list

More information Rank, Name ...

* Types: N = natural; NR = natural but used as reservoirs; A = fully artificial

See also

Notes

  1. Approximately (see coastline paradox) 1,000 km (620 mi) counting only the 17 lakes over 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) (length retrieved from the Google Earth geographical information program).
  2. The remaining basin (the Adige) being marginal and comporting only small lakes (of which the largest is Lai da Rims).
  3. For example, the Blausee ("blue lake"), the Märjelensee ("Märjelen lake"), and the Schwarzsee ("black lake") are smaller than one hectare in surface area.
  4. See List of mountain lakes of Switzerland for a more detailed distribution.

References

  1. Block, Klaus-Dieter (2014). Ach du liebe Schweiz: Ein sonderbares Land – Berichte aus der Schweiz. Steffen Verlag. ISBN 978-3-942477-87-1.
  2. "Speicherseen in der Schweiz" (PDF) (in German). Bundesamt für Energie BFE (Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE).

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Lakes_in_Switzerland, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.