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National Park Quiz 98: Lakes

Ice road plowing in Voyageurs National Park.  Do you know what lake this is? National Park System photo.

1. Which of the following national park lakes is an impoundment -- that is, a water body created or enlarged through the construction of a dam?
a. Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park
b. St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park
c. Weston Lake in Congaree National Park
d. Echo Lake in Acadia National Park

2. The largest reservoir in the United States is the focal attraction of   
a. Ross Lake National Recreation Area
b. Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
c. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
d. Lake Mead National Recreation Area

3. A visitor can take a ranger-guided boat tour on a lake in  
a. Acadia National Park
b. Cuyahoga Valley National Park
c. Kenai Fjords National Park
d. Yellowstone National Park

4. Each of the following statements about Crater Lake is true EXCEPT: (Choose the one that "does not belong").
a. It is one of the clearest lakes in the world.
b. It is the deepest lake in North America.
c. It contains around four cubic miles of water.
d. It has no streams flowing into or out of it.

5. Using gill nets, the National Park Service catches and kills tens of thousands of lake trout every year in
a. Yellowstone Lake
b. Crater Lake
c. Lake McDonald
d. Lake Superior

6. In Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park, winter visitors can drive their private vehicles on an ice road that the Park Service maintains on the frozen surface of
a. Shoepack Lake
b. Rainy Lake
c. Bear Lake
d. Elk Lake

7. How many of the 58 National Park-designated units of the National Park System have "Lake" as part of their name?
a. one
b. two
c. three
d. four

8. Michigan's Isle Royale National Park  has "the biggest lake on the biggest island in the biggest lake in North America," namely
a. Gitche Gumee Lake
b. Wolf Lake
c. Siskiwit Lake
d. Moose Lake

9. Which national park commemorates a naval battle that was fought on a lake?

10. Which national park preserves delicate fossils of insects that fell into an ancient body of water that geologists call Lake Florissant?

Extra Credit Question:

11. Which unit of the National Park System has a small "lake" (or large pond) with an island that has a memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence?

Super Bonus Question:

12. There are fewer than half a dozen persistent (long-lasting) lava lakes on the entire planet. America has one, the lava lake produced by the nearly continuous eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Name at least one other place in the world (it doesn't have to be a national park) that has a persistent lava lake.   

Answers:

(1)  a -- Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park is an impoundment created through the construction of a dam on the outlet of a pre-existing glacial lake that was also named Jackson Lake.

(2)  d -- Lake Mead is America's largest reservoir.  Although this huge artificial lake has a maximum surface area of around 250 square miles, reduced rainfall and other factors have caused the lake level to drop dramatically.

(3)  d -- Yellowstone National Park visitors can take ranger-guided boat tours on Yellowstone Lake. The tours are operated out of the Bay Bridge marina.

(4)  b -- Crater Lake is not the deepest lake in North America.  Canada's Great Slave Lake is.

(5)  a -- The nonnative lake trout in Yellowstone Lake pose a serious threat to native cutthroat trout.  Each year, tens of thousands of lake trout are gill-netted in Yellowstone Lake and returned to the water with punctured swim bladders.

(6)  b -- Conditions permitting, the Park Service maintains an ice road for public use on Rainy Lake in Voyageurs National Park each winter.

(7)  b -- Two of the 58 National Park-designated units of the National Park System units have "Lake" as part of their name -- Oregon's Crater Lake National Park and Alaska's Lake Clark National Park.

(8)  c -- Isle Royale National Park's Siskiwit Lake is the biggest lake on Ryan Island in Lake Superior.  That makes Siskiwit Lake the biggest lake on the biggest island in the biggest lake in North America.

(9)  Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, was established "to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812, and to celebrate the long-lasting peace between Britain, Canada and the U.S."

(10)  Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in central Colorado preserves amazingly-detailed fossils of plants and animals that died during volcanic eruptions about 35 million years ago and were buried in sediment at the bottom of ancient Lake Florissant.

(11)  An island with a memorial to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence is situated on a small lake in Constitution Gardens, a 52-acre National Park System unit located on the National Mall adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. A pedestrian bridge makes the island accessible to visitors.

(12)  There are a number of places around the world where lava lakes appear for brief periods. However, the only places where long-lasting lava lakes can be found at present are Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Kilauea), Antarctica (Mt. Erebus), Chile (Villarrica), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Nyiragonga) , and Ethiopia (Erta Ale).

Grading: 9 or 10 correct, rest on your laurels; 7 or 8 correct, pretty darn good; 6 correct, passable fair; 5 or fewer correct, nothing to brag about.

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