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- Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world, is located in east central North America, surrounded on the north and east by Ontario, on the south by Michigan and Wisconsin, and on the northwest by Minnesota. The deepest and westernmost of the five Great Lakes, 350 mi long and has a surface area of about 31,700 sq miles with an average depth of 483 feet and a maximum depth of 1332 feet. With an average water temperature of 40 degrees. About two-thirds of the lake is in the United States.
- Lake Superior has an irregular coastline, with a number of large bays; Keweenaw Peninsula, in Michigan, projects far into the lake. Bold, rocky cliffs fringe the northern lakeshore, some rising hundreds of feet above the waters surface. Near Munising, Michigan, on the southeastern shore, are the Pictured Rocks, multicolored sandstone cliffs 50 to 300 ft high, which in many places present fantastic forms. The lake drains into Lake Huron, to the southeast, through the Saint Mary's River, which is navigable via the Sault Sainte Marie Canals. Lake Superior has several large islands, notable among them Saint Ignace Island and Michipicoten Island, Ontario; Isle Royale, Michigan; and the Apostle Islands, Wisconsin.
- The land near the lake, especially to the south and west, is rich in minerals, principally iron ore (hematite and taconite) and copper, nickel, and silver ores. These minerals, plus grain produced in the Prairie Provinces of Canada and forest products, are shipped east via Superior and the rest of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway system. Lake Superior very rarely freezes over, but ice along its shores closes its ports from December to mid-April. Étienne Brûlé, a French explorer, probably discovered the lake in 1622.
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