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How does Lake Superior qualify for the title largest lake? Is it because it has the largest surface area of freshwater lakes? The Caspian Sea is technically a

How does Lake Superior qualify for the title largest lake? Is it because it has the largest surface area of freshwater lakes? The Caspian Sea is technically a lake but is greater than 4.5x the surface area. Lake Baikal is the largest lake by volume, and is fresh water, having nearly double the water compared to Lake Superior. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_area * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_volume https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lakes_by_volume

kibwen 7y ago
This is (understandably) misinterpreting the criteria for the title "the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the world". First you would make a (rather small) list of all islands-in-lakes-in-islands-in-lakes-in-islands-in-lakes, then sort descending by largest innermost island and taking the first result. The only reason to actually care about the largeness of the other elements in the chain would be to break ties, which definitely won't be necessary. The fully elaborated form is still technically correct, but is mostly used for the amusement of its own absurdity.
- billforsternz 7y ago
  I disagree, I think the consensus view is that the feature has to be in Lake Superior because that's the largest lake in the world.
ghaff 7y ago
>Is it because it has the largest surface area of freshwater lakes? Yes. Per Wikipedia "The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea."
- 205guy 7y ago
  More relevant from the wikipedia link: "Despite its name, it is often regarded as the world's largest lake, though it contains an oceanic basin (contiguous with the world ocean until 11 million years ago) rather than being entirely over continental crust." Regardless, whether it's the largest or not isn't really the point, it's just that it sounds interesting. I believe Manitoulin island (which is a bigger island in a smaller lake) has a similar island-lake recursion pattern. If you start looking at islands (not necessarily the largest ones), there are also several lake-island recursions (Lake Taal on Luzon island being one). And then one could rank the size of the recursive islands (or lakes) at the various levels. It's a lot like trainspotting in the end.

kibwen 7y ago

This is (understandably) misinterpreting the criteria for the title "the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the world". First you would make a (rather small) list of all islands-in-lakes-in-islands-in-lakes-in-islands-in-lakes, then sort descending by largest innermost island and taking the first result. The only reason to actually care about the largeness of the other elements in the chain would be to break ties, which definitely won't be necessary. The fully elaborated form is still technically correct, but is mostly used for the amusement of its own absurdity.

billforsternz 7y ago
I disagree, I think the consensus view is that the feature has to be in Lake Superior because that's the largest lake in the world.

ghaff 7y ago

>Is it because it has the largest surface area of freshwater lakes? Yes. Per Wikipedia "The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea."

205guy 7y ago
More relevant from the wikipedia link: "Despite its name, it is often regarded as the world's largest lake, though it contains an oceanic basin (contiguous with the world ocean until 11 million years ago) rather than being entirely over continental crust." Regardless, whether it's the largest or not isn't really the point, it's just that it sounds interesting. I believe Manitoulin island (which is a bigger island in a smaller lake) has a similar island-lake recursion pattern. If you start looking at islands (not necessarily the largest ones), there are also several lake-island recursions (Lake Taal on Luzon island being one). And then one could rank the size of the recursive islands (or lakes) at the various levels. It's a lot like trainspotting in the end.