What had happend to the ponds and lakes
Answers
✍Answer:
Lakes and ponds are inland bodies of standing or slowly moving water. Although lakes and ponds cover only 2 percent of the world's land surface, they contain most of the world's fresh water. Individual lakes and ponds range in area from a few square meters to thousands of square kilometers. In general, ponds are smaller than lakes, though regional idiosyncrasies of naming abound—Henry David Thoreau's famous Walden Pond in Massachusetts has a surface area of 64 acres. Lakes and ponds are an important source of fresh water for human consumption and are inhabited by a diverse suite of organisms.
Formation
Lakes and ponds are formed through a variety of events, including glacial, tectonic, and volcanic activity. Most lakes and ponds form as a result of glacial processes. As a glacier retreats, it may leave behind an uneven surface containing hollows that fill with water. Glacial activity at the end of the Pleistocene epoch (ten thousand to twenty thousand years ago) resulted in the formation of most of the lakes and ponds in the Northern Hemisphere, including the Great Lakes of North America. Some of the oldest lakes and ponds (more than three hundred thousand years old) were formed by tectonic activity related to movement of Earth's crust. For example, Lake Baikal in Siberia formed from the movement of tectonic plates and is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world. Volcanic activity can also lead to lake and pond formation. For example, the collapse of a volcanic cone of Mount Mazama in Oregon led to the formation of Crater Lake, the seventh deepest lake in the world.