This a partial list of prehistoric lakes. Although the form of the names below differ, the lists are alphabetized by the identifying name of the lake (e.g., Algonquin for Glacial Lake Algonquin). YBP = Years Before Present.

North America

Endorheic basins

  • Estancia Valley, Central New Mexico, United States
  • Lake Estancia, glacial paleolake that once hosted cutthroat trout
  • Plains of San Agustín, Central New Mexico, United States
  • Lake San Agustín, present day site of the Very Large Array
  • Tularosa basin, Southern New Mexico, United States
  • Lake Otero
  • Lake Lucero; Once much larger, the present day lake is an alkali lake and the main source of gypsum for White Sands National Park, the largest gypsum dune field in the world.
  • Great Basin
  • Mono Lake Lee Vining, California.

Atlantic Drainage

thumb|right|Stages of [[proglacial lake development in the region of the current North American Great Lakes]]

  • St. Lawrence River drainage, i.e., the Great Lakes
  • Champlain Sea; 11,800 – 8,200 YBP on the lower St. Lawrence, from Ottawa River to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
  • Lake Ontario basin: 8,400 YBP
  • Lake Frontenac; 12,000 – 11,000 YBP covering the Ontario basin and to the northeast up the St. Lawrence Valley covering the low lands north to the Ottawa River and Montreal. and covered all of the Ontario basin and southward across central New York, reaching to the Finger Lakes.
  • Dansville Lake in the Canaseraga valley in Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and New York
  • Lake Elkton stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level in western New York
  • Lake Wayne; ended by 12,000 YBP - 4,500 YBP
  • Lake Nipissing; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.
  • Lake Ashland
  • Lake Brule
  • Lake Nemadji
  • Lake Ontonagon
  • Lake St. Louis
  • Nipissing Great Lakes: 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,400 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.;
  • Lake Minong; 10,300 – 9,800 YBP covering most of the modern Superior basin.
  • Glacial Lake Block Island off the south coast of Rhode Island, west of Block Island.
  • Glacial Lake Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
  • Lake Colebrook on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, crossing into Quebec.
  • Glacial Lake Hitchcock; 15,000 YBP in the valley of the Connecticut River.
  • Lake Dowagiac in Michigan on the lower Dowagiac River,
  • Glacial Lake Ottawa in Illinois on the upper Illinois River.
  • Glacial Lake Pontiac in Illinois on the lower Vermillion River.
  • Lake Aitkin along the Mississippi River near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
  • Lake Minnesota at the great bend in the Minnesota River at Mankato, Minnesota
  • Missouri River basinthumb|Glacial [[Lake Great Falls]]
  • Glacial Lake Great Falls; 17,000 – 13,000 YBP in Montana near Great Falls, Montana.
  • Lake Cut Bank in Montana
  • Lake Glendive in Montana
  • Lake McKenzie in North Dakota from the Great Bend, south to the South Dakota border.
  • Lake Cabeza de Vaca in extreme southern New Mexico, United States, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico; once the ultimate destination of the Rio Grande until it was captured by the Pecos River
  • Pluvial Lake Palomas in the same area, but fed by the now-endorheic Mimbres River; now a major source of sand for the Médanos de Samalayuca

Arctic Drainage

thumb|Map of Glacial [[Lake Agassiz and Lake Ojibway c. 7900 YBP]]

  • Mackenzie River basin
  • Lake MacKenzie in the Northwest Territories.
  • Lake McConnell; 11,800 – 8,400 YBP
  • Lake Agassiz; 12,875 – 8,480 YBP in Manitoba and Ontario, stretching south in the James River valley of North Dakota and Minnesota.
  • Modern: Lake Winnipeg, Cedar Lake (Manitoba), Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Manitoba, Lake of the Woods
  • Lake Edmonton in Alberta
  • Lake Peace in Alberta and British Columbia
  • Lake Regina
  • Lake Hind in southwestern Manitoba
  • Lake Souris across North Dakota and Manitoba
  • Hudson Bay drainage
  • Tyrrell Sea; 7,000 – 6,000 YBP
  • Lake Antevs
  • Lake Nakina in Ontario, east of Lake Nipigon

Pacific Drainage

thumb|A map of Pleistocene lakes in the Great Basin, showing the path of the [[Bonneville flood about 14,500 years ago]]

  • Pacific Ocean:
  • Lake Atna drained from present-day Copper River Basin
  • Glacial Lake Bretz drained north from present-day Puget Sound in Washington
  • Lake Cahuilla in Southern California at the Salton Sea and today's cities of Indio, Mexicali, and El Centro, CA
  • Glacial Lake Hood formed in the southern hook of the Hood Canal and drained south through Glacial Lake Russell at Tacoma and the Black River Valley to the Chehalis River.
  • Lake Modoc formed on the Klamath River, at Upper Klamath Lake, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake
  • Lake Nisqually preceded Lake Russell and waters, west of Tacoma, including the Narrows.
  • Lake Puyallup was on the middle and upper Puyallup River and preceded Lake Tacoma.
  • Glacial Lake Russell drained south from present-day Puget Sound in Washington.
  • Glacial Lake Sammamish preceded Lake Sammamish, draining into Glacial Lake Russell’s bay in the Lake Russell’s bay in the Lake Washington basin east of Seattle.
  • Lake Skokomish drained the southeast flank of the Olympic Mountains in the Skokomish River basin.
  • Lake Tacoma was at the southern end of the Vashon Glacier in Puget Sound covering Commencement Bay, extending south up the Puyallup River valley. Washington basin east of Seattle.
  • Glacial Lake Snoqualmie in Washington State
  • Columbia River basin:
  • Lake Allison; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
  • Lake Canadian on the Washington/Oregon border above The Dalles
  • Lake Condon; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP on the Columbia River on the Washington/Oregon border above The Dalles and below Wallula Gap.
  • Lake Lewis; 16,000 YBP in central Washington, new Yakima.
  • Glacial Lake Columbia in central Washington State
  • Glacial Lake Spokane in eastern Washington near Spokane.thumbnail|right|[[Glacial Lake Columbia (west) and Glacial Lake Missoula (east) are shown south of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The areas inundated in the Columbia and Missoula floods are shown in red.]]
  • Lake Missoula; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in western Montana.
  • Lake Carpenter in Nevada
  • Lake Chewaucan in Oregon
  • Lake Clover in Nevada
  • Lake Dixie in Nevada
  • Lake Franklin in Nevada
  • Lake Harney-Malheur in Oregon
  • Lake Klamath in California and Oregon
  • Lake Madeline in California
  • Lake Manly; 186,000 – 10,000 YBP, covered Death Valley
  • Lake Mojave in California
  • Lake Owens in California
  • Lake Panamint in California
  • Lake Railroad in Nevada
  • Lake Russell in Nevada and California
  • Lake Searles in California
  • Lake Spring in Nevada
  • Lake Steptoe in Nevada
  • Lake Tecopa
  • Lake Thompson
  • Lake Toiyabe in Nevada
  • Lake Tulare in California
  • Lake Tule in California
  • Lake Waring in Nevada

Europe

thumb|210px|[[Ancylus Lake c. 10,000 years ago. "Svea älv" was a strait within the lake while Göta älv formed an outlet to the Atlantic Sea.]]

  • Lake Komi, a proglacial lake formed in the vicinity of the present-day Russian Komi Republic
  • White Sea Ice Lake, freshwater period of the White Sea
  • Baltic Ice Lake, freshwater period of the Baltic Sea
  • Ancylus Lake, freshwater period of the Baltic Sea
  • Lake Harrison in the Midlands in England
  • Lake Lapworth in Shropshire in England
  • Lake Orcadie of the Old Red Sandstone, Scotland
  • Lake Pickering between the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds in England
  • Ebro endorheic lake system, in the Ebro Basin, (Spain)
  • Duero endorheic lake system, in the Duero Basin, (Spain)
  • Gjende Lake in the Jotunheimen mountains of Norway
  • Zechstein Sea covering all of central and Northern Europe (Saltwater)

== South America == <!--From North to South-->

  • Altiplano Cundiboyacense
  • Lake Humboldt, Pleistocene lake on the Bogotá savanna
  • Altiplano Boliviano
  • Cabana, a lake level highstand of Lake Titicaca
  • Lake Escara
  • Inca Huasi
  • Mataro, a lake level highstand of Lake Titicaca
  • Lake Minchin
  • Ouki
  • Sajsi
  • Salinas
  • Lake Tauca
  • Cancosa paleolake
  • Patagonia
  • Great Tehuelche Paleolake

Asia

thumb|Ice Age lakes of Siberia and Central Asia

  • Mundafan, Arabia
  • West Siberian Glacial Lake
  • Lake Bandung in Indonesia
  • Lake Tengger

Africa

thumb|Lake Chad during the [[African humid period about 10,000 years ago (blue) and in 20th century (green).]]

  • Lake Makgadikgadi in the Kalahari Desert in Africa
  • Lake Ptolemy
  • Chad Basin what is now Lake Chad
  • Lake Congo, what is now the Congo Basin
  • Lake Suguta

Oceania

  • Lake Carpentaria, Australia
  • Lake Bungunnia in the Murray Basin, Australia
  • Eromanga Sea in the Eromanga Basin, Australia
  • Lake Huka, North Island, New Zealand
  • Lake Manuherikia, Maniototo Plain, South Island, New Zealand
  • Lake Walloon, Lake Winton, and Lake Dieri, Australia, of which the modern Lake Eyre is a remnant

See also

  • List of endorheic basins
  • List of lakes

References