Lake Pontchartrain ( /ˈpɒntʃətreɪn/; French: Lac Pontchartrain, ) is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake. It is, however, part of one of the largest wetlands in North America, and the world.
It covers an area of 630 square miles (1,600 km2) with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet (3.7 to 4.3 m). Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about 40 miles (64 km) from west to east and 24 miles (39 km) from south to north. In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa parishes.
Read more about Lake Pontchartrain: Namesake, Description, History, Conservation and Restoration, Northshore, New Orleans, Hurricanes, Funding, Popular Culture, Notable Deaths
Famous quotes containing the word lake:
“Will lovely, lively, virginal today
Shatter for us with a wing’s drunken blow
This hard, forgotten lake haunted in snow
By the sheer ice of flocks not flown away!”
—Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898)