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Lake Erie

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Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes in terms of volume with a total of about 115 cubic miles of water with a surface of nearly 10,000 square miles. It measures about 240 miles east to west and almost 60 miles north to south and has about 875 miles of shoreline.

A relatively shallow lake at an average of about 60 feet, it often freezes in the winter but warms rapidly in the spring.

The lake forms part of the boundaries of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, Canada. In addition, it accepts drainage from parts of eastern Indiana. Major cities on the lake include Toledo and Cleveland, OH, Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY.

Due to the lake basin's fertile soils, it is farmed extensively and is the most densely populated of the Great Lakes.