Lakes Wallpaper, #11470

Further, in common usage, many Lakes bear names ending with the word "pond", and a lesser number of names ending with "lake" are in quasi-technical fact, ponds. In short, there is no current internationally accepted definition of either term across scientific disciplines or political boundaries, and there likely never will be. Within disciplines, authors are careful to define environmental geographic circumstances, and obviates the need for artificially imposed definitions when most of the worlds' people speak different languages.Globally, Lakes are greatly outnumbered by ponds: of an estimated 304 million standing water bodies worldwide, 91% are 1 hectare (2.5 acres) or less in area (see definition of ponds) . Small Lakes are also much more numerous than big Lakes: in terms of area, one third of the world's standing water is represented by Lakes and ponds of 10 hectares (25 acres) or less. However, large Lakes contribute disproportionately to the area of standing water with 122 large Lakes of 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi, 100,000 ha, 247,000 acres) or more representing about 29% of the total global area of standing inland water.Most Lakes have a natural outflow in the form of a river or stream, but some do not and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both. They are termed endorheic Lakes (see below).Many Lakes are artificial and are constructed for hydro-electric power generation, recreational purposes, industrial use, agricultural use, or domestic water supply.