A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Is That A Lake Or A Pond?

This question has baffled me for years as there seems to be as many "expert" definitions as there are lakes and ponds!

So... what do you think of as the difference between the two?

growing up I'd been taught that ponds are fed by springs and lakes by inlets.

More recently I read that ponds are more shallow and have plant life all the way to the bottom.

One on-line source said that "ponds are always smaller" -- well, that person has likely never visited Maine where ponds are gigantic!

So what do you think makes a pond a pond and a lake a lake?

Anybody got any light on this subject to share?

I always thought the difference was that a lake was 'God made' and a pond was 'man made'

good morning. I would so like to sleep for another hours or 2--oh well.

lake & pond. I really dont know about the proper terminology BUT it seems that any more if a new house has any sized body of water on its property the sellers call it a lake. I guess it sounds more appealing than a pond?

I will say I always thought it was the size.

The dictionary says
Pond is :"significantly smaller than a lake & often artifically formed".

lake had 3 definations.
The applicable one says: "a place where a river widens out".

I've always thought like Tamara.

Well I know for sure in the Midwest and (I think) the West, there are many man-made lakes. So the man-made point can't be part of the definition.

The definition was probably decided before 'man' decided to start making lakes

Here also a lake has fresh clean water..a pond has water for frogs and such, the water sits still and has algae and such.

I've always figured that the difference was in the size. Ponds are small and shallow while Lakes tend to be larger and deeper.

that is true too except when it comes to the small bodies of water, like say in front of the houses in fancy subdivision in town.
They are small even by pond standards.---BUT--they are called "lakes".
This whole delimma is likley due to realtors calling bodies of water what they please---so to make a sale.
I guess "lake" is more romantic & up scale than "pond" is ???

Probably right. there was once a definition that made sense but then they try\ied to commercialize things and in the process confuse people.

yep--that is what I am thinking.....

Ok here is a photo of Jordan's Pond here in Maine. It is typical of many ponds I have seen in New England... not hardly your shallow, small, frog pond! Most of us, seeing it, would think of it as a small lake. It isn't. LOTS of the ponds up here are truly huge.... and many are quite deep.






Today I found the best definition I have seen so far which I'd heard before and forgotten!


Ponds can be seasonal! Lakes never are!


I have known ponds which disappear late in the summer until the autumn heavy rains return. Of course, I have never known a gigantic one to disappear entirely, but I suppose it is possible during a time of extended drought.

I like that definition, though most of the ponds I know do stay all year. As for Jordan's pond, I would call that a lake, well unless Jordan was a giant then it might be a pond to him.

Right. That's why size alone can't be part of the definition! I'm telling ya, many ponds are downright gigantic! I just happened to have a photo of Jordon's pond handy.

I guess we all tend to think of "ponds" as Tamara does... small "Frog ponds". But a "frog pond" by definition is different than a simple "pond".

So complicated, no wonder so many people have trouble learning english.

-----> Shani

You crack me up, Shani!

Maybe add Creek to that discussion.

Define that one Merme.

Just a little creek.

b

Ok, Miss Dodge, To add "creek" you must start w/ "river".

A river has "brooks" or "streams" which are tributaries of the river & smaller than the river. But a brook can also exist independently of a river.

A "stream" flows within the confines of a bed and stream banks; it has a current.

Depending on regions and characteristics, it might be called: lick, kill, beck, brook, branch, rill, creek, river syke, rivulet, run or bayou.

A "tidal creek" though is very specific. It refers to that portion of the streams which is effected by the ebb & flow of ocean tides where it discharges into a straight, sea or ocean. It has varying electrical conductivity and salinity over the tidal cycle.

I used to go swimming in the creek all the time when I was young and then somebody told me it was actually the Brandywine River. Twasn't as much fun once it was a known river!

Thank you Merme,

I feel a FLOOD OF RELIEF>lol



DODGE

-----> Dodge! You are a funny girl, Dodge.

I always thought a creek was a narrow band or usually running water through a ditch.

Its amazing how many different terms apply to water. Where laying still or running. Are there any that just walk?

Maybe thats another new word.
A ditch is a ditch.. We dig a ditch to run off water.

My impression was for creek, a small run off .
Now we come to Brook.

All the kids storys say the brook?????

I am still flooded over.

dodge

I think of a brook as being a bit digger than a creek and usually with lots of rock so that it babbles.

That sounds pretty accurate.
Someone ought to go out an hunt thiese an take photos..LOL

dodge

I need to find my Boy Scout manual to be certain, but I'm pretty sure that lakes have inlets and outlets and are fed by springs or streams.
Ponds are usually filled by underground springs, seepage or runoff.

That definition works for me.

As for Creek and Brook hunting maybe when the fall colours come out Arco and I will go hunting for some pics

You get em tiger,.. Were getting deeper an deeper here. I know I went 125 feet. YOur turn.god ww

Sure we like fall an colors, an water an trees.........

If it's in someones yard we always call it a pond. This house came with a pond permit but we've never dug one because of the pecan trees.