List of lakes by depth

These articles lists the world's deepest lakes.

Lakes ranked by maximum depth

This list contains all lakes whose maximum depth is reliably known to exceed 400 metres (1,300 ft)

Geologically, the Caspian Sea, like the Black and Mediterranean seas, is a remnant of the ancient Tethys Ocean. The deepest area is oceanic rather than continental crust. However, it is generally regarded by geographers as a large endorheic salt lake. Of these registered lakes; 10 have a deepest point above the sea level. These are: Issyk-Kul, Crater Lake, Quesnel, Sarez, Toba, Tahoe, Kivu, Nahuel Huapi, Van and Poso.

Continent color key
Africa	Antarctica	Asia	Eurasia	Europe	North America	Oceania	South America

	Name	Country	Region	Depth		Depth2/area
				(meters)	(feet)
1.	Baikal[1]	Russia	Southern Siberia: Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast	1,642	5,387	9.22×10^−6
2.	Tanganyika	Tanzania Democratic Republic of the Congo Burundi Zambia	African Great Lakes	1,470	4,823	8.1×10^−6
3.	(Caspian Sea[2])	Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Azerbaijan Russia Iran	Caspian Endorheic basin	1,025	3,363	1.68×10^−6
4.	Viedma	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province	~900	~2953	N/D
4.	Vostok[3]	Antarctica	Under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet	~900	~2953	8.94×10^−6
6.	O'Higgins-San Martín[4]	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)	836	2,742	2.63×10^−5
7.	Argentino	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province	719	2,359	1.33×10^−5
8.	Malawi	Malawi Mozambique Tanzania	African Great Lakes	706	2,316	4.1×10^−6
9.	Issyk Kul	Kyrgyzstan	Tien Shan Mountains	668	2,192	8.46×10^−6
10.	Great Slave	Canada	Northwest Territories	614	2,015	3.72×10^−6
11.	Crater[5]	United States	Oregon	594	1,949	8.16×10^−5
12.	Matano	Indonesia	Southern Sulawesi	590	1,936	4.61×10^−5
13.	General Carrera-Buenos Aires[6]	Chile Argentina	General Carrera Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)	586	1,923	1.36×10^−5
14.	Hornindalsvatnet	Norway	Vestland	514	1,686	7.2×10^−5
15.	Quesnel	Canada	British Columbia	511	1,677	3.13×10^−5
16.	Sarez	Tajikistan	Gorno-Badakhshan	505	1,657	5.66×10^−5
16.	Toba	Indonesia	Sumatra	505	1,657	1.5×10^−5
18.	Tahoe	United States	California and Nevada	501	1,645	2.26×10^−5
19.	Salvatnet	Norway	Trøndelag	482	1,581	6.93×10^−5
20.	Kivu	Democratic Republic of the Congo Rwanda	African Great Lakes	480	1,575	9.24×10^−6
21.	Grand Lake[7]	Canada	Newfoundland	475	1,558	N/D
22.	Nahuel Huapi	Argentina	Río Negro Province and Neuquén Province	464	1,523	2.02×10^−5
23.	Hauroko	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	462	1,516	5.82×10^−5
24.	Cochrane / Pueyrredón[6]	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)	460	1,509	2.55×10^−5
24.	Lake Tinn	Norway	Telemark	460	1,509	6.41×10^−5
26.	Adams	Canada	British Columbia	457	1,499	3.9×10^−5
27.	Chelan	United States	Washington (state)	453	1,486	3.9×10^−5
27.	Mjøsa	Norway	Innlandet and Akershus	453	1,486	2.33×10^−5
29.	Van[8]	Turkey	Eastern Anatolia Region	451	1,480	7.36×10^−6
30.	Poso	Indonesia	Sulawesi	450	1,476	2.5×10^−5
31.	Fagnano	Argentina Chile	Tierra del Fuego	449	1,473	1.77×10^−5
32.	Great Bear	Canada	Northwest Territories	446	1,463	2.53×10^−6
33.	Manapouri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	444	1,457	3.73×10^−5
34.	Como	Italy	Lombardy	425	1,394	3.52×10^−5
34.	Te Anau	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	425	1,394	2.29×10^−5
36.	Tazawa	Japan	Akita Prefecture, Honshu	423	1,387	8.31×10^−5
37.	Khantayskoye	Russia	Krasnoyarsk Krai	420	1,378	N/D
37.	Wakatipu	New Zealand	Otago, South Island	420	1,378	2.47×10^−5
39.	Grey	Chile	Última Esperanza Province	410	1,345	N/D
40.	Superior	Canada United States	Ontario (Canada) and Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin (United States)	406	1,332	1.42×10^−6

Lakes ranked by mean depth

Mean depth can be a more useful indicator than maximum depth for many ecological purposes. Unfortunately, accurate mean depth figures are only available for well-studied lakes, as they must be calculated by dividing the lake's volume by its surface area.^[9] A reliable volume figure requires a bathymetric survey.^[9] Therefore, mean depth figures are not available for many deep lakes in remote locations.^[9] The average lake on Earth has the mean depth 41.8 meters (137.14 feet)^[9]

The Caspian Sea ranks much further down the list on mean depth, as it has a large continental shelf (significantly larger than the oceanic basin that contains its greatest depths).

Of the 127 registered lakes; 67 are known to be cryptodepressions. These include: Vostok^[3][10] (subglacial surface), Concordia (subglacial surface), (Caspian Sea^[2]) (subsea surface), Dead Sea (subsea surface) and Jökulsárlón^[7] (glacial lagoon estuary). The remaining 60 lakes have got their entire basin above the sea level.

This list contains all lakes whose mean depth is reliably known to exceed 100 metres (328 ft).

Continent colour key
Africa	Antarctica	Asia	Eurasia	Europe	North America	Oceania	South America

	Name	Country	Region	Depth
				(meters)	(feet)
1.	Baikal[1]	Russia	Southern Siberia: Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast	744.4	2,442
2.	Tanganyika	Tanzania Democratic Republic of the Congo Burundi Zambia	African Great Lakes	570	1,870
3.	Vostok[3][10]	Antarctica	Under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet	432	1,417
4.	General Carrera-Buenos Aires[6]	Chile Argentina	General Carrera Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)	400	1,312
5.	Crater[5]	United States	Oregon	352.8	1,157
6.	Tahoe	United States	California and Nevada	307.6	1,009
7.	Adams	Canada	British Columbia, (Shuswap)	299	981
8.	Malawi	Malawi Mozambique Tanzania	African Great Lakes	292	958
9.	Tazawa	Japan	Honshu	280	919
10.	Issyk Kul	Kyrgyzstan	Tien Shan Mountains	278.4	913
11.	Shikotsu	Japan	Hokkaido	265.4	871
12.	Concordia	Antarctica	Antarctic Plateau	250	820
13.	Crveno[7]	Croatia	Imotski Area	245	804
14.	Kivu	Democratic Republic of the Congo Rwanda	African Great Lakes	240	787
14.	Matano[7]	Indonesia	Sulawesi	240	787
16.	Hornindalsvatnet[7]	Norway	Vestland	237.6	780
17.	Quilotoa	Ecuador	Cotopaxi Province	220	722
18.	Toba[7]	Indonesia	Sumatra	216	707
19.	Heaven	North Korea China	Ryanggang Province (North Korea) and Jilin Province (China)	213	699
20.	(Caspian Sea[2])	Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Azerbaijan Russia Iran	Caspian Endorheic basin	211	692
21.	Karakul	Tajikistan	Pamir Mountains	210	689
22.	Sarez	Tajikistan	Gorno-Badakhshan	201.8	662
23.	Kurile	Russia	Kamchatka Peninsula	195	640
24.	Fagnano	Argentina Chile	Tierra del Fuego	193.8	636
25.	Lake Tinn[7]	Norway	Telemark	190	623
25.	Todos los Santos	Chile	Llanquihue Province	190	623
27.	Dead Sea	Jordan Palestine Israel	Middle East	188.4	618
28.	Chapo	Chile	Llanquihue Province	183.1	601
29.	Llanquihue	Chile	Llanquihue Province and Osorno Province	182	597
30.	Maggiore	Italy  Switzerland	Lombardy, Piedmont (Italy) and Ticino (Switzerland)	177.4	582
31.	Ranau	Indonesia	Sumatra	174	571
31.	Teletskoye	Russia	Altai Mountains	174	571
33.	Brienz	Switzerland	Bern	173	568
33.	Colico	Chile	Cautín Province	173	568
33.	Traful	Argentina	Neuquén Province	173	568
36.	Lundevatnet[7]	Norway	Rogaland and Agder	172	564
37.	Slocan	Canada	British Columbia, (West Kootenay)	171	561
37.	Van	Turkey	Eastern Anatolia Region	171	561
39.	Ilopango	El Salvador	San Salvador, La Paz and Cuscatlán	170	558
40.	Te Anau	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	168.8	554
41.	Lácar	Argentina	Neuquén Province	167	548
42.	Rupanco	Chile	Osorno Province	163	535
43.	Riñihue	Chile	Valdivia Province	162	531
44.	Nimpkish	Canada	British Columbia,(Vancouver Island)	161	528
45.	Azure	Canada	British Columbia, (Wells Gray)	157.2	516
46.	Nahuel Huapi	Argentina	Río Negro Province and Neuquén Province	157	515
46.	Quesnel	Canada	British Columbia, (Likely and Horsefly)	157	515
48.	Suldalsvatnet[7]	Norway	Rogaland	156	512
49.	Argentino	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province	155.4	510
50.	Del Toro	Chile	Última Esperanza Province	155	508
50.	Ohrid	North Macedonia Albania	Balkans	155	508
50.	Salvatnet[7]	Norway	Trøndelag	155	508
53.	Atitlán[7]	Guatemala	Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre	154	505
53.	Como[11]	Italy	Lombardy	154	505
55.	Geneva[7]	Switzerland France	Vaud, Geneva, Valais (Switzerland) and Haute-Savoie (France)	153.4	503
56.	Jökulsárlón[7]	Iceland	Vatnajökull National Park	153	502
57.	Harrison	Canada	British Columbia, (Coast Mountains)	151.4	497
58.	Mjøsa	Norway	Innlandet and Akershus	150	492
58.	Powell	Canada	British Columbia, (Sunshine Coast)	150	492
60.	Menéndez	Argentina	Chubut Province	149.9	492
61.	Manapouri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	149	489
61.	Singkarak	Indonesia	Western Sumatra	149	489
63.	Lake Superior	Canada United States	Ontario (Canada) and Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin (United States)	147	482
64.	Chelan	United States	Washington (state)	144	472
65.	Huechulafquen	Argentina	Neuquén Province	142	466
65.	Pend Oreille	United States	Idaho	142	466
67.	Anderson	Canada	British Columbia, (Lillooet)	140	459
67.	Nemrut	Turkey	Bitlis Province	140	459
67.	Redoubt	United States	Alaska, (Baranof Island)	140	459
70.	Storsjøen[7]	Norway	Innlandet	139	456
71.	Khövsgöl	Mongolia	Nearby the eastern, Sayan Mountains	138	453
72.	Mashū	Japan	Hokkaido	137.5	451
73.	Lonar	India	Deccan Plateau	137	449
73.	Ørsdalsvatnet	Norway	Rogaland	137	449
75.	Garda	Italy	Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino	136	446
75.	Thun	Switzerland	Bern	136	446
77.	Ikeda	Japan	Kyushu	135	443
77.	Yelcho	Chile	Palena Province	135	443
79.	Lugano	Switzerland Italy	Ticino (Switzerland) and Lombardy (Italy)	134	440
80.	Loch Ness[7]	United Kingdom	Scotland, Caledonia	132	433
81.	Oppstrynsvatnet[7]	Norway	Vestland	131	429
82.	Wakatipu	New Zealand	Otago, South Island	130	427
83.	Breimsvatnet[7]	Norway	Vestland	129	423
84.	Mainit	Philippines	Mindanao	128	420
85.	Panguipulli	Chile	Valdivia Province	126	413
86.	Great Central	Canada	British Columbia, (Vancouver Island)	124	407
86.	Iseo	Italy	Lombardy	124	407
88.	Greve	Chile	Última Esperanza Province	123.3	405
89.	Ranco	Chile	Ranco Province	122	400
89.	Timiskaming	Canada	Ontario and Quebec	122	400
91.	Bandak[7]	Norway	Telemark	121	397
91.	Maihue	Chile	Ranco Province	121	397
93.	Fyresvatnet	Norway	Telemark	120	394
93.	Kanas	China	Xinjiang, Altay Prefecture	120	394
93.	Towuti	Indonesia	Southern Sulawesi	120	394
93.	Villarrica	Chile	Cautín Province	120	394
97.	Garibaldi	Canada	British Columbia, (Coast Mountains)	119	390
98.	Caburgua	Chile	Cautín Province	117	384
98.	Toya[7]	Japan	Hokkaido	117	384
100.	Hauroko	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	116.7	383
101.	Calafquén	Chile	Valdivia Province	115	377
102.	Mabel	Canada	British Columbia, (Shuswap)	114	374
103.	Poteriteri	New Zealand	Southland, South Island	113.1	371
104.	Mascardi	Argentina	Río Negro Province	111	364
104.	Puelo	Argentina	Chubut Province	111	364
106.	Lake Taupō[7]	New Zealand	Waikato, North Island	110	360
107.	Öskjuvatn[7]	Iceland	Highlands of Iceland	109	358
108.	Chilko	Canada	British Columbia, (Chilcotin)	108	354
109.	Murtle	Canada	British Columbia, (Wells Gray)	107	351
109.	Titicaca	Peru Bolivia	Puno Region (Peru) and La Paz Department (Bolivia)	107	351
111.	Tatlayoko	Canada	British Columbia, (Chilcotin)	106.4	349
112.	Gander	Canada	Newfoundland	105.4	346
113.	Guinas	Namibia	Oshikoto Region, Tsumeb	105	344
113.	Kauhakō Crater[12][13]	United States	Hawaii, (Molokai)	105	344
113.	Maninjau	Indonesia	Central Sumatra	105	344
116.	Walen	Switzerland	St. Gallen and Glarus	104.7	343
117.	Lucerne	Switzerland	Central Switzerland	104	341
118.	Rivadavia	Argentina	Chubut Province	103.7	340
119.	Takla	Canada	British Columbia, (Mount Blanchet)	103.1	338
120.	Cochrane / Pueyrredón[6]	Chile Argentina	Capitán Prat Province (Chile) and Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)	101.8	334
121.	Clearwater[7]	Canada	British Columbia, (Wells Gray)	101.6	333
122.	Futalaufquen	Argentina	Chubut Province	101	331
123.	Hāwea[7]	New Zealand	Otago, South Island	100.5	330
124.	Nueltin[7]	Canada	Nunavut and Manitoba	100	328
124.	Rara	Nepal	Karnali Province	100	328
124.	Taal	Philippines	Southern Luzon	100	328
124.	Viedma	Argentina	Santa Cruz Province	100	328

Greatest maximum depth by continent

• Africa — 1: Tanganyika, 2: Malawi, 3: Kivu
• Antarctica — 1: Radok (surface lake). — 1: Vostok (subglacial lake),^[3] 2: Concordia (subglacial lake), 3: Ellsworth (subglacial lake).
• Asia — 1: Baikal, 2: Issyk Kul, 3: Matano
• Eurasia — 1: Baikal, 2: Caspian Sea, 3: Issyk Kul
• Europe — 1: Hornindalsvatnet, 2: Salvatnet, 3: Lake Tinn
• North America — 1: Great Slave, 2: Crater, 3: Quesnel
  • Central America — 1: Atitlán, 2: Chicabal, 3: Ilopango
• Oceania — 1: Hauroko, 2: Manapouri, 3: Te Anau
  • Australia — 1: St Clair
• South America — 1: Viedma, 2: O'Higgins/San Martín, 3: Argentino

Greatest mean depth by continent

• Africa — 1: Tanganyika, 2: Malawi, 3: Kivu
• Antarctica — 1: Vostok^[3] (subglacial lake), 2: Concordia (subglacial lake), 3: Ellsworth (subglacial lake).
• Asia — 1: Baikal, 2: Tazawa, 3: Issyk-Kul
• Europe — 1: Crveno, 2: Hornindalsvatnet, 3: Lake Tinn
• North America — 1: Crater, 2: Tahoe, 3: Adams
• Oceania — 1: Te Anau, 2: Manapouri, 3: Wakatipu
• South America — 1: General Carrera-Buenos Aires, 2: Quilotoa, 3: Fagnano

See also

• Lakes portal

• List of lakes by area
• List of lakes by volume
• List of largest lakes of Europe