Kinwamakwad (Long) Lake

Kinwamakwad Lake, also known as Long Lake, is a seepage at the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center in Gogebic County, Michigan. The lake has been studied since the mid-1900s and used as an experimental lake for ecological studies.

Kinwamakwad Lake
Long Lake West Long Lake East Long Lake
Kinwamakwad Lake (Long Lake) in the early morning.
Kinwamakwad Lake
Location	Marenisco Township, Michigan, United States
Coordinates	46°14′9.16″N 89°29′56.07″W[1]
Type	mesotropic
Catchment area	16.4 ha (41 acres)[2]
Surface area	8.1 ha (20 acres)[2]
Average depth	3.8 m (12 ft)[2]
Max. depth	14 m (46 ft)[2]
Water volume	318,084 m3 (11,233,000 cu ft)[2]
Residence time	2 years
Shore length1	800 m (2,600 ft)
Surface elevation	514 m (1,686 ft)
Frozen	Ice covered typically from November to April[3]
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Description

Kinwamakwad Lake is an hourglass-shaped lake with two deep basins to the East and West and a shallower portion in the middle of the lake. The name "Kinwamakwad" possibly comes from the Ojibwe word ginwaakwad, meaning "it is long, is tall".^[4][5]

Ecological studies

Kinwamakwad Lake has been studied for several decades and is a part of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network.^[6] The lake has been used in several whole-lake experiments examining the effects of nutrients and food web structure on lake productivity^[7][8] as well as the effects of dissolved organic carbon on lake productivity.^[2][9][10]

Records

A pair of the unofficial world's largest secchi disks reside in Kinwamakwad Lake, with both disks measuring 2.44 meters in diameter.^[11]

Aerial photo of Kinwamakwad Lake (Long Lake) in 2015 during a whole-lake manipulation in which dissolved organic carbon was increased by ~50% in the treatment basin (right of the white curtain in center of the photo). The difference in water color between the two basins can be seen with a pair of unofficial world's largest secchi disks.