List of prehistoric lakes

North America

[Endorheic basin]s

• Tularosa basin
• * Lake Otero
• * Lake Lucero; present day

  Atlantic Drainage

• St. Lawrence River drainage, i.e., the Great Lakes
• * Champlain Sea; 11,800 – 8,200 YBP on the lower St. Lawrence, from Ottawa River to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
• * Lake Ontario basin: 8,400 YBP
• ** Early Lake Ontario; 8,700 – 11,800 YBP
• ** Lake Admiralty; 10,000 YBP
• ** Lake Frontenac; 12,000 – 11,000 YBP covering the Ontario basin and to the northeast up the St. Lawrence Valley covering the low lands north to the Ottawa River and Montreal.
• ** Glacial Lake Iroquois; 13,000 – 10,500 YBP and covered all of the Ontario basin and southward across central New York, reaching to the Finger Lakes.
• *Finger Lakes of New York plus 12 minor lakes
• **Dansville Lake in the Canaseraga valley
• **Scottsburg Lake in the Conesus valley
• **Naples Lake in the Canandaigua valley
• **Hammondsport Lake in the Keoka valley.
• **Watkins Lake in the Seneca valley
• **Ithaca Lake in the Cayuga valley
• *Lake Erie basin
• ** Early Lake Erie; 11,800 – 8,700 YBP in Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York and located in the Erie basin
• ** Lake Lundy; 2,000 YBP in Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, and New York
• ** Lake Elkton stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level
• ** Lake Dana stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level
• ** Lake Grasmere stage of Lake Lundy @ above sea level
• ** Lake Tonawanda; 10,000 YBP in western New York
• ** Lake Wayne; ended by 12,000 YBP in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, expanding from Lake Warren to cover most of the Erie basin
• ** Lake Warren; 12,700 YBP in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, covering southern portion of the basin
• ** Lake Whittlesey; 13,000 – 12,700 YBP in Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. It covered the western half of the Erie basin and north over southwest Ontario to the tip of Lake Huron.
• ** Lake Arkona; 13,600 – 13,200 YBP in Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Covered two-thirds of the Erie basin, north across southwest Ontario to include the southern tip of Lake Huron, the ‘thumb’ of Michigan and low lands south and west of Saginaw Bay.
• ** Lake Maumee; 14,000 – 13,000 YBP in Ohio, Ontario and Michigan. The western basin reaching to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• * Lake Rouge in Michigan south of Detroit.
• * Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River:
• ** Early Lake St. Clair: 12,500 – 5,500 YPB in Lake St. Clair; Michigan and Ontario.
• * Lake Huron basin
• ** Later Lake Saginaw in Saginaw Bay on the lower peninsula of Michigan.
• ** Nipissing Great Lakes; 5,500 - 4,500 YBP
• **Lake Nipissing; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,4000 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.
• **Lake Stanley-Hough; 8,700 YBP, the water levels had risen to connect both Lake Stanley and Lake Hough into a single body of water.
• **Lake Stanley; 9,000 YBP covered only the northern and eastern portion of the main Huron basin with channels into Lake Hough.
• **Lake Hough; 9,000 YBP covered Georgian Bay, Ontario.
• ** Glacial Lake Algonquin; 9,000 – 7,000 YBP
• ** Lake Stanley; to 10,000 YBP
• ** Lake Saginaw; 13,500 YBP 10,300 YBP along the southern shore of Saginaw Bay and the low lands to the southwest.
• * Lake Michigan basin
• ** Nipissing Great Lakes: 5,500 - 4,500 YBP
• **Lake Nipissing; 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,4000 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.
• ** Glacial Lake Algonquin; 9,000 – 7,000 YBP
• ** Lake Chippewa; 10,700 – 7,500 YBP, covered the lowest elevations in the Lake Michigan basin forming a linear lake in the middle, linked by a narrow proto-Straits of Mackinac and the Mackinac Falls to Lake Stanley.
• ** Lake Chicago; 14,000 – 11,000 YBP along the southern shore and growing slowly northward.
• *Lake Superior basin
• ** Precursor Lakes, before the formation of basin wide bodies of water.
• *** Lake Ashland
• *** Lake Brule
• *** Lake Nemadji
• *** Lake Ontonagon
• *** Lake St. Louis
• ** Nipissing Great Lakes: 8,400 – 5,500 YBP formed as the water bodies in the Superior and Huron basins merged across Sault Ste. Marie around 8,4000 YBP and then merged with the Michigan basin around 7,800.; - 5,500; - 4,500 YBP
• ** Lake Houghton; 8,700 – 8,000 YBP covered the Superior basin in Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
• ** Fenton Lake; 9,500 YBP occupied a shallow basin in the eastern side of Lake Superior after Lake Minong had shrunk below rock sills internal to the lake basin.
• ** Lake Minong; 10,300 – 9,800 YBP covering most of the modern Superior basin.
• **Post-Duluth Lake; 10,600 YBP along the Wisconsin and Michigan shore, reaching less than halfway across the basin.
• ** Lake Duluth; 11,500 – 11,000 YBP in the western half of the Superior basin.
• ** Glacial Lake St. Louis occupied St. Louis Bay at the southern tip of modern Lake Superior.
• ** Lake Keweenaw; 12,500 – 12,000 YBP in the western Superior basin.
• Atlantic Ocean
• * Lake Albany in the valley of the Hudson River.
• * Glacial Lake Block Island off the south coast of Rhode Island, west of Block Island.
• * Glacial Lake Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
• * Lake Colebrook on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire, crossing into Quebec.
• * Lake Coos on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire.
• * Lake Connecticut; 20,000 – 18,000 YBP, covered Long Island Sound.
• * Glacial Lake Hitchcock; 15,000 YBP in the valley of the Connecticut River.
• * Glacial Lake Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts.
• * Glacial Lake Narragansett covered Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.
• * Lake Merrimack in New Hampshire in the Merrimack River valley
• * Lake Passaic; 19,000 – 14,000 YBP in New Jersey
• * Glacial Lake Rhode Island off the south coast of Rhode Island, east of Block Island
• * Lake Sciota; in the eastern Poconos Pennsylvania.
• * Lake Stowe; 15,000 YBP in central Vermont.
• * Lake Vermont in Vermont, New York states, and the province of Quebec.
• * Lake Winooski in Vermont.
• * Lubbock Lake in Texas

  Gulf of Mexico Drainage

• Mississippi River basin
• * Glacial Lake Calvin in southeast Iowa
• Illinois River basin
• *Lake Baroda in Michigan on the lower St. Joseph River.
• * Lake Dowagiac in Michigan on the lower Dowagiac River., now a branch of the St. Joseph River which now flows into Lake Michigan.
• * Lake Madron in Michigan at the junction of the St. Joseph River and the Dowagiac River.
• * Lake Kankakee; 13,600 – 13,200 YBP
• * Glacial Lake Ottawa in Illinois on the upper Illinois River.
• * Glacial Lake Pontiac in Illinois on the lower Vermillion River.
• * Glacial Lake Wauponsee in Illinois at the headwaters of the Illinois River.
• * Lake Watseka in Illinois on the Iroquois River.
• Ohio River basin
• * Lake Monongahela, along the Allegheny, Monongahela and upper Ohio Rivers.
• * Glacial Lake Tight, named for William G. Tight along the Ohio and West Virginia border.
• Upper Mississippi River basin
• * Lake Upham north of Duluth, Minnesota.
• * Lake Aitkin along the Mississippi River near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
• * Lake Minnesota at the great bend in the Minnesota River at Mankato, Minnesota
• * Glacial Lake Baraboo, communicating with Glacial Lake Wisconsin
• * Glacial Lake Grantsburg, draining through the St. Croix River,
• *Lake Oshkosh; 13,600 - YBP. on the central Wisconsin River.
• * Glacial Lake Wisconsin; 18,000 – 14,000 YBP in Wisconsin along the Wisconsin River.
• Missouri River basin
• * Glacial Lake Great Falls; 17,000 – 13,000 YBP in Montana near Great Falls, Montana.
• * Lake Cut Bank in Montana on the Marias River near Cut Bank.
• * Lake Chouteau in Montana
• * Lake Musselshell in Montana on the Musselshell River.
• * Lake Jordan in Montana
• * Lake Circle in Montana,
• * Lake Glendive in Montana on the Yellowstone River, unstream from its junction with the Missouri River.
• * Lake Crow Flies High in North Dakota between Williston and New Town.
• * Lake McKenzie in North Dakota from the Great Bend, south to the South Dakota border.
• Rio Grande River basin
• * Lake Alamosa in Colorado

  Arctic Drainage

• MacKenzie River basin
• *Lake MacKenzie in the Northwest Territories.
• * Lake McConnell; 11,800 – 8,400 YBP
• * Lake Agassiz; 12,875 – 8,480 YBP in Manitoba and Ontario, stretching south in the James River valley of North Dakota and Minnesota.
• *Modern: Lake Winnipeg, Cedar Lake, Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Manitoba, Lake of the Woods
• ** Lake Edmonton in Alberta
• ** Lake Peace in Alberta and British Columbia
• ** Lake Regina
• ** Lake Hind in southwestern Manitoba
• ** Lake Souris across North Dakota and Manitoba
• * Hudson Bay drainage
• ** Tyrell Sea; 7,000 – 6,000 YBP
• ** Lake Ojibway; 8,500 – 8,200 YBP
• ** Lake Antevs
• ** Lake Nakina in Ontario, east of Lake Nipigon

  Pacific Drainage

• Pacific Ocean:
• * Lake Atna drained from present-day Copper River Basin
• * Glacial Lake Bretz drained north from present-day Puget Sound in Washington
• * Lake Cahuilla in Southern California at the Salton Sea and today's cities of Indio, Mexicali, and El Centro, CA
• *Glacial Lake Hood formed in the southern hook of the Hood Canal and drained south through Glacial Lake Russell at Tacoma and the Black River Valley to the Chehalis River.
• *Lake Modoc formed on the Klamath River, at Upper Klamath Lake, Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake
• *Lake Nisqually preceded Lake Russell and waters, west of Tacoma, including the Narrows.
• *Lake Puyallup was on the middle and upper Puyallup River and preceded Lake Tacoma.
• * Glacial Lake Russell drained south from present-day Puget Sound in Washington.
• * Glacial Lake Sammamish preceded Lake Sammamish, draining into Glacial Lake Russell’s bay in the Lake Russell’s bay in the Lake Washington basin east of Seattle.
• *Lake Skokomish drained the southeast flank of the Olympic Mountains in the Skokomish River basin.
• Lake Tacoma was at the southern end of the Vashon Glacier in Puget Sound covering Commencement Bay, extending south up the Puyallup River valley. Washington basin east of Seattle.
• * Glacial Lake Snoqualmie in Washington State
• Columbia River basin:
• * Lake Allison; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
• * Lake Canadian on the Washington/Oregon border above the Dalles
• * Lake Lahontan; 12,700 – 9,000 YBP in Nevada, California and Oregon.
• * Glacial Lake Columbia in central Washington State
• * Glacial Lake Spokane in eastern Washington near Spokane.
• * Lake Lewis; 16,000 YBP in central Washington, new Yakima.
• * Lake Missoula; 15,000 – 13,000 YBP in western Montana.
• Great Basin of California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon & Idaho:
• * Lake Alvord in Oregon and Nevada
• * Lake Amboy in California
• * Lake Bonneville; 32,000 – 14,500 YBP in Utah and Idaho and Nevada.
• * Lake Carpenter in Nevada
• * Lake Chewaucan in Oregon
• * Lake Clover in Nevada
• * Lake Dixie in Nevada
• * Lake Franklin in Nevada
• * Lake Harney-Malheur in Oregon
• * Lake Klamath in California and Oregon
• * Lake Madeline in California
• * Lake Manly; 186,000 – 10,000 YBP, covered Death Valley
• * Lake Mojave in California
• * Lake Owens in California
• * Lake Panamint in California
• * Lake Railroad in Nevada
• * Lake Russell in Nevada and California
• * Lake Searles in California
• * Lake Spring in Nevada
• * Lake Steptoe in Nevada
• * Lake Tecopa
• * Lake Thompson
• * Lake Toiyabe in Nevada
• * Lake Tulare in California
• * Lake Tule in California
• * Lake Waring in Nevada

  Europe

• Lake Komi, a proglacial lake formed in the vicinity of the present-day Russian Komi Republic
• Baltic Ice Lake, freshwater period of the Baltic Sea
• Ancylus Lake, freshwater period of the Baltic Sea
• Lake Harrison in the Midlands in England
• Lake Lapworth in Shropshire in England
• Lake Orcadie of the Old Red Sandstone, Scotland
• Lake Pickering between the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Wolds in England
• Ebro endorheic lake system, in the Ebro Basin,
• Duero endorheic lake system, in the Duero Basin,
• Gjende Lake in the Jotunheimen mountains of Norway
• Zechstein Sea covering all of central and Northern Europe

  South America

• Altiplano Cundiboyacense
• * Lake Humboldt, Pleistocene lake on the Bogotá savanna
• Altiplano Boliviano
• * Cabana, a lake level highstand of Lake Titicaca
• * Lake Escara
• * Inca Huasi
• * Mataro, a lake level highstand of Lake Titicaca
• * Lake Minchin
• * Ouki
• * Sajsi
• * Salinas
• * Lake Tauca
• * Cancosa paleolake
• Patagonia
• * Great Tehuelche Paleolake

  Asia

• West Siberian Glacial Lake
• Lake Bandung in Indonesia
• Lake Tengger

  Africa

• Lake Makgadikgadi in the Kalahari Desert in Africa
• Lake Ptolemy
• Chad Basin what is now Lake Chad
• Lake Congo
• Lake Suguta

  Oceania

• Lake Carpentaria, Australia
• Lake Bungunnia in the Murray Basin, Australia
• Eromanga Sea in the Eromanga Basin, Australia
• Lake Manuherikia, Central Otago, New Zealand
• Lake Walloon, Lake Winton, and Lake Dieri, Australia, of which the modern Lake Eyre is a remnant