Lake Pontchartrain

The lake Pontchartrain ( Lake Pontchartrain in English) is large a Lac of water Saumâtre of the south east of the Louisiana. It is the second plus big lake salted of the the United States (after the Big lake Salted), and more the big lake of Louisiana.

Characteristics

The lake Pontchartrain is of form roughly oval, a length of approximately 64,4 kilometers of is in west, and measures approximately 38,6 kilometers of north in the south. The southern part of the lake Pontchartrain forms the northern limit of the town of La Nouvelle-Orléans, Louisiana. On the northern coast of the lake the towns of Mandeville and Madisonville are located; in north east of the lake the town of Slidell is. The Lac Maurepas is connected with the lake Pontchartrain to the west via the passage of Manchac. To the east, the strait of Rigolets connects it to the One-eyed Lac, which itself is connected to the Gulf of Mexico.

The lake is broad but is not especially deep, the average depth being between 3 and 5 meters. Certain channels are deeper thanks to the Dragage to allow navigation. Geologically, the lake is rather recent since the scientists think that it was formed following natural changes in the course of the river the Mississippi during the 5.000 last years.

History

The Indian name of the lake was Okwata , " water vaste". In 1699, the explorer French Pierre Moyne d' Iberville, renamed it " Pontchartrain" name of the Minister for the marine of the time, the count de Pontchartrain

La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded with the site of old the Indian bearing between the Mississippi river and the lake Pontchartrain. In the Years 1920, Industrial Canal in the east of New-Orleans was built to offer a direct inland waterway (with lock S) between the river and the lake.

Both bridges of the lake Pontchartrain were built for the first in the Années 1950, then the second, parallel, in the 1960. They connect La Nouvelle-Orléans to Mandeville, crossing the lake Pontchartrain of north in the south. It is, with 38,6 kilometers, the longest bridges of the world.

External bonds

  • United States Geological Survey Lake Pontchartrain Fact Sheet

  • The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
  • Google Maps, showing the lake Pontchartrain and the bridges of the lake.

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