With an ocean, bays, the Long Island Sound, rivers and lakes, water sports are popular.
Away from the direct influence of glaciers, there were also many large pluvial lakes, water bodies formed by heavier rains brought by shifting jet streams and storm tracks.
More insidious threats include climate change and thirsty cities just beyond the Great Lakes Basin death by 1,000 straws, according to Peter Annin's "The Great Lakes Water Wars".
And they cite a 1997 study by the Michigan Environmental Science Board, a government advisory panel, saying that directional drilling poses "little to no risk" of contaminating the lakes' water, but carries a "small risk" of leaks at the well head that could cause ecological harm.
Lakes water have been utilized as ideal natural laboratories to study a number of hydrogeochemical processes including evaporation, dissolution, mixing, precipitation of minerals and chemical exchange between water, sediment and atmosphere (Njenga 2004).
Land degradation and desertification consequences such as dust storms, drying of lakes, water scarcity, poverty and migration, and ultimately ecosystem collapse in Iran with more than 75% drylands require a carefully understanding of the desertification process and recognizing driving forces.
