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Ontario, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Ontario, Lake, 7,540 sq mi (19,529 sq km), 193 mi (311 km) long and 53 mi (85 km) at its greatest width, between SE Ont., Canada, and NW N.Y.; smallest and lowest of the Great Lakes. It has a surface ...

shad

(Encyclopedia)shad, fish of the genus Alosa, family Clupeidae (herring family), found in North America, Europe, and the Mediterranean. The American shad, A. sapidissima, is one of the largest (6 lb/2.7 kg average) ...

Titicaca

(Encyclopedia)Titicaca tētēkäˈkä [key], lake, c.3,200 sq mi (8,290 sq km), 110 mi (177 km) long, and c.900 ft (270 m) deep at at its deepest point, in the Andes Mts., on the Bolivia-Peru border; second largest...

Jordan, river, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, formed in the Hula basin, N Israel, by the confluence of three headwater streams and meandering S through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; the region of Pales...

land use

(Encyclopedia)land use, exploitation of land for agricultural, industrial, residential, recreational, or other purposes. Because the United States historically has a laissez-faire attitude toward land use, the land...

conservation of natural resources

(Encyclopedia)conservation of natural resources, the wise use of the earth's resources by humanity. The term conservation came into use in the late 19th cent. and referred to the management, mainly for economic rea...

sewerage

(Encyclopedia)sewerage, system for the removal and disposal of chiefly liquid wastes and of rainwater, which are collectively called sewage. The average person in the industrialized world produces between 60 and 14...

swamp

(Encyclopedia)swamp, shallow body of water in a low-lying, poorly drained depression, usually containing abundant plant growth dominated by trees, such as cypress, and high shrubs. Swamps develop in moist climates,...

Victoria, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Victoria, Lake, or Victoria Nyanza nēănˈzə, nī– [key], largest lake of Africa and the world's second largest freshwater lake, c.26,830 sq mi (69,490 sq km), E central Africa, on the Uganda-Tanz...

axolotl

(Encyclopedia)axolotl ăkˈsəlŏtˌəl [key], a salamander, Ambystoma mexicanum, found in certain lakes in the region of Mexico City, which reaches reproductive maturity without losing its larval characteristics. ...