There is a variety of water bodies on earth. They differ from each other in terms of the amount of water they hold, the salinity of water and variety of ecosystems they contain.
We call a body of water a lake when it is inland and is not part of an ocean, lakes are larger and deeper than a pond and are fed by a river, Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous area, rift zone and areas with ongoing or recent glaciations. Other lakes are found in basins, which have no connection to seas, or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. Lake Superior is the longest fresh water lake in the world. It is 560 km long with a surface area of 82,100 sq. km. On the other hand, a pond is a body of water that does not flow anywhere. Ponds are either natural or man-made, and are usually smaller than a lake. Ponds and lakes are distinguished from streams by the speed of their currents.
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