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They started off by a midcontinet rift which created the a basin for the Lake Superior. The Saint Lawrence rift which created the basin for Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Non of these basins were even close to being filled up with water until around 10,000 years ago. The Laurentide sheet then retreated and left a lot of melt water which then filled the basins which became the Great Lakes. This took a little more than a billion years from start to what it is today.
Zula Muller
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∙ 8y agoHave you ever wondered how scientists think the Great Lakes were formed? The answer to that starts with the ice age. During the last ice age, there were large masses of ice called glaciers. The last major glacier called the Laurentide formed. It covered almost all of Canada and extended to the United States as far as Chicago, Illinois. As it started melting and receding, it pushed against the land and made big empty spaces. All the water that was left behind, called meltwater, filled those holes which made the Great Lakes. (This may help your child with homework).
They were formed by glaciers applying pressureto the ground so the ground weathered (broke down into small pieces) and the glacier melted and that is the water.
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∙ 14y ago
The Great Lakes were formed toward the end of the Wisconsin period of glaciation which ended roughly 10,000 years ago. Advancing glaciers had gouged out large basins which became filled with melt-water as the glaciers retreated.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThe North American Great Lakes are the result of glacial errosion.
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoby the melting of glaciers
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago10 000 years ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe Great Lakes were formed by glaciers.
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What were the great lakes formed by?
They were created by an ice shelf or large glacier that gouged out the lakes during the last Ice age.
Are the Great Lakes the world's largest group of freshwater lakes?
Yes. The Great Lakes are the largest body of freshwater lakes. They were formed by Glaciers that melted. The glaciers came from the north eventually melting to form the Great Lakes.
Are the worlds largest group of freshwater lakes the great lakes?
Yes. The Great Lakes are the largest body of freshwater lakes. They were formed by Glaciers that melted. The glaciers came from the north eventually melting to form the Great Lakes.
What are all the great lakes in the world?
The Great Lakes were formed by glaciers from the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago.
What is a group of large North American lakes formed in a depression scoured out by glaciers?
Great lakes
What formed the five great lakes of north America?
Glaciers
When was the great lakes made?
The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last ice age (about 10,000 years ago).
Where were the Great Lakes originally formed?
it was formed by me of course Abraham Lincoln aka Jordan spears
What was the name of the glacier that provided meltwater that formed the great lakes?
The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last ice age (about 10,000 years ago), when the Laurentide ice sheet receded.
New York finger lakes were formed by the same process as the Great Lakes what was the process?
Movement of Tectonic Plates!
New York's finger lakes were formed by the same process as the Great Lakes . What was this process?
Movement of Tectonic Plates!
How do geologists believe the great lakes were formed?
Geologists believe the Great Lakes were carved from glaciers that crossed over the area thousands of years ago.
