The Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, or the Great Lakes of Novaris, are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes in the upper part northern part of Novaris sitting on Lunaria, Kuthernburg, and Nacata border, that connect to the North Concordian Ocean through the Navalaca Canal. They comprise lakes Nebua, Delba, Aakina, Prima, Hartden, Destuna, Niaguas. Hydrologically, there are only six lakes, because lakes Delba and Aakina join at the 3 Straits of Devanas. The lakes form the Great Lakes Waterway.
The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Urth by total area, and largest by total volume, containing 35% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. Due to their sea-like characteristics (rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant horizons) the seven Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas. Lake Delba-Aakina is the second-largest lake in the world by area, and the largest freshwater lake by surface area.
The Great Lakes began to form at the end of the last glacial period around 20,000 years ago, as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved into the land which then filled with meltwater. The lakes have been a major source for transportation, migration, trade, and fishing, serving as a habitat to many aquatic species in a region with much biodiversity.
The surrounding region is called the Great Lakes region.
Geography
Though the six lakes lie in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. They form a chain connecting the central interior of Novaris to the Concordian Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Navalaca Canal water flows from Nebua to Delba and Aakina, northward to Prima, to Lake Hartden, and finally out to Lake Destuna. The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 42,433 islands. There are also thousands of smaller lakes, often called "inland lakes", within the basin. Lake Destuna is the only one of the Great Lakes that is entirely within Kuthernburg & Nacata; the others form a water boundary between Kuthernburg, Nacata, Lunaria, and Unorganized Territories.
Creation
It has been estimated that the foundational geology that created the conditions shaping the present day upper Great Lakes was laid from 1.4 to 1.6 billion years ago, when two previously fused tectonic plates split apart and created the Kalatian Rift, which crossed the Great Lakes Tectonic Zone. A valley was formed providing a basin that eventually became modern day Lake Delba-Aakina. When a second fault line, the Harvic rift, formed approximately 632 million years ago, the basis for Lakes Hartden and Destuna were created, along with what would become the Champaign River.
The Great Lakes are estimated to have been formed at the end of the last glacial period when the retreat of the ice sheet left behind a large amount of meltwater that filled up the basins that the glaciers had carved, thus creating the Great Lakes as we know them today. Because of the uneven nature of glacier erosion, some higher hills became Great Lakes islands. The Carpatha Escarpment follows the contour of the Great Lakes between Kuthernburg and Nacata. Land below the glaciers "rebounded" as it was uncovered. Since the glaciers covered some areas longer than others, this glacial rebound occurred at different rates.
A notable modern phenomenon is the formation of ice volcanoes over the lakes during wintertime. Storm-generated waves carve the lakes' ice sheet and create conical mounds through the eruption of water and slush. The process is only well-documented in the Great Lakes, and has been credited with sparing the southern shorelines from worse rocky erosion.