Question 1

True or false: More than 300 shipwrecks lie at the bottom of Lake Superior, including the famous Edmund Fitzgerald.

Accepted Answer

True. Over 350 wrecks are documented, with the Edmund Fitzgerald (1975) being the most famous.

Question 2

True or false: Despite its name, Lake Superior is actually the shallowest of the five Great Lakes.

Accepted Answer

False. It is the deepest (avg. 483 ft) and coldest; Lake Erie is the shallowest.

Question 3

True or false: Lake Superior contains enough water to submerge all of North and South America under a foot of water.

Accepted Answer

False. Lake Superior's volume (2,900 cubic miles) would cover the combined area of North and South America (approx. 16.2 million square miles) to a depth of about 0.95 feet (~11.4 inches), not a full foot.

Question 4

True or false: Lake Superior is the second-largest freshwater lake by surface area globally, after Lake Baikal.

Accepted Answer

False. It is the largest by surface area (31,700 sq mi); Lake Baikal is smaller in area but deeper and more voluminous.

Question 5

True or false: Lake Superior is so clear that in winter, you can see submerged shipwrecks from space.

Accepted Answer

False. Visibility is high, but no shipwrecks are visible from space; satellite images can’t resolve them.

Question 6

True or false: Lake Superior once had a population of freshwater sharks that went extinct 10,000 years ago.

Accepted Answer

False. No evidence exists of sharks in Lake Superior; it was covered by ice sheets during the last glacial period.

Question 7

True or false: Lake Superior has its own tide, rising and falling up to 6 inches twice daily.

Accepted Answer

False. Lake Superior's true astronomical tide is only about 2 inches (5 cm), not 6 inches. Larger fluctuations are caused by wind-driven seiches, which are not tides.

Question 8

True or false: Lake Superior contains more water than all the other Great Lakes combined.

Accepted Answer

True. Lake Superior's volume is about 2,900 cubic miles, while the combined volume of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Ontario, and Erie is roughly 2,539 cubic miles.

Lake Superior Trivia Questions