Some enormous lakes even formed far away from the great glaciers during the Ice Age. The climate in the Great Basin was much cooler and wetter than it is today, and vast lakes covered much of what are now Nevada and Utah. As the climate became more arid, the lakes began to shrink. As Lake Bonneville shrank, salt was greatly concentrated in the remaining water. Today, we know it as Utah s Great Salt lake.
Lakes are also common along slow-moving rivers and in low areas near the sea.
Portions of meandering rivers that are separated from the main river become isolated lakes known as oxbows . Tectonic lakes occur in natural fissures. An example is Lake Tanganyika, which fills a depression in Africa s Great Rift Valley a region where the continent is being pulled apart. Groundwater may even dissolve limestone to form underground lakes. Lakes can also form in volcanic calderas.