How much water is required for it to be a "Pond", or a "Lake"?

[AZClaimjumper]

To MEeee, a Pond should have enough water that it shows up in a photo, deep enough to get your feet wet if you step in it while wearing high top boots & contain fish; a lake is something large enough for boats & fish. This is merely my "opinion".

[chumley]

@AZClaimjumper I'd say your definition is as good as any.

The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized. Limnologists and freshwater biologists have proposed formal definitions for pond, in part to include 'bodies of water where light penetrates to the bottom of the waterbody,' 'bodies of water shallow enough for rooted water plants to grow throughout,' and 'bodies of water which lack wave action on the shoreline.' Each of these definitions has met with resistance or disapproval, as the defining characteristics are each difficult to measure or verify. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of pond and lake that rely on size alone.

Even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there is no universally recognised standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international Ramsar wetland convention sets the upper limit for pond size as 8 hectares (20 acres), but biologists have not universally adopted this convention. Researchers for the British charity Pond Conservation have defined a pond to be 'a man-made or natural waterbody that is between 1 m2 and 20,000 m2 in area (2 ha or ~5 acres), which holds water for four months of the year or more.' Other European biologists have set the upper size limit at 5 ha (12 acres).

In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on an individual basis, as conventions change from place to place and over time. In North America, even larger bodies of water have been called ponds; for example, Crystal Lake at 33 acres (13 ha), Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts at 61 acres (25 ha), and nearby Spot Pond at 340 acres (140 ha). There are numerous examples in other states, where bodies of water less than 10 acres (4.0 ha) are being called lakes. As the case of Crystal Lake shows, marketing purposes can sometimes be the driving factor behind the categorization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pond

And of course, here in the west and many other arid regions globally you will find ephemeral or intermittent lakes and ponds, some of which are oxymoronically called dry lakes.

[AZClaimjumper]

@chumley

The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized

That just about says it all.
I placed a cache @ Rock Lake here in Nevada (https://coord.info/GC5FGE1) Back in 2014 & 2015, it was not much more than a glorified mud puddle & I took photos to prove it. Photos I took earlier this year show it, in my mind, to be a POND, never a Lake, however, this is merely my take on a topic without meaningful definition.

[LindaAnn]

From a purely personal perspective, if I can walk or swim across a body of water (both length & width) without drowning, it’s probably a pond. I’m a very mediocre swimmer.

[Mountain_Rat]

@LindaAnn

I’m a very mediocre swimmer.

You have a pool!

[LindaAnn]

@Mountain_Rat And a raft! I never ever let my hair touch the water.

[AZClaimjumper]

@LindaAnn
hmmmm, & what about showers, I'm talking about a bathroom shower, not a rain storm. I, sincerely hope you have different views between "showers" & "Ponds/Pools/Lakes"?

[LindaAnn]

@AZClaimjumper Lol, yes, showers are fine, I wash my hair everyday. Current house doesn’t have a water softener or RO, one will be installed probably in January, meanwhile my shower head has an inline filter to get a lot of the gunk out of the water. I just don’t like pool water—chlorine or salt pools, I’ve had both—drying my hair out, it turns into a mess.

Has anyone looked at how lakes or ponds are named by region? Maybe in more arid parts of the country, everyone gets excited to see any standing water and it all gets called a lake?

[Mountain_Rat]

I would take this opportunity to apply your own definition. My new definition is, if you can throw a rock across it, it's just a pond.

[chumley]

if you can throw a rock across it

if who can throw a rock across it? Joe Montana or Stuart Smalley? Even that definition is highly subjective!

[chumley]

While we're here solving world peace, can we also designate the differences between a Mountain (and Mount), Hill, Peak, Butte, and Mesa? I mean, how can Camelback be a mountain, but Piestewa a peak. Tempe Butte, but Tumamoc Hill?

And where do knolls fit in?

[joebartels]

No peakbagger would consider Camelback dome necessary whereas the vicious majesty of Piestewa is clearly worthy of the peak status. Tempe Butte, the e is silent.

[chumley]

Tempe Butte, the e is silent.

Indeed, I find it odd when people pronounce it Tem-peeeee, like there's urine all over it!

[Pivo]

@chumley

Tumamoc Hill?

A Mountain,Tumamoc’s sister in the Tucson Mountains, is actually lower in elevation.
I don’t think there are hard rules on this.

[AZClaimjumper]

@chumley
A very profound observation chumley
Think Mount Everest is a bit taller than Camelback Mtn or Squaw Peak.

[AZClaimjumper]

@chumley
Tem peeeeee; urine all over it? However, there may be a bit of truth. <snicker> <no offense meant>

[chumley]

there may be a bit of truth. <snicker> <no offense meant>

I fully concede that point

[Alston_Neal]

@AZClaimjumper

A very profound observation chumley

Oh great you had to build upon his already modest opinion of himself.

[AZClaimjumper]

@LindaAnn
I strongly suspect you are being disarmingly modest about your swimming ability.
However, there can be absolutely NO DOUBT about your superior hiking capabilities.

[LindaAnn]

@AZClaimjumper I’m definitely a very average swimmer. Part of that is just because I don’t have much interest in swimming. Oddly enough, I taught both my kids to swim, and they’re pretty good swimmers.

Luckily, I am pretty good at putting one foot in front of the other up and down most any trail. That’s a big bonus, because I like views from peaks.