Geography Of The World
The Steepest Mountain In The United States
A sheer 3,000-foot granite wall, an unclimbed 6,500-foot face, and a desert cliff second only to El Cap. See which peak is truly the steepest in the US.
The Lakes Being Deliberately Refilled In The American West
Across the American West, lakes like Mead, Mono, and the Great Salt Lake are gaining water as agencies buy rights and curb diversions to steer flows back.
The Only City Outside The Great Lakes Basin Allowed To Drink Its Water
Waukesha, Wisconsin is the only city entirely outside the Great Lakes Basin allowed to drink the lakes' water. How it won a rare exception, and why Chicago differs.
The American Mountains With The Most Black Bears
The Cascades hold the most black bears, the southern Appalachians hold the densest, and Alaska has a third of them all. Where American mountain bears concentrate.
The US Dams Rated Highest Hazard By Federal Inspectors
Six dams in Texas, Kansas, and California had the highest modeled overtopping odds among 33 US dams in a 2025 study, upstream of towns home to 274,000 people.
The Most Treacherous Passages For Ships On The Great Lakes
The Great Lakes' deadliest water sits in narrow channels: Death's Door, Grays Reef, Livingstone Channel, and other passages where ships lose their margin.
What Happens When A River Changes Course
When a river changes course, old channels can vanish, new ones cut across the floodplain, and whole stretches of land can change with the flow.
The Strongest Ocean Current Off The American Coast
The Gulf Stream is the strongest current off the American coast, carrying warm water north while the cold California Current feeds Pacific kelp forests.
The Lakes Open To Fishing Year-Round
Year-round fishing has its fine print on these lakes, where winter casts are legal but species limits, state lines, and local rules still matter.
How Big Lake Superior Is Compared To Entire States
Lake Superior spans 31,700 square miles, larger than 10 US states by total area and nearly the size of South Carolina, plus a 2,726-mile shoreline.
What Happens To The Boundary Waters If The Mine Opens
Congress lifted the Boundary Waters mining ban in 2026 and Minnesota blocked the permits months later. What the mine would mean, and where the fight actually stands.
What Happens If Louisiana Keeps Losing Coast At This Rate
A football field of Louisiana disappears every 100 minutes. What that adds up to, what the projections say, and what changed in 2025.
Why Lake Michigan Is The Deadliest Great Lake
Nearly half of all Great Lakes drownings happen in Lake Michigan. The shape of the basin, the wind direction, and the statistic that reframes the whole subject.
The Great Lakes Species Found Nowhere Else On Earth
Great Lakes dunes, limestone shores, and cold streams hold species with tiny world ranges, from Lake Superior's deep-dwelling kiyi to an Isle Royale ragwort.
Why Mono Lake Almost Disappeared
Exported south by aqueduct for over forty years, the lake lost nearly half its volume and doubled in salinity before a landmark court ruling forced change.
The Ocean Trenches Inside US Territory
Miles below US waters sit three of the deepest scars on Earth, where pressure crushes submarines, plates grind, and improbable creatures still survive.
How Much Water Lake Powell Loses Into The Canyon Walls
One side says Lake Powell loses 860,000 acre-feet a year into rock and air. A technical review says draining it would save 40,000. How much really goes into the walls
How The Dead Sea Compares To The Great Lakes
The Dead Sea vs the Great Lakes: one's 10x saltier than the ocean and the lowest point on Earth, the others hold a fifth of its fresh water. How they compare.
The Largest Lakes In The World By Depth
Depth gets a lake onto this list; surface area decides the order. Meet the ten giants that plunge past 500 meters, from the Caspian to Lake Toba.
The Best Smallmouth Bass Lakes In America
From Dale Hollow's 11-pound world record to Lake Erie's Great Lakes best, these ten waters are where America's biggest smallmouth bass keep turning up.
The Largest Lakes Created By A Single Dam
Lake Nasser, Kuybyshev Reservoir, and Lake Kariba lead this ranking of reservoirs formed behind one principal dam, compared by area, volume, and cost.
Why The Appalachians Are Older Than The Rockies
Collision built one range and a sinking ocean plate built the other, and that difference is why the Appalachians are far older than the younger Rockies.
The Saltiest River In The United States
Meet the Pecos, the saltiest river in the US, plus the Red River's crab-filled spring and Arizona's honestly named Salt River. Why some rivers run briny.
The American Mountains With The Most Rattlesnakes
Rattlesnakes in American mountains, from the Guadalupes and Superstitions to Rocky Mountain foothills and the timber rattlers of the southern Appalachians.
The Native Fish Species That Depend On American Reservoirs
Reservoirs once disrupted native fish habitat. Now some of those same waters sustain species in one of conservation’s stranger reversals.
How Lake Erie Holds Less Water Than Lake Ontario Despite Being Larger
The bigger Great Lake by surface area holds far less water than the deeper one beside it, and the reason traces all the way back to the last ice age.
The Single Canal That Carries The Most Colorado River Water
The All-American Canal moves 3.1 million acre-feet a year, more than the Central Arizona Project and Colorado River Aqueduct combined, without a single pump.
The Oldest River In The United States
The oldest river in the US is ironically named the New River, older than the Appalachians and the dinosaurs. Why this ancient river flows north, and its age debate.
What Happens If A Major Dam Fails In The American West
The flood is only the first hour. A major Western dam holds back power, drinking water, farm irrigation, and flood storage, each failing on its own clock.
The Busiest Shipping Routes On The Great Lakes
The heaviest freight on North America's inland seas funnels through a handful of locks, rivers, and canals. Here is where the tonnage piles up.
The Great Lakes Ranked By Number Of Beaches
Lake Michigan leads the Great Lakes with 535 monitored US beaches, while Lake Ontario has 55, showing that shoreline length does not predict beach counts.
The Parts Of The Ocean Where Almost Nothing Lives
The ocean has places so hostile that fish disappear, microbes barely function, and life survives only at the edge of what seems possible
Why Great Lakes Freighters Race To Beat The Soo Locks' Winter Closing
Every January, Great Lakes freighters race to beat the Soo Locks' winter closing. Why the Jan 15 shutdown turns the end of the shipping season into a dash.
Why The Rockies Are Still Rising
Long after the mountains finished forming, the Rockies keep climbing. Hot mantle, a slow-tearing rift, and steady erosion are quietly lifting them.
Why Lake Mead Has A White Bathtub Ring
Lake Mead's white bathtub ring is calcium carbonate left on the rock as the water drops. Why it's there, why it's 160 feet tall, and what it says about the West.
Why King Tides Flood Coastal Towns Every Fall
King tides are not getting bigger. The baseline under them is rising, so a tide that cleared the seawall fifty years ago now arrives in the street.
The First Lake To Freeze Each Year In The Lower 48
Nobody knows, because nobody is checking. The first lake to freeze in the Lower 48 is an unnamed alpine pond, and here is how we narrow down where it is.
How Much Water Sits Behind America's 10 Biggest Dams
See which 10 American dams hold back the largest reservoirs by total storage capacity, including Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
What Happens If Lake Mead Drops Below Its Power Intakes
Hoover Dam has already lost half its output since 2000 without anyone noticing. What happens if Lake Mead falls below the turbines, and why it is a slope not a cliff.
The Tallest Mountain In America From Base To Summit
Measured from its deep-sea base, one American peak beats Everest by thousands of feet. See how nine giants rank when height starts at the bottom.