Title: What They Are and How They Were Formed
Headings: Pluvial Lakes
Pluvial Lakes
Pluvial Lakes Were Formed in a Different Climate Than Today
Formation of Pluvial Lakes
Shrinking of Pluvial Lakes
Some of Today’s Pluvial Lakes

Content: Historically, such shifts changed arid areas into places with extremely wet conditions. There are also present-day pluvial lakes that show the importance of various weather patterns to a location. In addition to being referred to as pluvial lakes, ancient lakes associated with former wet periods are sometimes put into the category of paleolakes. Formation of Pluvial Lakes
The study of pluvial lakes today is mostly tied to that of ice ages and glaciation as the ancient lakes have left distinct landform features. The most prominent and well studied of these lakes are usually related to the last glacial period as this is when they are thought to have formed. Most of these lakes formed in arid locations where there was initially not enough rain and mountain snow to establish a drainage system with rivers and lakes. As the climate then cooled with the onset of climate change, these dry locations turned wet because of different air flows caused by the large continental ice sheets and their weather patterns. With more precipitation, stream runoff increased and began to fill the basins in the formerly dry areas. Over time, as more water became available with the increased moisture, the lakes enlarged and spread across places with lower elevations creating enormous pluvial lakes. Shrinking of Pluvial Lakes
Just as pluvial lakes are created by climate fluctuations, they are also destroyed by them over time.