Lake Tai

Lake Tai
Lake scenery at Wuxi
Location	Jiangsu, China
Coordinates	31°14′N 120°8′E / 31.233°N 120.133°E / 31.233; 120.133Coordinates: 31°14′N 120°8′E / 31.233°N 120.133°E / 31.233; 120.133
Basin countries	China
Surface area	2,250 km2 (869 sq mi)
Average depth	2 m (6.6 ft)
Islands	90
Settlements	Huzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi

Lake Tai or Lake Taihu (Chinese: , p Tài Hú, Wu: Ta Wu, lit. "Great Lake") is a large freshwater lake in the Yangtze Delta plain in Wuxi, China. The lake belongs to Jiangsu and the southern shore forms its border with Zhejiang. With an area of 2,250 square kilometers (869 sq mi) and an average depth of 2 meters (6.6 ft), it is the third-largest freshwater lake in China, after Poyang and Dongting. The lake houses about 90 islands, ranging in size from a few square meters to several square kilometers.

Lake Tai is linked to the renowned Grand Canal and is the origin of a number of rivers, including Suzhou Creek. In recent years, Lake Tai has been plagued by pollution as the surrounding region experienced rapid industrial development.

Also translated as Tai or T'ai Lake and as Taihu or T'ai-hu Lake.

Scientific studies suggest that Lake Tai's circular structure is the result of a meteor impact based on the discovery of shatter cones, shock-metamorphosed quartz, microtektites, and shock-metamorphic unloading fractures. The prospective impact crater has been dated to be greater than 70 million years old and possibly from the late Devonian Period. However, new research suggests that present evidence shows no impact crater structure or shock-mineral at Lake Tai. Fossils indicate that Lake Tai was dry land until the ingression of the East China Sea during the Holocene epoch. The growing deltas of the Yangtze and Qiantang rivers eventually sealed off Lake Tai from the sea, and the influx of fresh water from rivers and rains turned it into a freshwater lake.