Lake Morat

Lake Morat or Lake Murten (French: Lac de Morat; German: Murtensee) is a lake located in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud in the west of Switzerland. It is named after the small bilingual town of Murten/Morat on its southern shore.

Lake Morat / Lake Murten
Lac de Morat / Murtensee
LocationCantons of Fribourg and Vaud
Coordinates46°56′N 7°5′E
Primary inflowsBroye
Primary outflowsBroye canal
Catchment area693 km2 (268 sq mi)
Basin countriesSwitzerland
Max. length8.2 km (5.1 mi)
Max. width2.8 km (1.7 mi)
Surface area22.8 km2 (8.8 sq mi)
Max. depth45 m (148 ft)
Water volume0.55 km3 (450,000 acre⋅ft)
Residence time1.6 years
Surface elevation429 m (1,407 ft)
IslandsLa Grande Ile (islet)
SettlementsMorat / Murten

It is the smallest of the three lakes in the Seeland or Pays des trois lacs area of the Swiss plateau located at the foot of the first chain of the Jura mountains. The main tributary is the river Broye.

Since the Jura water correction its water leaves the lake through the Broye Canal (Canal de la Broye) into nearby Lake Neuchâtel that is connected to Lake Bienne/Lake Biel through the Thielle canal. Thus all three lakes form a natural reservoir in order to retain overflow water from the river Aare that flows into Lake Bienne/Biel: in times of combined heavy rainfalls and glacier melting in the Alps, the peculiar situation arises that the water flows backwards through the Thielle and Broye canals, preventing an overflow of the Grand Marais (German: Grosses Moos).

Lake Morat/Murten

Notes
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