A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1054 entries
pond
A body of standing water small enough that sunlight reaches the bottom everywhere — which means plants can root across its entire bed. That is the technical distinction between a pond and a lake: In a pond, the light gets all the way down.
Etymology
Middle English ponde, variant of pound (an enclosure) from Old English pund. Originally meant an artificially enclosed body of water. The sense of any small, still body of water developed later.
Notes
• The world’s most famous pond—Walden—is deep enough that scientists often classify it as a small lake.
• Unlike lakes, ponds are temporary on geologic timescales: Left undisturbed, most gradually fill with sediment and vegetation until they become wetlands and, eventually, dry land.
• Ponds are often biodiversity hotspots, supporting more freshwater species per unit area than lakes.
• Because sunlight reaches the bottom, a pond’s floor is often as alive as its surface.
• Unlike lakes, ponds are temporary on geologic timescales: Left undisturbed, most gradually fill with sediment and vegetation until they become wetlands and, eventually, dry land.
• Ponds are often biodiversity hotspots, supporting more freshwater species per unit area than lakes.
• Because sunlight reaches the bottom, a pond’s floor is often as alive as its surface.