Soo locks

The Sault Locks (usually called the Soo Locks) allow ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. The locks are the busiest in the world, passing an average of 12,000 ships per year. This is achieved in spite of the locks being closed during the winter months, January through March, when ice shuts down shipping on the Great Lakes. The winter months are used to inspect and maintain the locks.

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The locks bypass the rapids of the St. Marys River where the water falls 7 meters (21 feet) from Lake Superior. St. Mary's Rapids, in French Sault Ste. Marie, gives its name to both the Canadian and American cities at the site. The Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge between the United States and Canada permits vehicular traffic to pass over the locks.

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Since the 1980s, an invasive species of mussel known as Zebra mussels have been multiplying in the Great Lakes. Likely introduced via the ballast water of foreign ships entering the lakes through the locks, they kill native fish, crowd out other native species, and encrust piers, ships, and pipes. Revised shipping regulations have been designed and are currently under consideration to prevent the introduction of other non-native species to the Great Lakes ecosystem.

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Ship: :For the online phenomenon of "shipping," see Shipping (fandom)....

Lake Superior: Lake Superior (known as Gitchigume in a Native American language) is the largest of North America's Great Lakes. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area with Lake Baikal in Siberia having more volume. (The Caspian Sea is larger, but contains salt water.) Lake Superior has a su...

Great Lakes: The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes on the earth and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system is the largest fresh-water system in the world. They are sometimes referred to as inland seas....

Soo locks related Images and Photos (experimental)

Hydraulic Canal and Locks Mathematics Chapter Plate 4 Illustration from the "Encyclopedie"