Template:Infobox lake

{{{lake_name}}}
Location	{{{location}}}
Group	{{{group}}}
Coordinates	{{{coords}}}
Lake type	{{{type}}}
Primary  inflows	{{{inflow}}}
Primary  outflows	{{{outflow}}}
Catchment  area	{{{catchment}}}
Basin  countries	{{{basin_countries}}}
Managing agency	{{{agency}}}
Designation	{{{designation}}}
Built	{{{date-built}}}
Max. length	{{{length}}}
Max. width	{{{width}}}
Surface area	{{{area}}}
Average depth	{{{depth}}}
Max. depth	{{{max-depth}}}
Water volume	{{{volume}}}
Residence time	{{{residence_time}}}
Shore  length1	{{{shore}}}
Surface  elevation	{{{elevation}}}
Frozen	{{{frozen}}}
Islands	{{{islands}}}
Sections/sub-basins	{{{sections}}}
Settlements	{{{cities}}}
References	{{{reference}}}
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

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Usage

All parameters

Please see the talk page for examples and a guide to using it. Use the bookmarklet to add it easily. {{Infobox lake | lake_name = {{SUBST:PAGENAME}} | image_lake = | caption_lake = | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry= | location = | coords = {{coord|89|59|59|N|179|59|59|W|region:XX-YY_type:waterbody|display=inline,title}} | type = | inflow = | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = | date-built = {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} <!-- For man-made and other recent lakes --> | date-flooded = {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} <!-- For man-made and other recent lakes --> | length = | width = | area = | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = | frozen = | islands = | cities = | reference = }}

Please, See also:

• {{Coord}} for documentation on the Coord template options and parameters; Including: "region:XX-YY";
  • When country but not state or province are known, then code as region:XX
    • Where:
      • "XX" should be replaced with the appropriate ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, and
      • "YY" with the corresponding ISO 3166-2 administrative subdivision code (typically a state or province abbreviation within the country)
    • CAUTION: When "region:XX-YY" is not properly coded or supplied, then Wiki ToolServer map queries perform a database lookup for an unknown region:, which can time-out and display a "Fastcgi Protocol Error" message instead of the geohack/GeoTemplate map services page. See {{coord}} for more information.
• {{Start date}} for date formats
• Articles using the infobox, articles without infobox

Parameters

lake name text
Image caption text
Bathymetry caption text
Location	location text
Coordinates	coordinates in {{coord}} template format
Lake type	type of lake text
Primary  inflows	inflow river text
Primary  outflows	outflow river text
Catchment  area	catchment area text
Basin  countries	country text
Managing agency	managing or owning organisation
Designation	protection as a nature reserve, etc.
Built	date built (for reservoirs; use {{Start date}})
Max. length	length text
Max. width	width text
Surface area	area text
Average depth	depth text
Max. depth	max depth text
Water volume	volume text
Residence time	residence time of lake water
Shore  length1	length of the shoreline
Surface  elevation	elevation text
Frozen	frozen text
Islands	islands text
Settlements	settlement text
References	reference text
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

lake_name

name_of_lake
If the local name is added, use <br> from the English name. Avoid using templates, bolding or italics in this field.

image_lake

characteristic_image.png Please avoid sunset pictures or maps (For maps, use image_bathymetry).
If missing, the article is added to Category:Infoboxes without image
see also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes/Galleries

caption_lake

Text about the image; avoid repeating the name of the lake, it's already in the first field of the infobox.

image_bathymetry

bathymetry_image.png (or other image, avoid maps showing only the location of the lake)

caption_bathymetry

Text about the bathymetry (or other) image

location

Text about the lake's location. Note the town/state/region the lake is located in. Names are listed in wikified form, without flags.
Add the country only if the lake is located in several countries or if there are several basin countries, but only one country the lake is located in.

coords

Latitude and Longitude coordinates of the lake. It is common to use the approximate center of the lake, or simply any notable portion of the lake for the coordinates. Coordinates are generally displayed in the infobox and on the top corner of the articles. For more, see WP:GEO and WP:Obtaining geographic coordinates
Sample coordinates: {{coord|47|01|10|N|8|24|04|E|type:waterbody_region:CH|display=inline,title}}
Coordinates-"Type:" for lakes is "waterbody".
If missing, the article is placed in Category:Articles needing coordinates‎

type

type of lake. If it's a reservoir, add "[[reservoir]]".
For typologies, see Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Lakes#Lake_types and Lake#Types_of_lakes
Samples values with wikimarkup (only one or a few may apply): [[periglacial]], [[subglacial lake|subglacial]], [[artificial lake|artificial]] [[reservoir (water)|reservoir]], [[endorheic]], [[meromictic]], [[oxbow lake|oxbow]], [[rift lake]], [[underground lake|underground]], [[crater lake]], [[intermittent lake|intermittent]], [[:Category:Former lakes|former lake]], [[:Category:Shrunken lakes|shrunken lake]]; [[oligotrophic]], [[mesotropic]], [[eutrophic lake|eutrophic]], [[hypertrophic]]

inflow

major inflow sources - rivers, aquifers, glacial runoff, etc.
Use italics for any terms that are not place names, e.g. none

outflow

outflow waterway names.
If evaporation or seepage are notable outflows, they may be included.
Use italics for any terms that are not place names, e.g. evaporation

catchment

the area of catchment (in square kilometres) which includes the entire area of the drainage basin for that lake. This may include rivers and other lakes. If this can be accompanied with a map or drawing, include it with the article.
Sample value, wikified: [[1 E9 m |2124 km ]]

basin_countries

which countries have drainage to/from or border the lake. To conform a standard, this should include all countries that are directly involved with the lake's ecology; this would include inflows, outflows, or physically contact the lake.
Countries are listed in unwikified form, without flags. For Antarctica, use "(Antarctica)".

agency

managing or owning organisation

designation

protected status as a nature reserve, etc.

date-built

date construction the lake/ reservoir started, if man-made.

date-flooded

date the lake/ reservoir was first flooded, if man-made or otherwise recent.

length

maximum length of the lake in km; the length of the lake at its longest dimension.

width

maximum width of the lake in km; perpendicular to the angle used to calculate length.

area

total area of the lake's surface in square kilometres; if this value varies drastically (due to evaporation or changes in flow), attempt to find a documented average value.
Sample conversion for imperial units: {{convert|1234|acre|abbr=on|lk=on}} this renders as: 1,234 acres (499 ha)

depth

Average depth of the lake in metres
Sample conversion for imperial units: {{convert|123|ft|abbr=on|lk=on}} this renders as: 123 ft (37 m)

max-depth

Maximum depth of the lake in metres.

volume

total volume of the lake (cubic metres or cubic kilometres)
Sample value: [[1 E10 m³ |11.8 km³]]
To convert acre-feet, use {{convert|1234567|acre.ft|abbr=on|lk=on}} this renders as 1,234,567 acre·ft (1.522816×10⁹ m³)

residence_time

residence time of the lake water or lake retention time (generally in years). This is the mean time water spends in the lake.

shore

length of the shoreline in kilometres; this should not include values for waterways directly connected to the lake, and should reflect the shore at average surface area.

elevation

elevation above sea-level in meters; again, if this value varies due to variable inflow or outflow, attempt to use a documented average value. If at all possible, state the date at which the elevation was measured.

islands

total number of islands in the lake; it is common practice to also include the names of any notable islands in the lake.

islands_category

if there is a specific category for articles about islands in the lake, it can be added in this field (e.g. Islands of the Caspian Sea). "Islands" in the infobox then links to this category instead of Category:Islands in lakes.

cities

notable cities or settlements on or near the lakeshore.

frozen

Information about lake freezing: e.g. usual freezing date, months the lake is frozen, last years the lake was frozen, never, etc.

reference

references for some or all of the values. Rather than including full references in any of the previous fields, <ref name="multiple"> and </ref> should be used in this field and cross-referenced in the other fields with <ref name="multiple"/>. See Help:Footnotes on how to use the tags.

align

"align=left" allows to align the infobox left (default is right). This avoids collision with another infobox.

Imperial units should be converted to metric units, preferably using {{convert}}, e.g. {{convert|1234|acre|abbr=on|lk=on}} this renders as 1,234 acres (499 ha)

Maintenance categories

The infobox has several maintenance categories connected to it:

• Category:Infoboxes without image (if image_lake is missing)
• Category:Articles needing coordinates (if coords is missing)
• Category:Articles with infobox errors (if specific fields are missing, see category description)

The categories are hidden, i.e. the aren't visible in the standard display of the articles (see WP:Hidden categories).

Microformat

The HTML markup produced by this template includes an hCard microformat, which makes the place-name and location parsable by computers, either acting automatically to catalogue articles across Wikipedia, or via a browser tool operated by a person, to (for example) add the subject to an address book. Within the hCard is a Geo microformat, which additionally makes the coordinates (latitude & longitude) parsable, so that they can be, say, looked up on a map, or downloaded to a GPS unit. For more information about the use of microformats on Wikipedia, please see the microformat project.

Sub-templates

If the place or venue has "established", "founded", "opened" or similar dates, use {{start date}} for the earliest of those dates unless the date is before 1583 CE.

If it has a URL, use {{URL}}.

Please do not remove instances of these sub-templates.

Classes

hCard uses HTML classes including:

• adr
• agent
• category
• county-name
• extended-address
• fn
• label
• locality
• nickname
• note
• org
• region
• street-address
• uid
• url
• vcard

Geo is produced by calling {{coord}}, and uses HTML classes:

• geo
• latitude
• longitude

Please do not rename or remove these classes nor collapse nested elements which use them.

Precision

When giving coordinates, please use an appropriate level of precision. Do not use {{coord}}'s |name= parameter.

Related pages

• List of all subpages of this page
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes/Articles/with Infobox
• Template:Infobox lake/Bookmarklet