IJsselmeer

/uy"seuhl mayrdd'/, n.

a lake in the NW Netherlands: created by the diking of the Zuider Zee. 465 sq. mi. (1204 sq. km).

Also, Ijsselmeer.

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English Lake Ijssel

Shallow freshwater lake, northern and central Netherlands.

Fed by the IJssel River, it was formed from the southern part of the former Zuiderzee by a dam, which separates it from both the Waddenzee and the North Sea. It previously had a total area of 1,328 sq mi (3,440 sq km), though this has been reduced by reclamation projects that have increased the land area of The Netherlands by more than 600 sq mi (1,600 sq km). Regulated by sluices, the formerly brackish water has been replaced by fresh water from the IJssel River, and eel fisheries have been established.

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▪ lake, The Netherlands

 shallow freshwater lake, northern and central Netherlands. It was formed from the southern part of the former Zuiderzee by the building of a dam (Afsluitdijk; completed 1932) separating the IJsselmeer from both the Waddenzee (the northern part of the former Zuiderzee) and the North Sea.

      The dam that formed the IJsselmeer lies about 25 feet (8 m) above sea level and is 19 miles (31 km) long, extending between the provinces of Noord-Holland and Friesland. The dam was constructed of boulder clay backed by sand and is faced with stone to just below water level, on a base of boulders resting on mats of willow. There is a highway and bicycle path along the top of the dam; locks provide passage for barges and small seagoing craft. Regulated by sluices, the formerly brackish water has been replaced by fresh water, partly by inflow from the IJssel River, a branch of the Rhine River. This source of fresh water is valuable to Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland and Friesland during occasional summer droughts and also helps to improve their brackish marshlands. The original fishing for herring, anchovies, and flounder has been replaced by freshwater fisheries, chiefly for eels. In spring, the eel larvae, born in the Sargasso Sea (a large tract of relatively still water in the North Atlantic Ocean) enter the lake through the locks.

      Large parts of the lake's total area of 1,328 square miles (3,440 square km) have been reclaimed by constructing encircling dikes and pumping the water out. As a result, the land area of The Netherlands has been increased by 626 square miles (1,620 square km) of fertile polders.

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