Lake Morat

Lake Morat / Lake Murten Lac de Morat / Murtensee
Location	Canton of Fribourg/Vaud
Coordinates	46°56′N 7°5′E / 46.933°N 7.083°ECoordinates: 46°56′N 7°5′E / 46.933°N 7.083°E
Primary inflows	Broye
Primary outflows	Broye canal
Catchment area	693 km²
Basin countries	Switzerland
Max. length	8.2 km
Max. width	2.8 km
Surface area	22.8 km²
Max. depth	45 m
Water volume	0.55 km³
Residence time	1.6 years
Surface elevation	429 m
Islands	La Grande Ile (islet)
Settlements	Morat / Murten

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.

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 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: 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.

Notes

External links

Media related to Lake Morat at Wikimedia Commons

• Lake Morat in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Waterlevels of Lake Morat at Morat