The crater is 5.2 mi (8.4 km) in diameter and the age is estimated to be 37.2 ± 1.2 million years, placing it in the Eocene.

In the 1960s, half a dozen RCMP officers accidentally drowned in the lake during a training exercise.

[2] The lake is a popular recreational and residential area in Sudbury, with the neighborhoods of Skead and Boland's Bay located on its shores.

With the municipal amalgamation of Greater Sudbury in 2001, it became the largest lake in the world completely contained within the boundaries of a single city.

The small Wahnapitae Ojibwe reserve is also located on the lake's northwestern shore.