A man-made lake formed by damming rivers is a ____.

• A. Lake
• B. Playa Lake
• C. Reservoir
• D. Oxbow Lake

Answer: (C)

The idea is distinguishing between natural and human-made water bodies. When a river is dammed to store water for uses like drinking supply, irrigation, or flood control, the resulting lake is called a reservoir. A lake in general can be natural or artificial, but the term reservoir specifically refers to a water body created by building a dam to hold back river flow, making it a planned storage site. Playa lakes are temporary, formed by rainfall in desert basins, not by damming rivers. Oxbow lakes form naturally when a river cuts through a meander and leaves behind a curved, isolated lake. So, a man-made lake formed by damming rivers fits the description of a reservoir.