Editing Lake Geneva (section)

==Environment==
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Private home backing up to Lake Geneva in Vaud Canton, 1968.png
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| caption1 = Bath house of a private home on the lake, in canton of Vaud, 1968
| image2 = People bathing in Lake Geneva, Vaud Canton, with Jura Mountains in background, 1968.png
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| caption2 = Swimming in the lake
| image3 = Lake Geneva with Vineyards in Lavaux.jpg
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| caption3 = [[Lavaux]] vineyards on Lake Geneva
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[[Image:Ile de Peilz.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Île de Peilz]]]]

In 563, according to the writings of [[Gregory of Tours]] and [[Marius Aventicensis]], a [[tsunami]] wave swept along the lake, destroying the fort of Tauredunum and other settlements, and causing numerous deaths in Geneva. Simulations indicate that this [[Tauredunum event]] was most likely caused by a massive [[landslide]] near the [[Rhône]] delta, which caused a wave {{convert|8|m|spell=in||}} high to reach Geneva within 70 minutes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kremer |first1=K. |last2=Simpson |first2=G. |last3=Girardclos |first3=S. P. |doi=10.1038/ngeo1618 |title=Giant Lake Geneva tsunami in AD 563 |journal=Nature Geoscience |volume=5 |issue=11 |pages=756–757 |year=2012 |bibcode=2012NatGe...5..756K}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tsunamis on Lake Geneva: Lake monsters |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/10/tsunamis-lake-geneva |access-date=29 October 2012 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=28 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-tsunami-devastated-lake-geneva-shoreline-1.11670 |title=Ancient tsunami devastated Lake Geneva shoreline |date=28 October 2012 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |access-date=5 November 2012 |doi=10.1038/nature.2012.11670 |last1=Marshall |first1=Jessica |s2cid=130238584}}</ref> In 888, the town was part of the new [[Kingdom of Burgundy]], and, with it, was absorbed into the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1033.

In the late 1960s, pollution made it dangerous to swim at some beaches of the lake; indeed, visibility underwater was near zero.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://untreaty.un.org/unts/60001_120000/7/25/00013243.pdf |title=Convention concerning protection of the waters of Lake Geneva against pollution. |date=16 November 1962 |publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection |access-date=24 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bergier |first=Jean-François |title=Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse |publisher=Editions Gilles Attinger, Hauterive |year=2008 |volume=7 |isbn=978-2-88256-197-8 |url=http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/f/F8657-1-1.php |language=fr |access-date=25 June 2009 |archive-date=28 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328172322/http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/f/F8657.php |url-status=dead}}</ref> By the 1980s, intense environmental pollution ([[eutrophication]]) had almost wiped out all the fish. Endemic whitefish species ''[[Coregonus fera]]'' was last recorded in the lake in 1920 and is now extinct. Although the name ''fera'' is still used for the only coregonid present in the lake, this is not the original species but the introduced [[Coregonus palaea|''C. palaea'']]. Today, pollution levels have been dramatically cut back, and it is again considered safe to swim in the lake.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cipel.org/sp/IMG/pdf/Phosphore-2007.pdf |title=Baisse du Phosphore dans le Léman |date=9 May 2007 |publisher=Commission Internationale pour la Protection du Léman (CIPEL) |language=fr |access-date=26 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105220206/http://www.cipel.org/sp/IMG/pdf/Phosphore-2007.pdf |archive-date=5 January 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Monna |first=F. |author2=Domnik J. |author3=Loiseau J.-L. |author4=Pardos M. |author5=Arpagaus P. |year=1999 |title=Origin and evolution of Pb in sediments of Lake Geneva (Switzerland-France). Establishing a stable Pb record |journal=Environmental Science & Technology |publisher=American Chemical Society |location=Washington, DC |volume=33 |issue=17 |pages=2850–2857 |issn=0013-936X |url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1943833 |doi=10.1021/es9902468 |bibcode=1999EnST...33.2850M}}</ref> Major leisure activities practiced include sailing, wind surfing, boating (including water skiing and wake-boarding), rowing, scuba diving, and bathing.

A total of four submarines have plied the depths of Lake Geneva.<ref name=MIR2011>{{cite news |url=http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/dfb2b432-92da-11e0-a33b-988245c5cb3c/A_la_d%C3%A9couverte_du_L%C3%A9man |title=A la découverte du Léman |last=Dubuis |first=Etienne |work=[[Le Temps]] |language=fr |date=10 June 2011 |access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref> In 1964, [[Jacques Piccard]] launched a tourist-oriented submarine, the ''[[Auguste Piccard (PX-8)|Auguste Piccard]]'' (named for [[Auguste Piccard|his explorer father]]), for the Swiss National Exhibition, meant to honor the [[Expo 64]] theme of accomplishments by Swiss engineers and industry.<ref name=Picard>{{cite news |url=https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/submersibles-ont-plonge-leman |title=Ces submersibles qui ont plongé dans le Léman |last=Dubuis |first=Etienne |work=[[Le Temps]] |language=fr |date=10 June 2011 |access-date=18 April 2019}}</ref> After operating through to 1965 in Lake Geneva, Piccard used the vessel for scientific exploration in other parts of the world.<ref name=Picard/> Piccard later built the ''[[F.-A. Forel (PX-28)|F.-A. Forel]]'', launched in Lake Geneva in 1978 and used primarily for scientific research until it was retired in 2005.<ref name=Picard/> In 2011, in a collaborative operation led by {{Lang|fr|[[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne]]|italic=no}}, two ''[[Mir (submersible)|Mir]]'' submersibles were used for ten weeks to conduct extensive scientific research in Lake Geneva.<ref name=MIR2011/>

On a scientific footnote, in 1827, Lake Geneva was the site for the first measurement of the speed of sound in (fresh) water.<ref name="Guichonnet">{{cite book |last=Guichonnet |first=Paul |title=Nature et histoire du Léman: le guide du Léman |publisher=Editions Cabedita |location=Divonne-Les-Bains |year=2002 |pages=235 |isbn=9782882951205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2cyTH8ydD4C&q=histoire+du+lac+léman |language=fr}}</ref> French mathematician Jacques Charles François Sturm and Swiss physicist Daniel Collodon used two moored boats, separated by a measured distance, as the transmitting and receiving platforms for the sounds of exploding gunpowder. The loud airborne sound coupled into the lake, establishing a loud underwater sound that could be measured at a distance. The flash of the exploding gunpowder provided the visual starting cue for the timepiece, and the underwater explosion sound striking a bell provided the finish cue.

The lake is rich in wildlife, especially birds: both the [[common buzzard]] and the [[red kite]] breed here in considerable numbers.