Marquette Lake vs Plantagenet Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Plantagenet Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Marquette Lake. Both are in Minnesota.
Both Marquette Lake and Plantagenet Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. Plantagenet Lake reads materially cleaner than Marquette Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Plantagenet Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Marquette Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 9.2 ft.
Plantagenet Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 7 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Marquette Lake | Plantagenet Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 9.2 ft Better | 7 ft |
| Phosphorus | 24 µg/L | 20 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 8.9 µg/L | 6.7 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 51 ft | 65 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 528 acres | 2,531 acres |
| Public Access | No | Yes |
| Fish Species | 18 | 20 Better |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | mesotrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
Swap a lake
Compare Marquette Lake or Plantagenet Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Plantagenet Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Marquette Lake. Water clarity: 7 ft vs 9.2 ft. For fishing diversity, Plantagenet Lake also leads with 20 species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.