The basin is a large depression in the surface of the land spanning from Minnesota to New York state and including the five Great Lakes: Michigan, Huron, Erie, Superior and Ontario.

NPR: Governors Meet on Access to Great Lakes

There are river channels and flood plains galore on the planet's surface, and even a hemisphere-wide depression that many interpret as an ocean bed.

ECONOMIST: A drought on Mars

But signs that all was not well began to surface when the colourfully-dressed Socialist MSP Rosie Kane took time out to cope with depression.

BBC: The rise and fall of Tommy Sheridan and the left