NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY - FARGO, N D KETTLE LAKES IN STUTSMAN COUNTY, N.D. Click on the photo for an enlarged image. (71K) Kettle lakes are common features on the glacial landscape of North Dakota. A kettle is a depression formed when a block of stranded, buried glacier ice gradually melted out --- causing the overlying land surface to collapse downward. Where such kettle are deep enough to intercept the water table, a lake occupies the depression. These kettle lakes are on the Missouri Coteau near Woodworth, North Dakota. (Photo by D.P. Schwert, North Dakota State University). [ Glacial Landforms of North Dakota ]