| Type of lake | Description | Examples |
| Supraglacial/Epiglacial lakes (SGLs)/ | The lakes formed over the glacial surface due to the processes active on the glacial surface. Shifting, merging, and draining are characteristics of SGLs. SGLs are more dynamic and vary in time and space. | SGL on Milam glacier |
| Open lake (Landlocked lakes) | A body of water that is surrounded completely by land. A landlocked lake has no water source such as a river. It is fed by water seepage in the ground and water runoff with the surrounding land. | Lake Vanda in Antarctica |
| Epishelf lake | When ice shelves completely block the mouth of a fjord, an epishelf lake is created. This is caused by melt water that flows into the fjord every summer, but is impounded behind the ice shelf. | The largest epishelf lake, Disraeli Fiord, Arctic Ocean. |
| Pro-glacial lake | Pro-glacial lakes are ice-contact lakes occurring adjacent to the frontal margin/snout of a glacier. Many such types of lake are ice-core moraine-dammed or ice-dammed and show ephemeral or perpetual nature. | Vasundhara Tal at Raikana glacier, Himalayas |
| Moraine-dammed lake | A lake formed as a glacier recedes from its terminal moraine, the moraine acting as an unstable dam. Most of these lakes are formed when valley and cirque glaciers retreated from advanced positions achieved during the Little Ice Age. | Laguna Paron, Peru |