Disappearing lake confuses geologists, News Story #19

[JaneFairfax]

Friday 22 June 2007

Disappearing lake confuses geologists

A glacial lake in the Andes has disappeared mysteriously, prompting local geologists to head to Bernardo O’Higgins National Park in Patagonia, Chile, to find out what happened.

The lake, some 20 000 square metres in area, was last seen in March. By May, all that was left was a 30-metre-deep crater and a few pieces of stranded ice that used to float on top of the water. A river running from it had reduced to a trickle, according to the park rangers who first noticed the lake was missing.

The water probably either drained away through the now-empty river, and into the sea, or it could have found its way into another water system nearby, perhaps underground.

Full story at news @ nature.com

[Athene_noctua]

Did you know? Glacial lakes can be formed behind terminal moraines. This is what I gather from reading about lakes in the spread “Rivers and Lakes” under the section The Restless Earth of The Guinness Encylopedia.