Scientists try to solve mystery of vanished lake in Chile

[mawilson 2,133]

A glacial lake on the southern tip of Chile has vanished, leaving behind a dry crater and

a scientific mystery.

Park rangers in Magallanes province, a remote wilderness 1,200 miles south of Santiago,

were stunned to discover that the lake no longer existed. When last seen three months

ago it had a surface area of 101,200 square metres (1,089,308 square feet) and was filled

with icy water 30 metres (100ft) deep.

"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal. We went again in May and

to our surprise we found the lake had completely disappeared," Juan José Romero,

regional director of Chile's National Forestry Corporation, said this week. "The only things

left were chunks of ice on the dry lake-bed and an enormous fissure. We are not talking

about a small lake, it's quite big. No one knows what happened."

A 40-metre wide river that flowed from the lake to the Pacific Ocean five miles away has

been reduced to a trickle and can now be walked over.

For once, however, the prime suspect is not global warming or any other form of climate

change. A team of geologists and other scientists due to fly to the site over the next few

days has speculated that an earthquake cracked the earth beneath the lake and drained the

water, as if a plug had been pulled.

Ricardo Jana, a researcher with the Chilean Antarctic Institute, told the newspaper El Mercurio

that if a tremor caused the collapse then the scientists should be able to pinpoint how it happened.

Southern Chile has recorded thousands of minor tremors this year. A relatively big one in

April is suspected of pulling the plug on the lake, but the scientists stressed that was conjecture.

The lake, which had been fed mostly by water from melting glaciers, was so remote it had

not been named and had been omitted from some maps. The park rangers who noticed its

disappearance did so by chance. They had been on a patrol to monitor huemules, a type of deer.

Magallanes province is often referred to as the end of the world since it is one of the most

southernmost points inhabited by humans.

Despite the Magallanes mystery, climate change is more of a threat to South America's glacier

lakes. Higher temperatures have forced the retreat, and in some cases disappearance, of lakes

in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

Source

[almaty 19]

whoa, that is a big lake to go dry..

[isleta521 5]

Well, that blows my waterskiing trip there

[Ban Hammer 13,643]

someone was thirsty. it'll be back as soon as they have to pee

[trueimage 0]

Aliens stole it

[SteveLaura 0]

*burp*

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Perhaps Superman froze it with his Super Breath and used it to fight a fire in a chemical plant.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Methinks the Boracle (Al Gore) took it for his private swimming pool. :lol:

Edited June 22, 2007 by CherryXS

[mawilson 2,133]

Methinks the Boracle (Al Gore) took it for his private swimming pool. :lol:

You made me spill my drink! :lol: