Lake disappears suddenly in Chile
Scientists
in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial lake
in the south of the country.When park rangers patrolled the area in the
Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its
normal size, officials say.But last month they found a huge dry crater
and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.One
theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground,
allowing the lake’s water to drain through.”In March we patrolled the
area and everything was normal,” Juan Jose Romero from Chile’s National
Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said.”We went again in May and to our
surprise we found that the lake had completely disappeared. All that
was left were chunks of ice and an enormous fissure.”Geologists and
other experts are being sent to the area, which is some 2,000km (1,250
miles) south of the capital, Santiago, to investigate.The region is
shaken by frequent earth tremors and one idea is that a strong quake
which hit the neighbouring region of Aysen in April opened up the
fissure in the bottom of the lake.A glacier specialist, Andres Rivera,
told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that the lake’s disappearance seemed
to be part of the continual reforming of the landscape.The Magallanes
area “has seen interesting changes in the last few decades,” he said,
noting that the lake itself had not been there 30 years ago.