Vanished Chilean Lake's concealing mystery baffles scientists.
By rekhum
@rekhum (2420)
India
June 26, 2007 7:02pm CST
A glacial lake on the southern tip of Chile has vanished,leaving behind a dry crater and a scientific mystery has .
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 (1,089,300 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."
The Guardian..
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/water/story/0,,2108796,00.html
The Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200706221040.htm
Some Spoofs claim it reappeared in Sheffield,although its just a parody story.
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s1i20972
1 person likes this
3 responses
@moomincat (321)
•
27 Jun 07
Somebody pulled the plug. Thats a lot of water to go missing without causing damage in the surrounding area.
@moomincat (321)
•
27 Jun 07
Very true that would be doubtful. Im sure there must be a logical solution to this mystery. But it will take an army of geologists to fathom it out. I think the story you refer to was a Chinese myth about a character swollowing the sea. Im not sure its many years since I saw the story.
1 person likes this
@rekhum (2420)
• India
27 Jun 07
Thought that was a hindoo myth. Anyway,hope they come up with an answer before i go for a 'fast'.They claim there havn't been any earthquakes in the area which may have caused to opened some fissures underneath that would have sipped the water underground.
Until we/they find an answer lets keep gossiping.tc.
1 person likes this
@breepeace (3014)
• Canada
2 Jul 07
That's quite fascinating. I found this comparison of the lake before and after: http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/22/images/2007062250111501.jpg
It does sound like most scientists are not entirely surprised it happened, as apparently the area has been undergoing enormous geographical changes in the past few decades. Southern Chile has also been shaken by thousands of minor earth tremors this year, so the 'pulling the plug' theory could well be correct.
Or maybe aliens took it away? :)
Sorry, I'm tired! :)
1 person likes this
@dnatureofdtrain (5273)
• Janesville, Wisconsin
11 Jul 07
Maybe it froze up into large chunks of Ice, and the Windstorm carried it high into the atmosphere where it is falling every so often as large chunks of mysterious ice? or maybe the fissure is a sign of pressure from within the earth that blew the frozen lake chunks into the air? ...- DNatureofDTrain
@dnatureofdtrain (5273)
• Janesville, Wisconsin
12 Jul 07
I thought I read all of posts.. theres make more sense.. but I like my theory too of the Ice storm, and the fissure being pressure within the earth blowing the chunks of ice into the air :) .. Makes it sound more interesting huh. But yes, global warming and climate changes I think are behind the real reasons of it all. Some of it I believe is not all man made, but I do believe humanity has sped up the process of it. - DNatureofDTrain
