SIDELINES //

Missing: Large Lake in Southern Chile

by Mike Richard

This is something you don’t hear every day. It appears the Chileans have done something to anger the gods. Via Reuters:

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole.

The lake was situated in the Magallanes region in Patagonia and was fed by water, mostly from melting glaciers.

It had a surface area of between 4 and 5 hectares (10-12 acres) — about the size of 10 soccer pitches.

“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,” said Juan Jose Romero, regional director of Chile’s National Forestry Corporation CONAF.

Is this common in other parts of the world because I can’t say I’ve ever heard of similar events happening in the U.S.? How does an entire section of the earth just vanish into thin air?

Planning a trip? Be sure to check out these Bed and Breakfasts in Chile.

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About the Author

Vagabondish editor, Mike Richard, lives in Rhode Island - a spit of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.

Dan
June 21st, 2007

I remember reading last year the same thing had happened near a small town in Russia. Maybe it isn’t all that uncommon. Did they check to see if the glacier that feeds it was still there too?

Mike
June 21st, 2007

Good point. Director Romero seemed to be quite surprised himself, so my guess is that everything else (sans the lake) was as it should’ve been.

I like how there’s “speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole.”

Simply.

“Oh that lake? Yeah the earth just swallowed it whole. It happens.”

Rrrrright.

Garrett
May 12th, 2008

yeah it happened in the U.S. before. A mine underneath the lake collapsed and the entire lake just drained away.

Alex Quinn
September 28th, 2011

That is odd that the lake just vanished , especially since Patagonia is full of glaciers. Hopefully that doesn’t mean more of Patagonia are going to vanish. it is amazing there and everyone should try to visit Patagonia once in their lifetime. A possible explanation to this could be that all the penguins in the are may have drank the lake up!