Thursday, June 21, 2007

Chilean lake disappears

A 100-ft deep lake disappeared suddenly in Chile over the course of the last 2 months. Global Warming? But the ice is still there!! Hmm....someone must have been really thirsty....

Here's a transcript from BBC's article on this.

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.

6 comments:

Rajesh said...

Year 2030 - Red Sea dissapears.
Year 2050 - Antartican ice melting complete.

:)

This looks more like a mystery. They say there have not been any earthquakes reported recently. So how come all of a sudden? Alien invasion probably? Analysis of the salt (elements) remaining could possibly reveal something and then maybe we can contact the folks @ Area 51 to find out if ET creatures are known to consume these :)

Dr. Mos - where are you? We need some analysis done here :P

Unknown said...

In related news, A black and gold four-legged creature was found at the bottom of the now empty lake, wondering where all the water went after he jumped in. :)

Mosilager said...

I second Lova's theory - Ginga jumped into the lake and the water jumped out!

ammu said...

LOL! You guys are hilarious!! :D

Rajesh, that's quite a scary forecast you have there :P I think the water disappeared into fissures....unless of course Ginga got really thirsty ;) Calling Area 51...

LalalaloLova, Mosi - Doesn't look like you guys entertaining are Ginga enough locally... :P

Rajesh said...

Answer to the million dollar question -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070703/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_chile_lake

ammu said...

Thanks Rajesh. Yeah I read on CNN :) I don't belive the theory though ;)

I still bet on a yeti or something.