A five-acre glacial lake disappears in Chile

100-foot deep Andes lake disappears, A five-acre glacial lake in Chile's southern Andes has disappeared -- and scientists want to know why... 

Source : CNN ???

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.

“The only things left were chunks of ice on the dry lake-bed and an enormous fissure,” he told Reuters.

CONAF is investigating the disappearance.

One theory is that the area was hit by an earth tremor that opened a crack in the ground which acted like a drain.

Southern Chile has been shaken by thousands of minor earth tremors this year. - yahoo

SOURCE: http://www.xenophilia.com/blog/index.php?paged=98

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.

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