Glacial lake vanishes in southern Chile

[Owlscrying]

June 21

Santiago, Chile (AP) - A five-acre glacial lake in Chile's southern Andes has disappeared - and scientists want to know why.

Park rangers at Bernardo O'Higgins National Park said they found a 100-feet-deep crater in late May where the lake had been in March. Several large pieces of ice that used to float atop the water also were spotted.

"The lake had simply disappeared," head of Chile's National Forest Service in the southernmost region of Magallanes, said Wednesday. "No one knows what happened."

One theory is the water disappeared through cracks in the lake bottom into underground fissures. But experts do not know why the cracks would have appeared because there have been no earthquakes reported in the area recently.

A river that flowed out of the lake was reduced to a trickle.

go

[Celumnaz]

was looking at http://www.google.com/search?q=disappearin...tf8&oe=utf8

there must be quite a bit of water under the earth, and quite a few cavernous zones of an immense size

[greggK]

Here's something else. March 6, 2007.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_ADTeGO9tHvk/Re2TSe...EMALA+CITY1.jpg

GUATEMALA CITY , Guatemala - killed at least two teenagers as it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main. The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or others could open up. Rescue operations were on hold until a firefighter, suspended from a cable, could take video and photos above the hole and officials could use the documentation to decide how to proceed. The dead were identified as Irma and David Soyos, emergency spokesman Juan Carlos Bolanos said. Their bodies were found near the sinkhole, floating in a river of sewage. Their father, Domingo, was still missing, according to disaster coordinator Hugo Hernandez.

Edited June 28, 2007 by greggK

[The Mule]

Don't ya just LOVE a mystery?