The Case Of The Mysteriously Disappearing Lake

Once upon a time (back in March), there was a beautiful, elfin lake high in the southern Andes of Chile, in the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. It was a pleasant little lake, with a glacier feeding into it and little icebergs floating along. At only two square hectares, or just under 5 acres, it was small compared to many lakes. Just a wee thing. It drained out into a thin river.

But apparently the lake was pretty far off the beaten path, because two months later, in May, someone finally went back to it and found it was MISSING.

Yes, missing. The entire lake. Gone. Drained away. In place of this 100-foot deep lake was a 100-foot deep crater. The gleeful little icebergs had settled down onto the rocky floor of the lake, bereft of water. Geologists are at a loss to explain what happened:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/21/missing.lake.ap/index.html

Quote the article: “’The lake had simply disappeared,’ Juan Jose Romero, head of Chile's National Forest Service in the southernmost region of Magallanes, said Wednesday. ‘No one knows what happened.’” A team of geologists has been dispatched to investigate.

There were no earthquakes to produce rifts for the lake to drain into. There were no alien water-snatchers (I'm guessing). We can’t blame global warming for this one. So what could be the explanation?

One word: incontinence.

Let’s face it, we all have problems. Poor lake, all alone up there, no one to turn to. How embarrassing! It’s been holding its water for, say, about 5 million years. When you gotta go, you gotta go, and that thin little river wasn’t enough of a release. I know how it is. No, I don’t have an incontinence problem, but I’ve been trying to potty train my toddlers for months. Sometimes a diaper is the only way.

There’s no shame in it, little lake.