Large Lake in Magallanes, Chile, Disappears

An extremely large lake in Magallanes, Chile has been found missing. About the size of ten soccer fields, the mystery disappearance of the lake has caused many to believe that the Earth split open and sucked it in. According to Juan Jose Romero, the regional director of Chile's National Forestry Corporation, the dry lake's only remains were some ice chunks and a large crevice.

Magallanes, located in Patagonia, is the southernmost part of Chile. The lake is fed by glacial water, as the region is known for penguins, ñandus, guanacos, and condors. The lake was situated in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park.

Says Romero, "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."

CONAF has been sent to investigate. Because the area has been hit by thousands of tremors this year, many have come to believe that the water disappeared through many cracks in the lakebed. However, scientists argue that an earthquake had not hit the area lately. Supporting this theory is the fact that a strong earthquake hit Aysen, a close region.

The five-acre lake's disappearance is extremely odd and scientists can't make sense of it. "No one knows what happened," Romero added.

Andres Rivera, a glacier professional, told La Tercera, a Chilean newspaper, that the lake's vanishing seemed to be part of the constant modification of the landscape. Rivera also noted that the lake was not present 30 years ago.

A large number of geologists and other experts will be in the area to investigate. Coming from the capital of Santiago, the trip will cover 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles.

According to Rivera, the Magallanes area "has seen interesting changes in the last few decades."

The lake's disappearance is harmful to many aspects of life. The aquatic wildlife that thrived in the lake would die. The area's animals that depended on the lake for water would have nowhere to turn. The lake's tributaries would all stop flowing. In many ways, the lake is highly depended on by everyone. Water is essential to life. If every major lake in the world vanished, we would only have seawater to drink from. It is necessary for the scientists to determine why and how the lake disappeared and find out how to prevent this disaster from occurring again.

All that we can do, however, is wait. Hopefully, we can discover how this extremely large lake disappeared and why we didn't notice it.