Ranco Lake

Ranco Lake
Lago Ranco
View from Mirador Piedra Mesa
Coordinates 40°14′51″S 72°23′07″W / 40.24750°S 72.38528°W / -40.24750; -72.38528Coordinates: 40°14′51″S 72°23′07″W / 40.24750°S 72.38528°W / -40.24750; -72.38528
Primary inflows Calcurrupe, Caunahue, Nilahue
Primary outflows Bueno River
Basin countries Chile
Surface area 410 km2 (160 sq mi)[1]
Max. depth 199 m (653 ft)
Surface elevation 70 m (230 ft)[1]
Islands Huapi Island
Settlements Futrono, Lago Ranco, Llifén, Puerto Nuevo
References [1]

Ranco Lake (Spanish: Lago Ranco) is located in Ranco Province of Chile. It is the largest lake of Los Ríos Region and the fourth largest in Chile. Administratively Ranco Lake is split into three communes; La Unión, Futrono and Lago Ranco. The lake hosts a series of islands, of which Huapi Island is the largest. The western half of the lake is roughly circular while the eastern part features deep embayments. Geographically the lake lies in the Andean precordillera, the zone between the Chilean Central Valley and the Andes.

During the Miocene the lake depression was connected to the Pacific Ocean as an embayment of it. During this period a series of marine fossil bearing sediments known as Estratos de Lago Ranco were deposited in the lake area. During the quaternary glaciations the lake depression was covered by a large glacier lobe of the Patagonian Ice Sheet which left semicircular moraines around the lake's western shore.

Topography of the region. The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle massif is located between Ranco and Puyehue Lake

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cuenca del río Bueno Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine.


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