San Martin Lake Size report
The deepest lake in South America is located on the Patagonian Plateau, crossing the border between Chile and Argentina. The part in Chile is called O'Higgins Lake, and the part in the province of Santa Cruz in Argentina is called St. Martin Lake. The two names come from two beloved national heroes of Chile and Argentina, O'Higgins and San Martin, who fought in the War of Independence.
O'Higgins/St. Martin Lake has eight clearly defined branches, and its waters are a stunning azure blue; it is said to have been formed by the fusion of stone dust from upstream. The lake is the home of O'Higgins Glacier, which can be visited by boat from the O'Higgins Mountains during the summer months from December to February in South America.
O'Higgins/St. Martin Lake covers an area of 1,058 square kilometers and is 250 meters above sea level. Its maximum depth is 836 meters, which is said to be measured with an advanced echo sounder by a group of scientists from the Scientific Research Center in Valdivia, Chile, and the Technical University of Dresden, Germany.
St. Martin Lake Introduction
Located in a sparsely populated area of the Patagonian Andes, this turquoise-colored lake, called O'Higgins in Chile and San Martín in Argentina, is probably the least known of the lakes on the list of the largest lake in the world. The lake sits on the Argentina-Chile border and is mainly fed by the O'Higgins Glacier, which flows into it from the west. It is a huge lake fed by several glaciers in the North of the El Chalten and Fitz Roy region. The Mayer River and other streams flow into the lake, and the Pascua River discharges water from the lake towards the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 510 cubic km per second ((18,000 cubic ft/s).
Wearing heavy clothing similar to a polar expedition, rafting glacial lakes in a small boat is a feature of tourism in O'Higgins/St. Martin Lake region. The most common tourist route for visiting the lake is between El Chaltén in Argentina and Villa O'Higgins in Chile, including a ferry through the lake on the Chilean side.
San Martin Lake Size
With a maximum depth of 836 meters (2,742 feet) near O'Higgins Glacier, it is the deepest lake in the Americas. It has a surface area of 1,058 square kilometers, an elevation of 250 meters above mean sea level, and a shoreline length of 525 km. The lake is surrounded by the Andes and consists of a series of finger-shaped flooded valleys, of which 554 km² are in Chile and 459 km² in Argentina.
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 250 m (820 ft) |
| Surface area | 1,058 sq km (408.5 sq mi) |
| Max. Depth | 836 m (2,742 ft) |
| Shore Length | 525 km (326 mi) |
Final Words
O'Higgins Lake is a world-class tourist scenic spot where there are many mysterious and spectacular glacial lakes. The perennial movement of glaciers continues to erode the lake bed, resulting in surprising amounts of glacial lakes on the southern ice sheet. However, due to the acceleration of global warming, the glaciers near O'Higgins Lake are melting and retreating like the Antarctic glaciers every year, which has caused great concern for scientists.
