Lake Musters and Lake Colhue Huapi
| Lake Musters | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sarmiento Department, Chubut Province |
| Coordinates | 45°22′S 69°11′W / 45.367°S 69.183°W |
| Primary inflows | Senguerr river |
| Primary outflows | Senguerr river |
| Catchment area | 9,700 km2 (3,700 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Argentina |
| Surface area | 450 km2 (170 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 20 m (66 ft) |
| Max. depth | 38.5 m (126 ft) |
| Water volume | 8,280 hm3 (6,710,000 acre·ft) |
| Shore length1 | 150 km (93 mi) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
| Lake Colhué Huapi | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chubut Province |
| Coordinates | 45°29′38″S 68°45′26″W / 45.49389°S 68.75722°W |
| Type | endorheic |
| Primary inflows | Senguerr river |
| Primary outflows | evaporation |
| Catchment area | 10,900 km2 (4,200 sq mi) |
| Basin countries | Argentina |
| Max. length | 220 km (140 mi) |
| Surface area | 810 km2 (310 sq mi) |
| Average depth | 2 m (6 ft 7 in) |
| Max. depth | 5.5 m (18 ft) |
| Water volume | 1,620 hm3 (1,310,000 acre·ft) |
| References | |
Lake Musters and lake Colhué Huapi (45°25′S 69°11′W / 45.417°S 69.183°W, 260 m) form the terminal stage of the Senguerr river endorheic basin, located in the patagonic central region of Argentina in the south of Chubut province. Closest populated area is Sarmiento, an 8,000 inhabitant former Welsh immigrants colony. The lakes gave their names to the Mustersan and Colhuehuapian South American Land Mammal Ages.
The basin lakes are fed mainly by the eastward running Senguerr river which begins its journey in the glacial lakes and in the Andes Mountains The inflow ranges from 35 to 54m³/sec and varies seasonally and yearly greatly.
Both lakes suffer naturally of a severe evaporation process in the dry patagonian environment by means of strong winds action and solar radiation. In shallow Colhué Huapi evaporation is much increased. In past decades, when excessive inflows did take place, water discharged to the birth branches of Chico river and eventually reached Chubut river. This occasional process last happened in 1939, since then Chico river is mostly a dry one.
This lake, once called Otrón by the ancient tehuelches, received its current name in 1876 from naturalist and geographer Francisco Pascasio Moreno who aimed to honour the patagonian adventurer George Chaworth Musters.
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Wikipedia