Moraine dammed lake
Encyclopedia
A moraine-dammed lake occurs when a terminal moraine
has prevented some meltwater
from leaving the valley. Its most common shape is that of a long ribbon (ribbon lake
).
Example of moraine dammed lakes include:
In the 19th century the Argentine explorer Francisco Perito Moreno suggested that many Patagonian lakes draining to the Pacific were in fact part of the Atlantic basin but had been moraine
dammed during the quaternary
glaciations changing their outlets to the west. He argued that as originally belonging to the Atlantic basin these lakes should be awarded to Argentina.Most of the lakes situated in the Himalaya of Nepal and Bhutan are also of the moraine dammed type. They may burst at anytime. That is why the areas below such lakes have high risk of flooding.
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
has prevented some meltwater
Meltwater
Meltwater is the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice and ice shelfs over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing...
from leaving the valley. Its most common shape is that of a long ribbon (ribbon lake
Ribbon lake
A ribbon lake or loch is a long and narrow, finger-shaped lake, usually found in a glacial trough. Its formation begins when a glacier moves over an area containing alternate bands of hard and soft bedrock...
).
Example of moraine dammed lakes include:
- Argentina/Chile: Buenos Aires Lake
- Chile: Calafquén LakeCalafquén LakeCalafquén Lake is a lake of Chile, which straddles the border between the Araucanía Region and Los Ríos Region. It is one of the Seven Lakes and forms part of the drainage basin of the Valdivia River....
, Panguipulli LakePanguipulli LakeThe Panguipulli Lake is one of the "Seven Lakes" in Panguipulli municipality, southern Chile. The lake is of glacial origin and it is enclosed by mountain ranges of the Andes, on all sides except the west, where the town of Panguipulli lies in the Chilean Central Valley. The lake is drained by the... - New Zealand: Lake HaweaLake HaweaLake Hawea is located in the Otago Region of New Zealand, at an altitude of 348 metres. It covers an area of some 141 km² and is, at its deepest, 392 metres deep...
, Lake OhauLake OhauLake Ohau is a glacial lake in the Mackenzie Basin of New Zealand's South Island. It is fed by the Hopkins and Dobson rivers, which have their headwaters in the Southern Alps, and has its outflow in the Ohau River, which itself feeds into the Waitaki River hydroelectric project.Ohau is the smallest...
, Lake PukakiLake PukakiLake Pukaki is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north-south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Tekapo and Ohau...
, Lake TekapoLake TekapoLake Tekapo is the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand...
, Lake WakatipuLake WakatipuLake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of Otago Region, near its boundary with Southland.With a length of , it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at , its third largest...
, and Lake WanakaLake WanakaLake Wanaka is located in the Otago region of New Zealand, at an altitude of 300 metres. Covering an area of , it is New Zealand's fourth largest lake, and estimated to be more than deep...
(i.e., almost all large lakes in the South IslandSouth IslandThe South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
) - Switzerland: Lake ZurichLake ZurichLake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....
- United States: Donner LakeDonner LakeDonner Lake is a freshwater lake in northeast California on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and about northwest of the much larger Lake Tahoe. A moraine serves as a natural dam for the lake. The lake is located in the town of Truckee, sandwiched between Interstate 80 to the north and...
in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Flathead LakeFlathead LakeFlathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in the western part of the contiguous United States. With a surface area of between and , it is slightly larger than Lake Tahoe. The lake is a remnant of the ancient inland sea, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake...
in MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Mille Lacs LakeMille Lacs LakeMille Lacs Lake is a lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin and Crow Wing, roughly 100 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area....
in MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Wallowa LakeWallowa LakeWallowa Lake is a ribbon lake one mile south of Joseph, Oregon, United States. Impounded by high moraines, it was formed by a series of Pleistocene glaciers. On the south end of the lake is a small community made up of vacation homes, lodging, restaurants, as well as other small businesses....
in OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern... - Wales: Llyn PerisLlyn PerisLlyn Peris is a lake in Snowdonia, Wales, approximately 1.8 km long and situated close to the villages of Llanberis and Nant Peris. The lake was formed glacially and is an example of a moraine-dammed lake. Llyn Peris is named after Saint Peris, an early Christian saint of whom little is known...
and its twin Llyn PadarnLlyn PadarnLlyn Padarn is a glacially formed lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north Wales, and is an example of a moraine dammed lake. The lake is approximately long and at its deepest point is deep. At its south-eastern end it is linked to the neighbouring Llyn Peris...
.
In the 19th century the Argentine explorer Francisco Perito Moreno suggested that many Patagonian lakes draining to the Pacific were in fact part of the Atlantic basin but had been moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
dammed during the quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
glaciations changing their outlets to the west. He argued that as originally belonging to the Atlantic basin these lakes should be awarded to Argentina.Most of the lakes situated in the Himalaya of Nepal and Bhutan are also of the moraine dammed type. They may burst at anytime. That is why the areas below such lakes have high risk of flooding.