Lake Poco Sol (from Spanish, "Little Sunshine"), or , is a volcanic lake in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, in the Cordillera de Tilarán. The lake lies at an altitude of in a wide depression. The depth of the lake is about . Other volcanic features in the area include breccia,

lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extreme ...

deposits,

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or und ...

s and tuffs. The lake may be a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

scar, or a crater left by a phreatic explosion. It is of probable Pleistocene age. It is constructed within the andesitic Monteverde

Formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

, which was erupted between 2.1 and 1 million years ago. Hot springs, mud pots and deposits of

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

are found both at the lake and near the Río Penas Blancas. The area has been investigated for harnessing

geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...

. The geothermal activity may be the source of the name ''Pocosol''. The active volcano Arenal lies north-northwest of Laguna Poco Sol. Arenal along with Cerro Chato between Arenal and Laguna Poco Sol and Cerro Pocosol south of Laguna Poco Sol may be located along a zone of tectonic weakness that was accompanied by northeast-migrating volcanism.

References

{{Central American volcanoes Poco Sol Poco Sol Pleistocene volcanism Volcanoes of Costa Rica

See also

References