Phoksundo Lake ( ne, फोक्सुण्डो, translit=Phoksuṇḍo, pronounced ) is an alpine fresh water oligotrophic

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

Shey Phoksundo National Park Shey Phoksundo National Park is the largest and only trans- Himalayan national park in Nepal. It was established in 1984 and covers an area of in the districts of Dolpa and Mugu in the Mid-Western Region, Nepal. The protected area ranges in el ...

, located at an elevation of in the

Dolpa District Dolpa District ( ne, डोल्पा जिल्ला), is a district, located in Karnali Province of Nepal, It is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal and one of ten district of Karnali. The district, with Dunai as its district h ...

. Phoksundo Lake is in size with a water volume of and a discharge of . In 2004, a survey by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology measured the maximum depth of the lake at .Nepalnews.com (2004).
''Rara is Nepal’s deepest lake: Survey''
/ref> In 2019, another detailed survey was carried out by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, which measured the maximum depth of the lake at . In September 2007, Phoksundo Lake has been designated a Ramsar site. On the lake' southern end, the village of Ringmo sits on the 30,000- to 40,000-year-old

landslide dam A landslide dam or barrier lake is the natural damming of a river by some kind of landslide, such as a debris flow, rock avalanche or volcanic eruption. If the damming landslide is caused by an earthquake, it may also be called a quake lake. Some ...

that formed the lake.Weidinger, J. T. (2005)
''Predesign, failure and displacement mechanisms of large rockslides in the Langthang-, Annapurna- and Kanjiroba Himalayas of Nepal''
Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7, 04125, 2005 Past the dam, the waters of the lake plunge over a tall waterfall.

Religious significance

There are more than 20 stupas in the southern belt, and one

gompa A Gompa or Gönpa ( "remote place", Sanskrit ''araṇya''), also known as ling (), is a Buddhist ecclesiastical fortification of learning, lineage and sādhanā that may be understood as a conflation of a fortification, a vihara and a universit ...

in the eastern side of the lake, where annual prayers and worship are carried out. Traditional

Tibetan culture Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayas, Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinc ...

prevails in upper

Dolpo Dolpo ( bo, དོལ་པོ ) is a high-altitude culturally Tibetan region in the upper part of the Dolpa District of western Nepal, bordered in the north by China.. Part of the region lies in Shey Phoksundo National Park. The sparse, agro ...

;

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

and

Bon ''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in t ...

are prevalent in lower Dolpo, including Ringmo village.

References

Lakes of Karnali Province Ramsar sites in Nepal Protected areas established in 2007 Landslide-dammed lakes {{Karnali-geo-stub Lakes of Nepal