Huechulafquen Lake () is a

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 ...

Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also meets La Pampa Province a ...

, Patagonian

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. This

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

is located in the

Andean mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S l ...

Lanín National Park Lanín National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Lanín) is a national park of Argentina, located in the Neuquén Province, with forests of diverse tree varieties, mainly Fagaceae and conifers such as the lenga and the '' Araucaria'', many species ...

some 25 kilometres from

Junín de los Andes Junín de los Andes is a first category municipality and administrative center of the Huiliches Department in the province of Neuquén, Argentina. It is located in the south of the province, by the Chimehuin River, on National Route 234, about n ...

and 60 kilometres from San Martín de los Andes. It is one of Argentina's largest Andean lakes and is fed by

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s and meltwater streams and lakes.

Description

The lake's name derives from the

Mapuche language Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...

and means ''long lake'', an apt name for this long, wide lake, which has a surface area of or 19,300 acres. Lakes Paimún and Epulafquén are connected to the main body of the lake by short, narrow, shallow straits, but are usually considered separate lakes. These two smaller lakes would add about to the size of Huechulafquen Lake if the three were considered a single lake. The

Chimehuin River The Chimehuin River is a river in the northwest of the Patagonic Province of Neuquén, Argentina. Its origin is at Lake Huechulafquen and it passes by the city of Junín de los Andes. After a course of about 53 km, it merges with the Alumin� ...

flows south-eastward out of the lake with its ultimate destination the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Junin de los Andes is the nearest city. Lake Paimún, long, is the northern arm of Huechulafquen Lake. Lanin volcano at , the highest mountain in the region, looms over its northern shore. Lake Paimun is fed by

s originating on Lanin volcano and by small streams that originate at the border with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Lake Epulafquén, long, is the southern arm of the lake. A complex of volcanoes, the

Huanquihue Group The Huanquihue Group () is a group of young basaltic stratovolcanoes in Argentina near the border with Chile, south of Lanín volcano. The Huanquihue group is located south of Epulafquén Lake, north of Lolog Lake and west of Reigolil-Pirihueico ...

, in elevation, rise above its southern shore. About 1800 CE, a lava flow from one of the volcanic cones reached the southern shore of the lake causing a rocky, distorted delta. A short, turbulent stream brings the waters of two additional lakes, Lake Curruhué, long, and Green Lake, long, into Lake Epulafquén. Another short stream feeds into Lake Epulafquén from Lake Carilafquén, long. Hot springs and thermal baths are located near the shores of this lake. Huechulafquen runs in an east-west direction, with marked climatic changes along its shores as annual precipitation decreases from about in the higher mountains overlooking the lake to about at the eastern end of the lake. Most of the precipitation falls in the southern hemisphere winter.

Tourism

Lake Huechulafquen is a popular tourist destination for camping, hiking, boating, climbing Lanin volcano, and fishing for rainbow and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

, species introduced to Argentine in the early 1900s. A road runs along the north shore of the lake, passing through several communities of the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

people, who live within the boundaries of Lanin National Park. Another road touches along the southern shoreline of Lake Epulaufquén providing access to the volcanic flows there. This road continues westward, crossing into Chile at the

Carirriñe Pass Carirriñe Pass is an international mountain pass in the Andes between Chile and Argentina. The pass connects Coñaripe and Liquiñe in Chile with Junín de los Andes in Argentina. At the site of the pass some of the southernmost Araucaria araucan ...

, elevation ."Carirriñe Pass," http://www.dangerousroads.org/south-america/chile/4317-paso-carirri%C3%B1e.html, accessed 5 Apr 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huechulafquen Lakes of Neuquén Province Glacial lakes of Argentina