Lake Valencia (Venezuela)
| Lake Valencia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lake Tacarigua | ||
| ||
| Catchment area | 2,646 km2 (1,022 sq mi) | |
| Basin countries | Venezuela | |
| Surface area | 350 km2 (140 sq mi) | |
| Average depth | 18 m (59 ft) | |
| Max. depth | 39 m (128 ft) | |
| Surface elevation | 410 m (1,350 ft) | |
Lake Valencia (Spanish: Lago de Valencia), formerly Lake Tacarigua, is a lake within Carabobo State and Aragua State in northern Venezuela.
Geography
Lake Valencia is the third largest
The lake is located in one of the Aragua valleys, between the parallel sub-
The endorheic lake has natural discharge level at 427 m above sea level; the water level declined below this height about 250 years ago. Its surface level currently is 410 m above sea level, and is about 30 km long, has an area of 350 km2. The maximum depth is 39 m, the mean depth 18 m. The lake has a number of small islands, with some inhabited.[1]
Its
.History
The lake was formed approximately 2–3 million years ago due to faulting and subsequent damming of the Cabriales River. The lake has been completely dry during several discrete periods of its geologic history.
Ecology
The lake suffers from algal blooms caused by continual influx of untreated wastewater from the surrounding urban, agricultural, and industrial land uses. This contributes to ongoing eutrophication, contamination, and salinization of the lake.
Despite its picturesque location between the Cordillera de la Costa to the north and the Serrania del Interior to the south, Lake Valencia's poor water quality limits opportunities for tourism and recreational activities. Due to pollution and other human induced changes, almost 60% of the native fish species in the lake were lost between 1960 and 1990.[4] Among the fish in the lake is the diamond tetra, which is commonly kept in aquaria, while two species of catfish, Lithogenes valencia and Pimelodella tapatapae are entirely endemic to the lake basin.[5]
A lake clean-up scheme with finance from IDB has been described [6] along with information on pollution loads, reuse opportunities and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure, which was installed between 1991 and 2002.
References
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 846.
- ISBN 9780385350662.
- ^ Humboldt, Alexander Von (1814). "AH Personal Narrative". Personal: 143–144.
- ^ López-Rojas, H., and A. L. Bonilla-Rivero (2000) Anthropogenically induced fish diversity reduction in Lake Valencia Basin, Venezuela. Biodiversity & Conservation 9(6): 757–765
- ^ Hales, J., and P. Petry (2013). Orinoco High Andes Archived 2017-01-16 at the Wayback Machine. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Retrieved 5 March 2013
- ^ Lansdell. M., and Carbonell, L.M. (1991) ′′ Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Aspects of Lake Valencia ′′Wat. Sci. Technol. vol. 24 Nº 9 pp 19-30
Sources
- "Lake Valenica, Venezuela". NASA Earth Observatory. Archived from the original on 13 January 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2006.