Geologists: Oregon’s Lost Lake Disappears Every Year Down a Lava Tube

By: | June 14th, 2015

Well, this is really very strange and mysterious. In Central Oregon, every winter, water from a lake drains into a strange hole.

Lost Lake is a place in central Oregon off U.S. Highway 20 near Hoodoo Ski Area. The lake is filled with water only from October to May when input exceeds the rate of draining.

From May to September, this 85-acre (0.34 square kilometers) lake disappears down a 6-foot-wide plug hole and turns into a meadow. Nobody knows exactly where the water goes.

Thoughts on why this lake disappears:

Geologists feel the vanishing of the lake occurs due to the area’s volcanic landscape. They believe that when the flowing lava hardened near the surface and flowed downwards, a lava tube beneath the lake was formed. When the eruption cooled, the hardened pipes emptied, and the tubes in the form of vast tunnels were left behind. They think one of these tunnels is actually responsible for draining the lake.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

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