Paleo Lake ca. 1000 BP. By Barzi, A. [1]
When I posted on Vanishing Rivers I mentioned a great Paleo-lake that had formed at the end of the last Ice Age in northern Patagonia. In other posts, I had mentioned also mentioned deglaciation and the formation of the current Patagonian eco regions.
Today I came across a very interesting map by Mr. Alejandro Brazi, at his website which deals with the geography of the small village of El Hoyo and its surrounding areas.[1] It shows how the area that is now occupied by lakes Puelo, Epuyén and the valleys of the rivers Epuyén and Azul, were flooded during the end of the last Ice Age producing a very large paleo-lake.
The lake drained just as it does in the present, to the west, into the Pacific Ocean through a narrow pass in the Andean mountains.
The interesting part of this is that the Patagonian Plesiosaur was said to have been sighted in the Puelo-Epuyén rivers basin in the early 1920s. (see my map showing the current lakes and compare it with the one shown above.
Did the receding waters capture some megafaunal beast and restrict it, keeping it captive in the now smaller lakes?
Dit it originally swim up the Puelo River from the South Pacific Ocean, during the days when Puelo and Epuyén lakes were merged in the giant paleo-lake?
By the way, there have been reports of "monsters" in the Puelo River.
We will never know (neither can we know if there is -or was- a cryptid lake creature here or if it was really sighted in 1922.)
Bibliography.
Barzi, A. Descripcion de El Hoyo. Geografia Fisica
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia
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