Resumen de Efectos de la antropización sobre el lago Böeckella (Península Antártica)
L. Moreno, A. Silva Busso, P. Scravaglieri, Eugeni Ermolin, J.J. Durán, J. López Martínez
Böeckella Lake is located on a plain composed of moraine deposits at the foot of Mount Flora, near Hope Bay (northern Antarctic Peninsula). It is a thermokarst lake very sensitive to human activities. The results of thermokarst and thermo-erosion processes are evident in the area around the lake. In fact, settlements of up to 8 meters thick caused by thermo-erosion processes have been measured. The environmental sensitivity of the area is strongly conditioned by the presence of masses of buried ice, the degree of ground saturation with ice in coastal deposits, the influence of surface and suprapermafrost water flow in the dam area and the talik layer modifications. Böeckella Lake has been the source of fresh water for the Argentinean Esperanza Base for more than 30 years. With the aim of assuring water supply to the base, a reservoir was built and the volume of water in Böeckella Lake increased. As a consequence of the reservoir failure in summer 2010, the former Böeckella Lake turned into a system of five ponds that behave differently of each other. In this work the reasons and consequences of the mentioned event are discussed.
