Última Esperanza Sound ( es, Seno de Última Esperanza, ‘Last Hope Sound’ or 'Inlet of Last Hope') is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ma ...

stretching from the mouth of Eberhard Fjord to the outskirts of

Monte Balmaceda Monte Balmaceda is a heavily glaciated mountain located in the Magallanes Region of Chile. It stands at the head of Última Esperanza Sound, in the south portion of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and near the mouth of the Serrano River. Th ...

, within the

Magallanes Basin The Magallanes Basin or Austral Basin is a major sedimentary basin in southern Patagonia. The basin covers a surface of about and has a NNW-SSE oriented shape. The basin is bounded to the west by the Andes mountains and is separated from the Malv ...

. The navigator Juan Ladrillero named it so in 1557, because he felt it was this direction was his last chance to reach the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pa ...

. The inlet ends at a glacier, and not at the strait. This inlet is tidal, and drains an extensive basin. It receives the waters of almost all the surface waters of Torres del Paine National Park through the

Serrano River Serrano River is a river located in the Magallanes Region of Chile. Its main tributary is Grey River. The Serrano Glacier is an attraction on the river. The waters of the Serrano River eventually reach Seno Ultima Esperanza. The Chilean scien ...

. The sound occupies a valley carved by

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

action. During the last glacial period glaciers reached their

maximum In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given r ...

extent in Última Esperanza Sound about 48,000 years ago. Last Hope Sound along with the

Señoret Channel The Señoret Channel is a navigable surface water body in the Patagonian region of Chile. One of the major towns along the channel is Puerto Natales. Hermann Eberhard, the first European to explore the interior of northern Patagonia, used the S ...

forms a navigation route, which connects

Puerto Natales Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part o ...

with several protected areas of the region. In the vicinity of the Eberhard Fjord is located

Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is a Natural Monument located in the Chilean Patagonia, northwest of Puerto Natales and north of Punta Arenas. The monument is situated along the flanks of Cerro Benitez. It comprises several caves and a ...

, where remains have been recovered of the extinct

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Cari ...

along with a settlement of prehistoric humans.C.M.Hogan, 2008

References

* Bailey Willis (1914) Argentina Dirección General de Ferrocarriles Nacionales, Argentina Comisión de Estudios Hidrológicos,''Northern Patagonia: Character and Resources'', Scribner press, 464 pages * C. Michael Hogan, ''Cueva del Milodon'', Megalithic Portal, 13 April 200

* * Abbey Mitchell (1924) Mexico district General de Nacionales, Barcelona Estudios, lodon', Megalithic Portal, 13 April 200

* *

Line notes

Bodies of water of Magallanes Region Última Esperanza Province Sounds of Chile {{MagellanAntarctic-geo-stub

See also

References

Line notes