The Chacao Channel () is located in

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( , 'Region of the Lakes') is one of regions of Chile, Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé Province, Chiloé, Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, Osorno Provin ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and separates

Chiloé Island Chiloé Island (, , ), also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern Chile, in the Los L ...

from mainland Chile. The channel is about 40 km long and 4 km wide and connects the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and Gulf of Ancud. The channel was created during the

Quaternary glaciation The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial period, glacial and interglacial, interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma (million ...

s by successive glaciers that flowed down from the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

to the coast. The construction of a bridge connecting the island with the continent was discussed at government level for some time, but during the first government of

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency. She was re-elected in December ...

(2006–2010) it was turned down due to its high cost in comparison with other proposals that could be done to benefit islanders. Later, it was reactivated during

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...

government, and finally auctioned. Construction started in 2017 and expected to be completed in 2028. A single-circuit 220 kV-powerline with a span-length of 2682 metres crosses the Chacao Channel, built in 1995. The towers of each end of this span are 179 metres tall. The horizontal speed of tides in the channel has been measured to reach a maximum between 4 and 5 m/s during flood and 3 to 4 m/s during ebb.Guerra, Maricarmen; Cienfuegos, Rodrigo; Thomson, Jim; Suarez, Leandro (2017)
"Tidal energy resource characterization in Chacao Channel, Chile"
'' International Journal of Marine Energy''. 20: 1-16. The channel has a high tidal energy potential. About 700 m from the southern bank of the channel is a rocky promontory known as Roca Remolinos in the channel. Its top can occasionally be seen during very low tides.SHOA (1995). Derrotero de la costa de Chile, Pub. 3001, 8th ed., vol. I and II, Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy (SHOA), Valparaíso, Chile. About 1500 m southeast of Roca Remolinos is a 20 m deep bank known as Seluian Bank.

References

Straits of Chile Chiloé Archipelago Coasts of Los Lagos Region Bodies of water of Los Lagos Region {{LosLagos-geo-stub

See also

References