Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or semi-enclosed bay connected to the Gulf of Venezuela. With a surface area of , if counted as a lake it would be the largest in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, ahead of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

, as well as one of the oldest lakes on Earth, having formed 36 million years ago in the Andes Mountains. The lake consists of brackish water, and is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela to the north by a narrow strait. It is fed by numerous rivers, the biggest being the Catatumbo River. The fault in the northern section has collapsed and is rich in oil and gas resources. It is Venezuela's main oil producing area and an important fishing and agricultural producing area. Eutrophication caused by oil pollution is a major environmental problem facing the lagoon. The area around the lagoon is inhabited by a quarter of the country's population and is also the place with the most frequent

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

on Earth. The famous Catatumbo lightning can illuminate nighttime navigation.

Geology

Lake Maracaibo is located within the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous basin and is one of the oldest lakes on earth. It was formed 36 million years ago when the faults collapsed when the Andes were uplifted in the late

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

. In the geological history, sea water and fresh water have alternated many times, and have flooded the area. At the end of the last glacial period, the sea level rose, connecting Lake Maracaibo directly with the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, and the lighter fresh water floated on the heavier salt water, causing nutrients to be deposited on the bottom of the lake, resulting in the accumulation of a more than thick deposit of sediment on the bedrock. In the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Escalante, Catatumbo and Santa Ana rivers converge. Lake Maracaibo is located in the Maracaibo lowland in the faulted basin between the Perija Mountains and the Merida Mountains of the Eastern Cordillera Mountains in northwestern Venezuela. The lake is in the shape of a vase. It is long from north to south, wide from east to west, covers an area of , the deepest is , the shore length is about , and the volume is about . The largest river entering the lake, the Catatumbo River, enters the lake from west to east, providing 57% of the water entering the lake. In addition to the influence of the prevailing wind, the lake water circulates counterclockwise. There are also the Santa Ana River, Chama River, Motatán River, Escalante River, and about fifty other rivers which drain into it. Lake Maracaibo is deep in the south and shallow in the north. The northern half of the lake, which looks like a bottleneck, is long. The southeastern edge of the lake basin with a flat bottom is steep and the northwestern edge is gentle. The southern part is lighter due to river water injection, while the northern part is slightly salty due to tidal influence. The Catatumbo River forms a bird-foot-shaped

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

in the southwest of the lake basin, and the surface lake water in the delta has a salinity of only 0.13%. However, the intrusion of seawater from the mouth of the lake makes the salinity of the bottom lake water higher, reaching 0.2–0.3%. The north is connected with the Gulf of Venezuela, and the spit at the mouth of the lake extends for about .

Climate

The annual average temperature of the lake area is ; the precipitation is more in the south and less in the north, and the average annual rainfall in the south is . The mountain wind from the Andes at night contacts the warm and humid air over the lake surface, contributing to an average rainfall of per year. The meteorological phenomenon known as Catatumbo lightning takes place over the southern part of the lake, characterized by a continuous series of lightnings that are almost silent. This makes Lake Maracaibo the place with the most frequent lightning on Earth. There are about 233 lightning strikes per square kilometre in a year on average. The nocturnal thunderstorms occur on average about 297 days per year. At its peak in September, the lake area can experience up to 280 lightning strikes per hour, approximately 28 lightning strikes per minute, lasting up to nine hours, and capable of illuminating nighttime navigation.

History

The aboriginal people who lived on the banks of the lake refer to it as Coquivacoa. The tribes of Wayuu, Caquetíos, and Quiriquires also lived in the area. When Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci and Spanish explorer

Alonso de Ojeda Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao ...

's fleet sailed here on August 24, 1499 (the first time Europeans entered this area), the

stilt house Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on Stilts (architecture), stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they als ...

s in which the Añú lived in reminded Vespucci of the Italian city of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, so he named the region ''Veneziola'' (''Venezuela'' in Spanish), or "Little Venice". Spain made two attempts to establish settlements around the lake in 1529 and 1569, but it was not until 1574 that the city of Maracaibo was successfully established. The Privateer Henry Morgan raided settlements on the lake in the Spring of 1669 and defeated a Spanish squadron sent to intercept him. On July 24, 1823, Venezuela won the famous Battle of Lake Maracaibo on the lake during the Venezuelan War of Independence. The original depth of the lake mouth, which was only about deep, was increased to after dredging in the 1930s, and the -long stone breakwater was further increased to after its completion in 1957, allowing ocean-going tankers to enter the lake, At the same time, the northern part, which was originally fresh water, became brackish. The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge over the lake connecting Maracaibo and Santa Rita was completed in 1962.

Industry

Lake Maracaibo is rich in oil and gas resources and is known as the "oil lake". The first Spaniards who arrived used tar seeping from the lake to fill ship cracks. The Maracaibo oil field was discovered in 1914, the first oil well was constructed in 1917, and large-scale exploitation began in 1922. The oil fields are concentrated in the northeast and northwest of the lake, and the oil-producing layers are mainly Tertiary sandstone and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

limestone, with a hydrocarbon-bearing area of , mainly concentrated in the coastal waters long and wide in the east of the lake. On the northwest coast is the capital of Zulia State, the second largest city in Venezuela and an important oil export port in the world. The lake area is also an important fishing and agricultural production area in Venezuela, supporting more than 20,000 fishermen, many of whom live in colorful traditional stilt houses built with iron sheets on the lake. The main crops on the south bank of the lake are bananas, peanuts, cocoa, coconut, sugar cane and coffee, the western shore of the lake developed dairy industry. Lake Maracaibo and the Catatumbo River are the main traffic lines for the transportation of commodities in the nearby area, and the city of Maracaibo is the transshipment center of coffee produced in the Andes. The waterway can pass through large sea-going ships and oil tankers, exporting crude oil and agricultural and livestock products from the Andean mountains and lakes. The Lake District is home to a quarter of Venezuela's population, and with the influx of farmers from the nearby Andes, the population of the Lake District increased from about 300,000 in 1936 to over 3.62 million in 2007.

Nature

Lake Maracaibo possesses highly oxygenated waters which makes it rich in algae, and in turn fish, making it very biologically diverse. It is home to clams, blue crabs, shrimp and other aquatic products, and is also home to two endangered aquatic mammals, the West Indian manatee and the Amazon river dolphin. About 145 species of fish inhabit the lake, including many endemic species such as the Maracaibo half-hooked catfish ('' Hypostomus maracaiboensis''), the Maracaibo hairy catfish ('' Trichomycterus maracaiboensis''), the Maracaibo Lake Lamont catfish ('' Lamontichthys maracaibero''), Lake Maracaibo tetra ('' Bryconamericus motatanensis''), and Maracaibo wolf anchovies ('' Lycengraulis limnichthys'') living in surface waters. The lake has been drilled about 14,000 times, and more than of oil and gas pipelines criss-cross the lake floor, but most of these pipelines are half a century old, with oil leaking from many aging underwater pipes. Before the 1950s, the lake water could still be used directly for domestic use, but then due to the intrusion of tidal salt water caused by the widening of the lake mouth channel, the salinity of the northern lake area increased by about 1,000%, and the south also increased by 300–500%.

Contamination

In lakeside towns such as the city of Maracaibo, the lake water is contaminated with E. coli from feces, oil pollution, and eutrophication caused by agricultural sewage discharged into the lake, as well as domestic and industrial wastewater, resulting in the blooms of duckweed and

green algae The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ...

. The presence of large amounts of duckweed blocks the passage of sunlight, significantly affecting biological cycles, preventing the development of native algae and plant species. Additionally, duckweed residues accumulate at the bottom, generating a layer of organic elements that produces large amounts of ammonium, methane and other compounds whose saturation causes eutrophication of the waters. In the spring of 2004, heavy rains fell in the Lake Maracaibo basin, causing a large influx of fresh water into the lake. This caused nutrients originally deposited on the bottom of the lake to float to the surface of the lake, which in turn allowed the duckweed to rapidly multiply and triggered a bloom that lasted for up to eight months. The blooms were noted in June to have covered 18% of the lake, and the local government had to begin spending about $2 million per month on cleanup work. Numerous

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

s, at least partly attributed to deficient maintenance, and the indiscriminate discharge of sewage without prior treatment, have significantly deteriorated the water quality, to the point that in some parts of the Zulia area, the water presents levels of contamination that are very dangerous for health. Within the existing polluting activities, the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

of mineral coal has started more recently, which further contaminates the basin with pollutants. Likewise, the so-called ''cañadas'', which are random drainage courses, drag large amounts of garbage from the human settlements that are in their path to the lake. In addition to this, residential waste such as plastic bags and bottles are also added. These pollutants all eventually get carried into the lake.

Islands

There are many islands in the lake. Some primarily consist of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

, such as the Zapara, Pescadores, and San Carlos islands (which is geographically a peninsula), while others like Toad have tectonic origins. The majority of the islands are located in the area of the Tablazo Bay and forms the . The islands of Burro, Providencia, Hijacal, Pájaros, and the artificial islands are located at the neck of the lake and belong to other municipalities. Natural islands of Lake Maracaibo: *Uranden - Small island. * * * Toas Island * * * * Burro Island * Hicacal Island Artificial islands of Lake Maracaibo: * – Residential complex in the Coquivacoa Parish of the city of Maracaibo. * – Island created for the filling of oil tankers in the city of Cabimas. The only island in the sack of the lake.

Bridge

The long General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge connects the western and eastern coast of the lake together. It held the record for being the longest cable-stayed concrete bridge in the world at the time of its inauguration in 1962. Located in the southern part of the Strait of Maracaibo, it is a vehicles-only bridge that accommodates both directions of traffic, while its height allows for the passage of vessels up to in height.

Photos

References

{{Authority control Ancient lakes Maracaibo basin Bays of Venezuela Geography of Zulia