Lake Thun () is an

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

lake in the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland (; ; ), sometimes also known as the Bernese Highlands, is the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern. It is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as ''Oberland'' witho ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

named after the city of

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

, on its northern shore. At in surface area, it is the largest Swiss lake entirely within a single canton. The lake was created after the last glacial period. After the 10th century, it split from

Lake Brienz Lake Brienz () is a lake just north of the Alps, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It has a length of about , a width of and a maximum depth of . Its area is ; the surface is above the sea-level. It is fed, among others, by the upper reaches ...

, before which the two lakes were combined, as ''Wendelsee'' ("Lake Wendel"). The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is the

Finsteraarhorn The Finsteraarhorn () is a mountain lying on the border between the cantons of Canton of Bern, Bern and Valais. It is the highest mountain of the Bernese Alps and the List of prominent mountains of Switzerland, most prominent peak of Switzerland. ...

at above sea level. Lake Thun's approximate catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls. This occurs because the river

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

(), which drains Lake Thun, has only limited capacity to handle the excess runoff. The lake is fed by water from

to the southeast, which is higher than Lake Thun, and various streams in the Oberland, including the Kander. In 1835, passenger steamships began operating regularly on the lake. Ten passenger ships, operated by the local railway company

BLS AG BLS AG is a Swiss railway company created by the 2006 merger of BLS Lötschbergbahn and Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG. Its ownership is divided, with 55.8% of it owned by the canton of Berne, and 21.7% by the Swiss Confederation. It has two ma ...

like , serve the towns of

Interlaken Interlaken (; lit.: ''between lakes'') is a Swiss town and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. It is an important and well-known tourist destination in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss ...

and

; the

Interlaken ship canal The Interlaken ship canal () is a long canal in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern. It connects Lake Thun with a quay in the town of Interlaken adjacent to Interlaken West railway station, thus allowing shipping services on the lake to serve ...

and Thun ship canal connect the lake to

Interlaken West railway station Interlaken West is a railway station in the resort town of Interlaken, in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is on the Thunersee line of the BLS AG, and is one of two stations in the town, the other being Interlaken Ost. In addition to trains operated ...

and

Thun railway station Thun is a railway station in the town of Thun, in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern. At the station, the Swiss Federal Railways owned Bern–Thun railway line, Bern to Thun main line makes a junction with the other lines, all owned by the ...

respectively. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and up until 1964, the Swiss Government disposed of unused munitions into Lake Thun. The quantity of munitions dumped is reported to be from 3,000 to more than 9,020 tons.

References

External links

*
Lake Thun Tourism Portal

The River Aare sluices
{{Authority control

Thun Bernese Oberland LThun

Lakes of the Alps