Loughareema

View of the lake. The short straight section of the bank at the front is the section that has been secured with a wall to prevent the road from being (quickly) washed over

Loughareema (also Loughaveema , Vanishing Lake , Irish Loch an Mhadhma , dt. "Lake of the outbreak") in the north-east of Northern Ireland is a small lake that dries up periodically but unpredictably. The phenomenon is considered unique in Europe. The somewhat idiosyncratic lake is located directly on the coastal road near Ballycastle . Sometimes the coastal road is washed over by the still water, because surprisingly the road to Ballycastle briefly leads directly through the lake. The residents of the area "rumor with a wink" that even the foreign road construction engineers once let themselves be "tricked" by the lake.

The reason for the unusual phenomenon is that the lake is on a "leaky" chalk bed. If the drainage holes are blocked with, for example, peat, the water cannot drain underground and collects again to form a lake.

This happens very quickly during heavy rains, which are not uncommon in Ireland - and the lake disappears just as suddenly as soon as one of the described peat "plugs" is no longer tight.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Loughareema. The Lake That Disappears - International News Blog. (No longer available online.) In: aboutnewnews.blogspot.de. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017 ; accessed on January 12, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Impressions of a US tourist on YouTube in front of the empty lake, who does not know why the lake is falling dry
• Statement by a geologist in front of the full lake on YouTube

Coordinates: 55 ° 9 ′ 25 ″  N , 6 ° 6 ′ 30 ″  W.