Largest Lakes in Mexico

Geography

It is located at 20°20′N 103°00′W, 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and is situated on the border between the states of Jalisco and Michoacán, at 1,524 metres (5000 feet) above sea level. Its approximate dimensions are 80 km (50 mi) from east to west and averages 12.5 km (7.8 miles) from north to south, and covers an approximate area of 1,100 km2 (420 sq mi).

It is a shallow lake, with a mean depth of 7 metres (23 ft) and a maximum of 10.5 m (34 ft). The age of Lake Chapala, which is located in one of the youngest geological areas of the American continent, has been established by means of carbon-14 dating of wood samples encountered in the sediments.

Ecology

The city of Guadalajara has relied on Lake Chapala as a principal source of water since the 1950s.

Shortly after, a few consecutive years of poor rainfall dramatically decreased the water level of the lake. The level rebounded until 1979, when Lake Chapala's water level began rapidly decreasing due to increases in urban water consumption.

Erosion due to deforestation along the lake as well as the Lerma River has led to increased sedimentation of the lake, also contributing to loss of lake depth. The shrinking depth has also raised the lake's average temperature, resulting in increased evaporation.

Simultaneously, the waters of Lake Chapala are polluted by municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes, coming primarily from the Lerma River.

Hydrology

Amistad Reservoir is part of the Rio Grande, which forms its principal inflow at its northwestern end. The other major inflow is the Devils River, which enters from the north. The reservoir occupies a series of meanders between the two rivers; its outflow passes through Amistad Dam on the lake's southern side, from which the Rio Grande continues southeastward toward the Gulf of Mexico. Since it is filled by the Rio Grande (and its tributaries, the Rio Conchos and Pecos River), Amistad's drainage basin includes a vast area of West Texas, central New Mexico, southern Colorado, southeastern Chihuahua, and northern Coahuila.

History

The area now covered by the reservoir was long inhabited by Indigenous Americans, who sheltered in caves along the rivers and left numerous cave paintings. After the Mexican–American War, American pioneers such as John Coffee Hays travelled through the area in developing a reliable road from San Antonio to El Paso.

A 1944 treaty between the United States and Mexico proposed the construction of a major dam and reservoir on the Rio Grande to provide flood control, water conservation, irrigation, hydroelectric power, and recreation to the area. Amistad Dam's construction began in December 1964 and was completed in November 1969, after which the reservoir was filled, flooding a series of valleys around the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Devils River.