O'Higgins/San Martín Lake

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O'Higgins/San Martín Lake
Coordinates	48°50′S, 72°36′W
Primary sources	Mayer River
Primary outflows	Pascua River
Basin countries	Argentina, Chile
Surface area	1,058 km²
Max depth	836 m
Shore length¹	525 km
Surface elevation	250 m
¹ Shore length is an imprecise measure which may not be standardized for this article.

The lake known as O'Higgins in Chile and San Martín in Argentina, is located around coordinates 48°50′S, 72°36′W in the Patagonia, between the Aysen Region and the Santa Cruz Province.

Its surface is of 1,058 km² at 250 metres above mean sea level, and has a shoreline length of 525 km. The lake is the deepest in the Americas with a maximum depth of 836 metres near O'Higgins Glacier^[1]. It's mainly fed by the Mayer River and other streams, and its outlet Pascua River discharges water from the lake towards the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 510 m³/s. The Southern Patagonian Ice Sheet extend from the lake for 330 kilometres to the Viedma Lake and Argentino Lake. The O'Higgins Glacier flows eastwards towards the lake, as does the Chico Glacier.

Immigrants did not settle in the arid windy area around the lake until the 1910s, when British, Scandinavian and Swiss started raising sheep for wool.

The most common tourist path visiting the lake is that between El Chaltén in Argentina and Villa O'Higgins in Chile, including a ferry through the lake on the Chilean side.

[edit] Names

Being the most irregular of the lakes in the area, consisting of eight well defined arms, the name San Martín is sometimes used to refer only to the Argentine side, and O'Higgins to the 4 Chilean arms. Both names come from independence heroes José de San Martín of Argentina and Bernardo O'Higgins of Chile, who even fought together for the liberation of Chile, and became to be known as Liberators of America together with other South American figures.

The 4 Argentine arms of the lake, with an area of 521 km², are named Cancha Rayada, Chacabuco, Maipú and De la Lancha, after battles of General San Martín,