Sanabria Lake

42°07′21″N 6°43′09″W / 42.12250°N 6.71917°W / 42.12250; -6.71917Primary inflowsRío Segundera, Río CárdenaPrimary outflowsRío TrefacioCatchment area11.42 km² (4.41 sq mi)Basin countriesSpainMax. length3.3 km (2.1 mi)Max. width1.47 km (0.91 mi)Surface area3.48 km² (1.34 sq mi)Average depth27.7 m (91 ft)Max. depth51 m (167 ft)Water volume96,289,887 m³ (3.4004453×10⁹ cu ft)Shore length¹9.13 km (5.67 mi)Surface elevation1,018 m (3,340 ft)IslandsoneSettlementsPuebla de Sanabria¹ Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Sanabria Lake (Spanish: Lago de Sanabria, Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlaɣo ðe saˈnaβɾja]; Leonese: Llagu de Senabria) is a lake located 8 km to the northwest of Puebla de Sanabria in the province of Zamora, Spain. It is one of the very few sizable natural lakes in Spain.^[1]

With a surface of 368 hectares it is also the largest glacial lake in the Iberian Peninsula.

The main inflow and outflow of water from the lake is the river Tera. The lake is a widening of the Tera.

The Sanabria lake is now within the limits of the Sanabria Lake Natural Park. The area was declared a Natural Park in 1978.^[2]

The Sanabria comarca is one of the few areas in Western Europe having a sizeable population of wild wolves living in the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range.

The lake was the site of a tragedy when the Vega de Tera dam failed and triggered a deadly flood. Bodies of the 144 killed ended up in the lake, most not recovered.^[3]

References

^ J. C. Vega, C. De Hoyos, J. J. Aldasoro, J. De Miguel und H. Fraile: Nuevos datos morfométricos para el Lago de Sanabria, Limnetica, 24(1-2): 115-122 (2005) Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
^ Royal decree that established the park (in Spanish) Archived 2009-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, Junta de Castilla y León website
^ Saseta, Sergio (8 January 2016). "El día que el mundo se hundió en Ribadelago". El Norte de Castilla (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2022.