Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo
Primary sources	Catatumbo River
Primary outflows	Gulf of Venezuela
Basin countries	Colombia Venezuela
Surface area	13,210 km²
Max. depth	60.0 m
Water volume	280.00 km3
Surface elevation	0 m
Settlements	Maracaibo, Cabimas

Lake Maracaibo from space, August 1985. North is at the bottom left of the image. (STS-51-I)

Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish lake in Venezuela at 10°39′N, 71°36′W. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by a 55km strait on the northern edge of the lake, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo River. It is the largest lake in South America, at 13,210 km², and one of the oldest lakes on Earth. ^{[1] [2]} Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x668, 153 KB) This map shows the location of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. ... Satellite image of the Gulf of Venezuela The Gulf of Venezuela is a gulf of the Carribean Sea bounded by the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Falcón. ... A drainage basin is the area within the drainage basin divide (blue outline), and drains the surface runoff and river discharge (green lines) of a contiguous area. ... Nickname: Motto: Muy noble y leal Coordinates: , Country State Counties Maracaibo Government  - Mayor Gian Carlo Di Martino (2000 – 2008) Area  - City 550 km²  (212. ... Nickname: Motto: The Towns decay dont die Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cabimas Government  - Mayor Hernan Aleman (2000 – 2008) Area  - Total 862 km² (332. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 153 KB) Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela - August 1985 image description here File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (640x640, 153 KB) Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela - August 1985 image description here File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... // Crew Joseph H. Engle (flew on STS-2 & STS-51-I), Commander Richard O. Covey (flew on STS-51-I, STS-26, STS-38 & STS-61), Pilot James D. A. van Hoften (flew on STS-41-C & STS-51-I), Mission Specialist 1 John M. Lounge (flew on STS-51... Brackish water is water that is saltier than fresh water, but not as salty as sea water. ... For other uses, see Lake (disambiguation). ... Satellite image of the Gulf of Venezuela The Gulf of Venezuela is a gulf of the Carribean Sea bounded by the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Falcón. ...

Lake Maracaibo acts as a major shipping route to the ports of Maracaibo and Cabimas. The surrounding Maracaibo Basin contains large reserves of crude oil, making the lake a major profit center for Venezuela.^[2] A dredged channel gives oceangoing vessels access to the lake. The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge (8.7 km long; completed 1962), spanning the lake's outlet, is one of the longest bridges in the world. Nickname: Motto: Muy noble y leal Coordinates: , Country State Counties Maracaibo Government  - Mayor Gian Carlo Di Martino (2000 – 2008) Area  - City 550 km²  (212. ... Nickname: Motto: The Towns decay dont die Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cabimas Government  - Mayor Hernan Aleman (2000 – 2008) Area  - Total 862 km² (332. ... The Maracaibo Basin in Western Venezuela is a prolific, oil-producing sedimentary basin. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ) or crude oil is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge is located on Lake Maracaibo, in western Venezuela. ...

History

The first settlements on the lake were those of the Goajiro Indians, who speak an Arawakan language. The Arawakan languages are an indigenous language family of South America and the Caribbean. ...

The first European to discover the lake was Alonso de Ojeda on August 24, 1499, on a voyage with Amerigo Vespucci. The port town of Maracaibo was founded in 1529 on the western side the lake. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Alonso de Ojeda (c. ... is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 - February 22, 1512) was an Italian merchant, explorer and cartographer. ... Nickname: Motto: Muy noble y leal Coordinates: , Country State Counties Maracaibo Government  - Mayor Gian Carlo Di Martino (2000 – 2008) Area  - City 550 km²  (212. ...

In July of 1823, the lake was the site of Battle of Lake Maracaibo, an important battle in the Venezuelan War of Independence. Combatants Greater Colombia Spanish Empire Commanders José Prudencio Padilla Ángel Laborde The Battle of Lake Maracaibo was fought on July 24, 1823 in Venezuelas Lake Maracaibo between Almirante (Admiral) José Prudencio Padilla and Royalist Captain Ángel Laborde. ... The Venezuelan War of Independence in 1811-1812 was Venezuelas first war for independence from Spanish colonial rule. ...

Oil production began in the surrounding basin in 1914, with wells drilled by Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, a predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell. Royal Dutch Shell plc is a multinational oil company of British and Dutch origins. ...

On April 6, 1964, at 11:45 pm, the supertanker Esso Maracaibo, loaded with 236,000 barrels of crude oil, hit pier # 31 of the two-year-old General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge that connects Maracaibo with much of the rest of Venezuela. The vessel had recently been loaded with oil, and lost steering due to a major electrical failure onboard, which led to the collision. A 259 metre section of the bridge roadway fell into the water with a portion coming to rest across the tanker just a few feet from the ship's superstructure. The bridge damage led to the deaths of seven people whose vehicles fell off of the damaged area. Amazingly, there was no loss of life or serious injury on the tanker. No oil spill occurred. A supertanker is an unofficial nickname that applies to a certain class of tanker ship built to transport very large quantities of liquids; in practice this typically refers to crude oil. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and elaion – oil or Latin oleum – oil ) or crude oil is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... A beach after an oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. ...

Fishing

As recently as 2000 Lake Maracaibo supported 20,000 fishermen. Pollution is ending this industry. [1]

Settlements

Several settlements built out on stilts over the lake - palafitos - still exist in the south and south-west, notably at Lagunetas. A palafito is an Amerindian stilt village or dwelling erected on bodies of water. ...

These villages are cut off from modern amenities and supplies, and life there is hard. The populations are inbred and suffer from inherited disorders, particularly Huntington's disease, which is known by its old name El Mal de San Vito (St. Vitus' dance). // Chorea sancti viti (Latin for St. ...

Subsiding Ground

Due to the massive volume of oil removed in the Maracaibo Basin, Lake Maracaibo has sunk, changing the geography of the region. In response, the Venezuelan government was forced to build an earthen dike around sub-sea-level Lagunillas to prevent encroachment by the waters. Many consider the dike to be a disaster in the waiting, with the potential of an earthquake causing soil liquefaction and submerging a large population.^{[citation needed]} Soil liquefaction describes the behavior of water saturated soil when its behavior changes from that of a solid to that of a liquid. ...

Duckweed infestation

Green swirls on the lake are duckweed.

As of June 18, 2004, a large portion (18%) of the surface of Lake Maracaibo is covered by duckweed specifically Lemna. Although efforts to remove the plant have been underway since May, the plant-which can double its size every 48 hours-covers over 130 million cubic metres of the lake. The only way to remove the weed is to pull it out of the lake physically—no chemical or biological method has been found to treat the weed. The government has been spending $2 million monthly to clean the lake, and the state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. has created a $750 million cleanup fund. Current efforts are barely keeping up with the growth of the plant. The removal process has proven to be particularly difficult in the center of the lake where a specially equipped ship may be needed to pull the weed off the lake. More likely, however, the weed will simply run out of nutrients and the outbreak will die down on its own^{[citations needed]}. Genera Landoltia Lemna Spirodela Wolffia Wolffiella Lemnaceae, or the Duckweed family, is a family of monocot flowering plants containing the duckweeds (also known as water lentils). ... Species Lemna gibba : Gibbous Duckweed Lemna minuta Lemna minor : Common Duckweed Lemna trisulca : Ivy Duckweed Lemna is genus of free-floating aquatic plants from the family Araceae, often referred to as the duckweeds. ... State owned oil company which was a vast supplier to the United States until Chavez made a mess of the whole thing and trumped the one card Venezuela had for economic growth. ...

There is some mystery as to how the plant came to reside in the waters of Lake Maracaibo. According to scientists from the Institute for the Conservation of Lake Maracaibo (ICLAM), one of the government organizations charged with the care of Lake Maracaibo, the weed is probably native to the lake, but few studies have been conducted to confirm that suspicion. The prodigious growth of the freshwater marine plant is likely a self-purification mechanism. Others disagree, believing the type of duckweed to be native to Florida and Texas and thus the infestation is a result of its having been transported by ship.

Another point of uncertainty is why the scale of the outbreak is so great. Maracaibo is fed by both salt water from the Caribbean and fresh water from numerous rivers. The lighter fresh water floats on top of the heavier salt water, which forms a dense layer on the bottom. This set-up traps nutrients that have settled on the floor of the lake. In the spring of 2004, heavy rains disrupted the usual pattern. The sudden influx of fresh water stirred the layers, allowing nutrients to float to the top, where duckweed and other plants reside. These nutrients may have triggered the duckweed's rapid expansion. Additional sources of nutrients include untreated sewage discharge and fertilizers and other industrial waste flowing into the lake through rivers. (97 percent of the country's raw sewage is discharged without treatment into the environment.) Furthermore, chemicals used to clean up oil spills may have contributed to the duckweed problem. The lake basin hosts Venezuela's largest oil fields, and high concentrations of biodegradable dispersants that contain phosphates and polyaspartic acid—a chemical used to increase nutrient uptake in crops—have been found, a veritable feast for the plants. Scientists at ICLAM disagree, saying that dispersants have been banned from the lake for years and, even if they were present, could not contain enough nutrients to support the current duckweed population. Sewage is the mainly liquid waste containing some solids produced by humans which typically consists of washing water, faeces, urine, laundry waste and other material which goes down drains and toilets from households and industry. ... Spreading manure, an organic fertilizer Fertilizers (also spelled fertilisers) are compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either via the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves. ... Industrial waste is a waste caused by industrial factories or mills. ... A beach after an oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. ... Drilling rig in a small oil field Near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 An oil field is an area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. ... A dispersant is a compound consisting of a surfactant and a solvent, sprayed to dissipate oil slicks. ... In chemistry, a phosphate is a polyatomic ion or radical consisting of one phosphorus atom and four oxygen. ...

Duckweed is not toxic to fish, but some scientists are concerned that it could suck oxygen out of the lake as it decays, asphyxiating large numbers of fish. Though officials say the weed hasn't harmed fish yet, it is putting a dent in the local fishing industry. The plant clogs the motors of small boats, making it impossible for fishers to launch their vessels. Duckweed further threatens the local ecosystem by choking out other plants as it shades large portions of the lake. In certain conditions, the weed may concentrate heavy metals and bacteria such as salmonella and Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera. Despite these problems, the weed may yet have some positive use; duckweed can be treated to be fed to poultry or to make paper. This article is about the chemical element and its most stable form, or dioxygen. ... Asphyxia is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. ... Fishermen in the harbor of Kochi, India. ... A colorized automobile engine The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of fuel and an oxidizer (typically air) occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. ... For other uses, see Ecological Systems Theory. ... For other uses, see Heavy metal (disambiguation). ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ... Species S. enterica This article is about the bacteria. ... Binomial name Vibrio cholerae Pacini 1854 Vibrio cholerae is a gram negative bacterium with a curved-rod shape that causes cholera in humans. ... Distribution of cholera Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. ... Ducks amongst other poultry The Poultry-dealer, after Cesare Vecellio Poultry is the category of domesticated birds kept for meat, eggs, and feathers. ... For other uses, see Paper (disambiguation). ...

As of 2007 the duckweed problem continues. [2]

Notes

References

• Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved on 2006-05-24.

NASA Earth Observatory is an online publication of NASA where the public can access satellite imagery and scientific information about our planet for free. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 144th day of the year (145th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External Links

Guide of Maracaibo, Venezuela