Cucao and Huillinco

Cucao and Huillinco are two lakes in central Chiloé Island, Chile, linked by a strait forming one hydrologic lake. The two lakes are oriented in west-east fashion cutting off the Chilean Coast Range in Chiloé Island into two ranges; Piuchén to north and Pirulil to the south. The outlet of the lakes, Desaguadero or Cucao River lies at the western end of Cucao Lake, and flows into the Pacific. To the west Cucao is separated from the open ocean by an ancient dune field and pastures which are crossed by Desaguadero River.^[2] The bottom of both lakes is saline.^[1]

Cucao and Huillicno Lake Lago Cucao y Huillinco
View of Cucao Lake
Cucao and Huillicno Lake Lago Cucao y Huillinco
Coordinates	42°38′20.40″S 74°3′59.08″W
Primary outflows	Cucao River, also called Desaguadero River
Catchment area	32.3 km2 (12.5 sq mi) (Cucao)
Basin countries	Chile
Max. length	7.9 km (4.9 mi) (Cucao)
Max. width	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) (Cucao)
Min. width	0.7 m (2 ft 4 in) (Cucao)
Surface area	43.8 km2 (16.9 sq mi) (Cucao)
Average depth	25 m (82 ft) (Cucao)
Max. depth	12 km (7.5 mi) (Cucao)
Water volume	0.127 km3 (0.030 cu mi) (Cucao)
Shore length1	22.9 km (14.2 mi) (Cucao)
Surface elevation	10 m (33 ft)
References	[1]
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

References

1. Villalobos, L., Parra, O., Grandjean, M., Jaque, E., Woelfl, S., Campos, H. (2003). A study of the river basins and limnology of five humic lakes on Chiloé Island. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 76 (4), 563–590.
2. Kempf, Philipp; Moernaut, Jasper; Van Daele, Maarten; Pino, Mario; Urrutia, Roberto; De Batist, Marc (2022). Knight, Jasper (ed.). "Paleotsunami record of the past 4300 years in the complex coastal lake system of Lake Cucao, Chiloé Island, south central Chile". Sedimentary Geology. 401 (15).