COMPOSITE GAZETTEER OF ANTARCTICA

ENEA - P.N.R.A.

Williams Lake

Feature type: Water body

Origin

This name originates from Australia. It is part of the Australian Antarctic Gazetteer and the SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica.

Narrative

Williams Lake is an oval shaped saline lake near the western end of Long Peninsula in the Vestfold Hills. It is approximately 1 km long and 250 m wide. The lake is separated from Bulatnaya Bay in the north and Long Fjord in the south by low divides. The surface of the lake is 0.5 - 1m above the high water mark. Water has not been observed flowing into the lake from the ocean, but was flowing from the lake into Long Fjord on 16 January 1988. The maximum recorded depth in Williams Lake is 7 m but the lake is quite large and there could well be deeper points than so far discovered. The salinity of Lake Williams ranges from near seawater salinity near the surface to over 100gL-1 at 7m. Lake water is anoxic beneath 6 m. The lake appears to be permanently stratified and should thus be considered meromictic.

Named For

It is named after Richard Williams who was a wintering limnologist at Davis in 1974. He contributed significantly to the early limnology of the Vestfold Hills and as a scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division has continued to contribute to our knowledge of the biology of the Antarctic region in the years since.

Location

Images

©Nathan Saunders 2009

Catalogue id

IA22042

Caption

Williams Lake, Vestfold Hills. Taken from helicopter at height of 1200 feet. Looking West.

Photographer

Saunders, Nathan

Map

Source

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