24/06/2021
Mapanuepe Lake. A beautiful Disaster
This body of water was formed after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on 1991 on which the rapid aggradation of lahar sediment coming from the Marella River blocks the outflow of Mapanuepe River and eventually resulting to creation of lahar-dammed lake. As the lake water rised, it drowned three upstream communities (Aglao, Buhawen and Pili) on which the iconic landmark, the Sta. Barbara Chapel was the remaining structure visible among the submerged village. At present, the lake is being developed by the LGU-San Marcelino as Eco-tourism site wherein road development, floating restaurant and lodging houses were among the infrastructure constructed.
Intetesting Facts about Mapanuepe Lake.
-At its maximum extent in 1991 the lake flooded an area of 6.7 square kilometers and impounded an estimated 75 million cubic meters of water.
-The Mapanuepe valley was the site of a previous lake as is provided by the stream gradient of the Mapanuepe River, which is anomalously low for a river in a tectonically active terrain of relatively high regional slope (Javellosa, 1984). The former stream is still in the process of adjusting its gradient in response to the modification imposed by the recent lake-sediment infill.
-Archeological digs in the Mapanuepe valley uncovered an old boat hull with associated Chinese pottery (V. Tombokon, Benguet Corporation, oral commun., 1992). Boat transport in the area would not have been possible or necessary along the narrow and shallow pre-1991 Mapanuepe channel. However, boat transport would have been both possible and necessary if a large lake had hindered movement of people in the area, as Mapanuepe Lake does today. If the pottery discovered in the site turns out to be similar to that found in a 13th to 15th century age archeological site at sitio (hamlet) Buag in Barangay Kakilingan, San Marcelino (Newhall, 1992), then this inferred lake would have been produced, Mapanuepe fashion, during the Buag eruptive period. The absence of any reference to the existence of a lake in the historical accounts of the region indicates that the lake was already filled, probably within the last 100 to 200 years after the Buag eruptive period, prior to Spanish exploration of the region during the 18th century.
Reference:
The 1991 Lahars of Southwestern Mount Pinatubo and Evolution of the Lahar-Dammed Mapanuepe Lake
-Jesse V. Umbal and Kelvin S. Rodolfo from the USGS Published Book 'Fire and Mud"
📷 Credits: USGS
