What are Your Thoughts on Carrying a Medical Alert ID
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- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
Lake George is an ancient lake, believed to be more than a million years old. Originally, small streams drained its catchment into the Yass River, but then the Lake George Escarpment rose due to major crustal movement along a strong fault line, blocking this drainage and forming the lake.[2] Lake George has in previous Ice Ages been much larger and deeper.[citation needed]
The thickness of sediment beneath the lake exceeds 250 metres, according to a Bureau of Mineral Resources Canberra drilling program in the 1982/83 summer. The oldest sediments, which lie some distance above the bedrock, were dated at 3 - 5 million years using spore and pollen analysis and magnetic reversal stratigraphy[citation needed].
At 25 km long and 10 km wide, Lake George is long, largely flat and extremely shallow, with a very small catchment. Resultant evaporation rates as well as a tendency for strong winds to blow the water back on itself explain the mysterious filling and drying episodes on both short term (hours) and long term (years) time scales that have been observed.[1]
The lake's depth when full can range from 1.5 to 4.5 metres; however in many areas it is only around 0.8–1.0 metre deep. Its deepest point has been measured as 7.5 metres. When full, the lake holds about 500 million cubic metres of water.[1] Between the late 1980s and mid 1990s, the lake lapped the Federal Highway on its western edge.
During World War II, a wooden 'dummy' ship was floated on the lake and used for bombing practice by the Royal Australian Air Force. It is possible that there is still unexploded ordnance settled into the lake bed.[citation needed]
On 8 July 1956 five cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon drowned in a yachting accident. An unsuccessful rescue attempt lasted five and a half hours; the rescuers subsequently received the George Medal.[7]
Due to the ongoing drought in Australia, Lake George dried out completely in November 2002 and remained so until February 2010 when it started filling. The last time the lake dried out completely was during a severe drought in the 1940s[8], although it did partially dry in 1986, leaving large pools of water. When the lake is empty it is used by farmers to graze sheep and cattle.
The unusual fluctuations in the lake's levels have given rise to fanciful urban myths that the lake is somehow connected to lakes in Peru or South Africa, although NSW government ecologist Justin Nancarrow theorises that the lake may indeed be connected to the nearby Yass River by subterranean aquifers which pass under the surrounding escarpment, and that this connection may explain the salinity of the river[8].
The thickness of sediment beneath the lake exceeds 250 metres, according to a Bureau of Mineral Resources Canberra drilling program in the 1982/83 summer. The oldest sediments, which lie some distance above the bedrock, were dated at 3 - 5 million years using spore and pollen analysis and magnetic reversal stratigraphy[citation needed].
At 25 km long and 10 km wide, Lake George is long, largely flat and extremely shallow, with a very small catchment. Resultant evaporation rates as well as a tendency for strong winds to blow the water back on itself explain the mysterious filling and drying episodes on both short term (hours) and long term (years) time scales that have been observed.[1]
The lake's depth when full can range from 1.5 to 4.5 metres; however in many areas it is only around 0.8–1.0 metre deep. Its deepest point has been measured as 7.5 metres. When full, the lake holds about 500 million cubic metres of water.[1] Between the late 1980s and mid 1990s, the lake lapped the Federal Highway on its western edge.
During World War II, a wooden 'dummy' ship was floated on the lake and used for bombing practice by the Royal Australian Air Force. It is possible that there is still unexploded ordnance settled into the lake bed.[citation needed]
On 8 July 1956 five cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon drowned in a yachting accident. An unsuccessful rescue attempt lasted five and a half hours; the rescuers subsequently received the George Medal.[7]
Due to the ongoing drought in Australia, Lake George dried out completely in November 2002 and remained so until February 2010 when it started filling. The last time the lake dried out completely was during a severe drought in the 1940s[8], although it did partially dry in 1986, leaving large pools of water. When the lake is empty it is used by farmers to graze sheep and cattle.
The unusual fluctuations in the lake's levels have given rise to fanciful urban myths that the lake is somehow connected to lakes in Peru or South Africa, although NSW government ecologist Justin Nancarrow theorises that the lake may indeed be connected to the nearby Yass River by subterranean aquifers which pass under the surrounding escarpment, and that this connection may explain the salinity of the river[8].
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama

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