Lake Atitlán

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Lake Atitlan
Lago de Atitlan seen from orbit.jpg
Type crater lake, endorheic
Basin countries Sololá Department,
Surface area 130.1 km2 (50.2 sq mi)[1]
Max. depth c. 340 m (1,120 ft)
Surface elevation 1,562 m (5,125 ft)
References [1]

Lake Atitlán (Spanish: Lago de Atitlán, [atiˈtlan]) is a lake in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range. It is in the Sololá Department of northern Guatemala. "Atitlan" means "at the water" in Nahuatl.


Lake Atitlán is the deepest lake in Central America with a maximum depth of about 340 metres (1,120 ft). It is approximately 12 x 5 km with around 20 km3 of water. Atitlán is technically an endorheic lake, as it does not drain into the ocean, but substantial seepage feeds two nearby rivers. It is shaped by deep surrounding escarpments and three volcanoes on its southern flank. The lake basin is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed by an eruption 84,000 years ago. The culture of the towns and villages surrounding Lake Atitlán is influenced by the Maya people. The lake is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west-northwest of Antigua; it should not be confused with the smaller Lake Amatitlán.

Lake Atitlán is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world; German explorer Alexander von Humboldt is the earliest prominent foreigner to be quoted as calling it "the most beautiful lake in the world," [2] and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."


The area supports extensive coffee and avocado orchards and a variety of farm crops, most notably corn and onions. Other significant agricultural products include beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, chile verde, strawberries and pitahaya fruit. The lake itself is rich in animal life, providing a significant food source for the largely indigenous population.

Geological history[edit]

A view across Lake Atitlán from Panajachel to Volcán San Pedro

The first volcanic activity in the region occurred about 11 million years ago, and since then has seen four separate episodes of volcanic growth and caldera collapse, the most recent of which began about 1.8 million years ago and culminated in the formation of the present caldera. The lake now fills a large part of the caldera, reaching depths of up to 600 metres.

The caldera-forming eruption is known as Los Chocoyos eruption and ejected up to 300 km3 (72 cu mi) of tephra. The enormous eruption dispersed ash over an area of some 6 million km²: it has been detected from Florida to Ecuador, and can be used as a stratigraphic marker in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (known as Y-8 ash in marine deposits).[3] A chocoyo is a type of bird which is often found nesting in the relatively soft ash layer.


On February 4, 1976, a massive earthquake (magnitude 7.5) struck Guatemala, killing more than 26,000 people. The earthquake fractured the lake bed and caused subsurface drainage from the lake, allowing the water level to drop two meters within one month.[4][5]

Ecological history[edit]

In 1955, the area around Lake Atitlán became a national park. The lake was mostly unknown to the rest of the world and Guatemala was seeking ways to increase tourism and boost the local economy. It was suggested by Pan American World Airways that stocking the lake with a fish prized by anglers would be a way to do just that. So, a non-native species, the black bass, was introduced into the lake in 1958. The bass quickly took to its new home and began eating the native inhabitants of the lake. The predatory bass caused the elimination of more than two-thirds of the native fish species in the lake and contributed to the extinction of the Atitlan grebe, a rare bird that lived only around the Lake Atitlán region.



San Pedro la Laguna and Volcán San Pedro



While Maya culture is predominant in most lakeside communities, Panajachel, has been overwhelmed over the years by Guatemalan and foreign tourists. It attracted many hippies in the 1960s, and although the war caused many foreigners to leave, the end of hostilities in 1996 saw visitor numbers boom again, and the town's economy is almost entirely reliant on tourism today.

Several Mayan archeological sites have been found at the lake. Sambaj, located approximately 55 feet below the current lake level, appears to be from at least the pre-classic period.[6] There are remains of multiple groups of buildings, including one particular group of large buildings that are believed to be the city center.[7]

A second site, Chiutinamit, where the remains of a city were found, was discovered by local fishermen who "noticed what appeared to be a city underwater".[8] During consequent investigations, pottery shards were recovered from the site by divers, which enabled the dating of the site to the late pre-classic period (600 B.C. - 250 A.D.).[9]



Recent studies indicate that a ceremonial site named Samabaj was located on an island about 500 metres (1,600 ft) long in Lake Atitlán. The site was revered for its striking connection to the Popol Vuh of the Quiché Mayan peoples.[citation needed]

Lake Atitlán, from Tzam Poc Hotel near Santa Catarina Palopó.

Guatemalan civil war[edit]

Aerial panoramic view of Lake Atitlán.


Two events of this era made international news. One was the assassination of Stanley Rother, a missionary from Oklahoma, in the church at Santiago Atitlán in 1981. In 1990, a spontaneous protest march to the army base on the edge of town was met by gunfire, resulting in the death of 13 unarmed civilians. International pressure forced the Guatemalan government to close the base and declare Santiago Atitlán a "military-free zone." The memorial commemorating the massacre was damaged in the 2005 mudslide.


Torrential rains from Hurricane Stan caused extensive damage throughout Guatemala in early October 2005, particularly around Lake Atitlán.[citation needed] A massive landslide buried the lakeside village of Panabaj, causing the death of as many as 1,400 residents and leaving 5,000 homeless. Four and a half years after Hurricane Stan, Tropical Storm Agatha (2010) dropped even more rainfall causing extensive damages to the region[11] resulting in dozens of deaths between San Lucas Toliman and San Antonio Palopó. Since then roads have been reopened and travel to the region has returned to normal.



  1. ^ a b INSIVUMEH. "Indice de lagos". Retrieved 2008. 
  3. ^ Rose, William I. et al. (1987). "Quaternary silicic pyroclastic deposits of Atitlán Caldera, Guatemala". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 33 (1–3): 57–80. Bibcode:1987JVGR...33...57R. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(87)90054-0. 
  4. ^ "Guatemala Volcanoes and Volcanics". USGS - CVO. Retrieved 2010-03-13. 
  9. ^ Allen, Joseph (2003), Sacred Sites, p. 34
  10. ^
  11. ^ "Agatha". May 2010. p. 6.  and the effects of Tropical Storm Agatha (2010)


  2. Newhall, Christopher G., Dzurisin, Daniel (1988); Historical unrest at large calderas of the world, USGS Bulletin 1855, p. 1108 [1]
  3. Vallance J.W., Calvert A.T. (2003), Volcanism during the past 84 ka at Atitlan caldera, Guatemala, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003
  4. Kingery, Dennis (2003), Improving on Nature?, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
  5. Guatemala Info Samabaj, la Atlántida de los Mayas

External links[edit]