Patagonia lakes, southern Argentina

Patagonia lakes, southern Argentina: The lowest of three lake in this view is Lake Argentino in Argentina. The next one north (middle lake) is Lake Viedma, and the lake on the top margin is Lake San Martín. All three of these large lakes have been carved out by glaciers of the last ice age, descending from the Andes Mountains (under cloud along the right side of the view). Three glacier tongues can be discerned as small white features leading into the western (left) ends of each lake. The rounded ends of the lakes are produced by the slow action of flowing glacial ice on the plains next to the mountain chain. Snow on lower peaks next to the cloud make a jagged pattern.

Photo and caption thanks to:
Earth Sciences and Image Analysis, NASA-Johnson Space Center. 30 Apr. 2003. "Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record." http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS113&roll=708&frame=14.