Lac de Villeneuve-de-la-Raho

Lac de Villeneuve-de-la-Raho
Lac de Villeneuve-de-la-Raho
Location	Pyrénées-Orientales
Coordinates	42.630993°N 2.903633°E / 42.630993; 2.903633
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	canal de Perpignan
Basin countries	France
Surface area	2.01 km^2 (0.78 sq mi)
Max. depth	14 m (46 ft)
Water volume	17.9×10^^6 m^3 (630×10^^6 cu ft)
Surface elevation	150 m (490 ft)

Lac de Villeneuve-de-la-Raho is a lake in the town of Villeneuve-de-la-Raho in Pyrénées-Orientales, France.

The lake lies in a deflation pan. That is a natural, circular, shallow depression caused by the removal of fairly loose, mainly Pliocene, sediment by wind erosion, during very cold, windy phases of the Quaternary period. It is the largest of a number of such deflation pans in this area.[1][2]

History

The former lake of Villeneuve-de-la-Raho had a size of 150 hectares (370 acres). Considered useless, it was dried in 1854, and the land was then used for agriculture. Recovered by the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales, it was filled with water and became a lake once again in 1977.[3]

Villeneuve lake with the Canigou massif in the background.

References

1. Calvet, Marc; Delmas, Magali; Gunnell, Yanni; Laumonier, Bernard. 2022. Geology and Landscapes of the Eastern Pyrenees: A Field Guide with Excursions (pp. 323-324). Springer International Publishing. Kindle Edition.
2. Topographic map on Géoportail.
3. Cárdenas, Fabricio (2014). 66 petites histoires du Pays Catalan [66 Little Stories of Catalan Country] (in French). Perpignan: Ultima Necat. ISBN 978-2-36771-006-8. OCLC 893847466.