Every year the water from a lake in Oregon disappears down a 6ft-wide plug hole
A lake in Oregon fills up each winter and then drains like a bath tub as a 6ft-wide hole opens up.
It is caused by tunnel-like lava tubes, of which there are many nearby.
The lake is draining gradually all the time but as there is less rain in summer to replenish the lost water it becomes completely dry.
The water travels through porous volcanic rock underground and into an aquifer before emerging at nearby springs.
Jude McHugh, a spokesman for the Willamette National Forest, told ABC News: “In Lost Lake, this particular lava tube collapsed and became the drain hole for that lake.
“Eventually that same water pops up out and I’m having it in my morning coffee right now.”
She said the hole had existed for as long as any local people could remember.
She said: “It fills up in the winter, when input exceeds the rate of draining, and then it goes dry and it’s a meadow.”
There have been several attempts to block up the hole and forest rangers have found car parts and other debris which people threw into it.
Ms McHugh said: “If anyone was ever successful at plugging it, which we’re not sure they could do, it would just result in the lake flooding, and the road.”
