Lagoa do Fogo
Crater Lake
Lagoa do Fogo ( Portuguese, Lake of Fire ') is a lake in Portugal on the Azores island of São Miguel in the district of Vila Franca do Campo. The crater lake located in the center of the island in the inner caldera of the volcano layer Água de Pau and was built in 1563 after an eruption of the Pico da Sapateira that does not exist anymore since then.
The lake is situated at an altitude of 575 m above sea level and is thus not contrary to common statement to the highest lakes on the island, but rather to the underlying deeper. He is with an area of 1.36 km ², the third largest lake in São Miguel and 30 m depth of the second deepest. Even from the period is included in the deep waters of the lake carbon dioxide in liquid form. The lake water has a low pH, although fish and amphibians live in the lake. In shallow pools in the peripheral region of the Iberian water frog spawn and the Alpine newt.
The lake is situated in a mountainous area that is sparsely populated and is also officially protected against obstruction. In the area there are still endemic laurel forest ( laurel ), which was also indigenous to Europe and the rest of the Mediterranean in the warmer Tertiary. The vegetation includes a variety azoreanischer endemics. These include the laurel Laurus azorica, and the juniper Juniperus brevifolia, the tree heath Erica azorica, the Faulbaum frangula azorica, as well as St. John's Wort Hypericum foliosum and the spurge Euphorbia stygiana.
The area is a bird paradise. Despite the proximity to the sea here seabirds such as the common tern (Sterna hirundo ) and the representatives of the Atlantic Gull Larus michahellis atlantis. But Azorean subspecies of land birds such as the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo rothschild, the Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus azorica, blackbird Turdus merula and the gray wagtail Motacilla cinerea azorensis patriciae live locally.
This rare habitat in 1974 as a nature reserve, which currently covers an area of 5.07 km ². In addition, the area is part of the Natura 2000 network.
The environmental conditions of the lake are compared with other lakes of the island favorable. Yet even here, the nutrient content is so high that the water is classified as mesotrophic.