Del Desierto Lake


The Del Desierto lake or Lake of the Desert is a lake, located in the Lago Argentino Department, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The lake, located near the mount Fitz Roy and the O'Higgins/San Martín Lake, has been the subject of a territorial dispute between Argentina and Chile, escalating to a small battle on 6 November 1965 when 40 to 90 members of the Argentine Gendarmerie fought against four Chilean Carabineros resulting the lieutenant
Hernán Merino killed and a sergeant injured, both members of Carabineros, the dispute was solved favourably for Argentina in 1994 with an arbitration.

Geography

The region is a valley around the Laguna del Desierto located at north and east of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, only accessible from the Chilean side from the North. It is accessible without obstacles from the Argentine side.
The valley is located between the Martínez de Rozas Range at the east and the glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field at the west side and the lake get the waters of many rivers from the range and the glaciers and its waters flow through the de las Vueltas River, to the Viedma lake and then to the Atlantic Ocean.
The contended area was about 500 km2 of territory.