illiland Lake's Fault

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron asked his chief advisor Professor Hamblin why the lake appeared like it was losing a lot of water lately. The Professor agreed and decided to set up a method of measuring the depth of the lake each day. The depth measurement showed that the lake was losing a lot of water every day.

The Baron was alarmed and asked that a geologist be called in. The geologist arrived at the lake, did some calculations, and then determined that the lake had a fault at the bottom. The fault opened and the water began running down into the fault. The lake was destined to be eventually lost.

The geologist determined that in about four weeks, at the current rate of depletion, the lake would be dry. “The water running into the fault is like a bathtub after you pulled the drain plug." The Baron noted, "This same situation occured several years earlier after an earthquake."

There was only one solution if the lake was to be saved. The fault, if it was not too large and too deep must be plugged up. But to do this, large rocks would have to be used to fill it in. The rocks could be held in place with cement to seal the bottom of the lake.

But to do all of this it could not be started until the lakebed was completely dry and then trucks and carts of large rocks could be brought in. Also, the lakebed must be dry for the cement to harden and seal the bottom.

The next few days were very sad in Lilliland to watch the lake slowly disappearing. The fish were saved by putting them into several holding tanks. It was hoped that the job could be done so that the swans and ducks would not fly away for good.

Finally, the geologist determined that the lake was dry enough to make some additional calculations about the size and depth of the fault. It turned out that the fault was of minimum size and depth, thirty feet long and six feet wide with a depth of forty feet. At forty feet the fault became very narrow.

The calculations meant that rocks would hold the fault and seal it and the cement, when completely dried, would be the final seal. Everything was put into place and the lake began filling up again very slowly. Since the lake was fed by the small streams of water from the mountain snow, it took weeks to reach its normal depth.

Finally, there was enough water in the lake that the boats started floating again. The fish in the holding tanks were put back into the lake and the swans and ducks came back. The Baron noted that this situation occurred several years earlier because of an earthquake. Everything was back to normal again.