Peel Plateau Lake after the drainage event.
Northwest Territories Geological Survey
Peel Plateau Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories looks a lot different now than it did a week ago thanks to a dramatic -- yet expected -- drainage event.

Canada's Northwest Territories Geological Survey reports that the small, isolated body of water drained over the edge of a cliff earlier this month. The permafrost that originally supported the lakebed gradually thawed, spurring an event known as a thaw slump (essentially a cold-climate landslide) when the cliff supporting the lakebed gave way.

A remote camera captured parts of the event, which sent water flowing into a larger lake downhill in the adjacent Mackenzie Delta.

Read more...