Lake Estancia
Lake Estancia is a former lake in the Estancia Valley, central New Mexico. Water levels reached , and during its various stages, leaving various coastal landforms in the valley. Cutthroat trout lived in the lake when it existed, presumably having reached it during a possible past overflowing stage. The lake was mostly fed by water coming from the Manzano Mountains in the form of creek and groundwater and fluctuated between freshwater stages and saltier stages.

Lake Estancia appears to have formed between the Pliocene and Pleistocene, when a previous drainage system broke up. It reached a highstand presumably during the Illinoian glaciation and subsequently underwent fluctuations between fuller stages and a desiccated basin. Around the Last glacial maximum (LGM), several highstands occurred and a lowstand known as the "Big Dry". Between 16,100 and 14,500 years ago it reached its highest stand of the last 30,000 years before drying again during the Bølling-Allerød climate oscillation. The lake briefly returned during the Younger Dryas and eventually desiccated during the Holocene. Wind-driven erosion has excavated depressions in the former lakebed that are in part filled with playas.

The lake is only one of several pluvial lakes in southwestern North America that developed during the late Pleistocene. Their formation has been variously attributed to decreased temperatures during the ice age and increased precipitation; a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation and the Laurentide Ice Sheet altered atmospheric circulation patterns and increased precipitation in the region. The lake has yielded a good paleoclimatic record.
Q6634763
former lake
UNK
Q1369736
Estancia Valley
LOC
Q1522
New Mexico
LOC
Q271669
landform
Concept
Q2717060
Cutthroat trout
Concept
Q14706057
Manzano Mountains
LOC
Q161598
groundwater
Concept
Q76259
Pliocene
MEDIA
Q25546
Pleistocene
TIME
Q7285131
highstand
LOC
Q3796459
Illinoian glaciation
TIME
Q1979625
Last glacial maximum
TIME
Q3648041
Bølling-Allerød
UNK
Q944279
Younger Dryas
TIME
Q25445
Holocene
TIME
Q194502
playa
Concept
Q7205721
pluvial lake
Concept
Q25546
Pleistocene
TIME
Q49367
ice age
Concept
Q463223
thermohaline circulation
Concept
Q1765405
Laurentide Ice Sheet
Concept
Q191069
paleoclimatic
Concept
Q97178324
Lake Estancia
UNK
Q97178324
Lake Estancia
UNK
follows