Sarmiento Lake is a lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 located in Torres del Paine National Park

Torres del Paine National Park

Torres del Paine National Park is a national park encompassing mountains, a glacier, a lake, and river-rich areas in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpolar forests and the Patagonian Steppes...

, in the Magallanes Region of southern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. The lake is named after Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was a Spanish explorer, author, historian, astronomer, and scientist. His birthplace is not certain and may have been Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his paternal family originated or Alcalá de Henares in Castile, where he later is known to have studied...

who was a Spanish explorer. This lake also names one of the different areas in the National Park Torres del Paine. The lake literally looks as if it has a ring around it. A brief examination of the deposits and distribution suggest a possible explanation. The hypothesis have experienced hydrothermal activity. The calcium deposits are similar to deposits that are found in other hot springs around the world. Hot water rising up, through the underlying rocks dissolve some of the minerals, calcite in particular and are deposited at the surface due to evaporation.