224 '^he Philippine Journal of Science i9i6 



LAKES OF LUZON 



It will be convenient in description to group the lakes accord- 

 ing to the islands upon which they occur and to take them up 

 for discussion under these heads in the order of their importance. 



LAGUNA DE BAY 



The largest and most important lake on Luzon is Laguna de 

 Bay. Lake Bay, the English equivalent for the Spanish name, 

 has never come into general use, although the other lake names 

 have been almost universally anglicized.^ Laguna de Bay lies in 

 the center of southern Luzon, immediately southeast of Manila. 

 It is more than twice as large as any other Philippine lake, and 

 excluding the area of Talim Island, it covers 930.7 square kilo- 

 meters according to the Director of the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. It is uniformly shallow, the deepest soundings recorded 

 being 6.5 meters. The floor of the lake is level, and the im- 

 mediate shores are low around most of the perimeter, but both 

 east and west of the lake walls of tuff rise abruptly a short dis- 

 tance from the water's edge, and on the south the lake encroaches 

 upon the foot of Mount Maquiling, an extinct volcano. The lake, 

 whose surface fluctuates but seldom, rises more than 2 meters 

 above sea level, receives drainage from numerous small streams 

 on all sides, and is drained in turn by Pasig River, which cuts 

 through the moderately low table-land of volcanic tuff on the west 

 to Manila Bay. In outline Laguna de Bay is irregular; two 

 rather slender but mountainous areas of flows, tuffs, and 

 agglomerate — Jalajala Peninsula and Binangonan Peninsula 

 with its southern continuation in Talim Island — protrude from 

 the northern border dividing the northern half of the lake into 

 three lobelike parts. 



George I. Adams ^ reviews the various theories that have been 

 advanced to explain the origin of Laguna de Bay. The early 

 suggestions that it occupies a former crater or that it was formed 

 through the subsidence of a volcano do not find general support. 

 The idea that it was once an arm of the sea is generally accepted, 

 but there is a difference of opinion as to the manner in which 

 its impounding was accomplished. R. von Drasche * thought 



' The explanation of the persistence of the name Laguna de Bay is 

 undoubtedly to be found in the anomaly which is involved in the term Lake 

 Bay, because of the application of the English word "bay" to bodies of 

 water other than lakes. 



*This Journal, Sec. A (1910), 5, 103. 



' Fragmente zu einer Geologie der Insel Luzon (Philippinen). Gerold's 

 Sohn, Wien (1878). 



