Scientists launch expedition to solve mystery of UK's 'vanishing lake'

Loughareema, locally referred to as "the vanishing lake" is a natural feature in County Antrim which can completely empty in just hours.

However, the lack of any streams leading away from the lake has left geologists speculating over what happens to the water - which enters from three different rivers.

The Geological Society of London says: "To scientists, Loughareema is regarded as one of Northern Ireland's most enigmatic geological sites."

And hydrogeologist Dr Paul Wilson, from the British Geological Survey, has been undertaking a detailed study of the feature.

The first step was to set up cameras which took time-lapses of the lake, before water-level loggers were used to measure the rate at which the lake fills and empties at different locations.

Dr Wilson said: "Loughareema is a dynamic landscape, and on approach to the lake it's exciting to guess what state it will be in."

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It is now believed that the lake has a "sink" at its bottom, which drains the water out into an underground drainage system.

But Dr Wilson says "we still know very little" about it.

One theory about the body of water put forward in Live Science links pressure and sediment to the natural phenomenon.

Incoming water from the lake's three rivers brings sediment into Loughareema, which then sinks to the bottom and covers the underwater drain.

This causes water to build up within the lake, gradually increasing the pressure on the bottom.

When this pressure reaches a certain point, it unblocks the drain and the water levels drops back down before the cycle repeats.

Myths and folk tales have been entwined with the history of the lake, with some claiming sightings of a kelpie, a grey or white horse-like creature which can adopt a human form.

Another local legend tells of a coach and horses which drowned in the late 19th Century.

The story tells of an attempted crossing in the middle of the night, when it was impossible to gauge the water level.

As the lake was in fact filled with 20 feet of water, the coach driver and both horses died "after a terrible struggle for life".

Storyteller Stephen O'Hara wrote in North World NI: "People have claimed that they can hear the thrashing of hooves in muddy turmoil as they fight to escape the deep water.

"Something about the smooth hillsides which tapers down centrally to form the little hollow in which the lake lies, makes it a nerve-tingling journey.

"Loughareema is not a place to find yourself after dark, and most certainly not during heavy rainfall.

"For a hand may strike out at you from the darkness, grabbing for anything to hold onto in the struggle of life and death that still haunts the place."