Stymphalos Lake

The Stymphalos Lake is the core of the Stymphalos polje. A polje is a large, flat-floored depression within karst limestone. Superficial deposits tend to accumulate along the floor. Drainage may be either by surface watercourses (as an open polje) or by swallow holes (as a closed polje) or ponors. The Stymphalos polje contains the only permanent lake in the region. The Lake Stymphalos is drained by a large, gate-like sink-hole. The water finally discharges from springs in the Argolid. Several attempts have been made to reduce the amount of marshy land in the valley; the earliest consisted of a canal cut between the spring and sink-hole. About AD 125 this arrangement was improved by the construction of a tunnel through the hills to the south, draining the spring waters into the Scotini polje. By the fifth century the tunnel had become blocked and the polje flooded, but it was repaired in AD 1885 and is still in use today...

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