Lac de Thoune

Geschichte

Lake Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland named after the city of Thun, on its northern shore.The lake was created after the last glacial period. After the 10th century, it split from Lake Brienz, before which the two lakes were combined, as Wendelsee . The culminating point of the lake's drainage basin is the Finsteraarhorn at 4,274m above sea level.Lake Thun's approximate 2,500 km² catchment area frequently causes local flooding after heavy rainfalls. This occurs because the river Aare, which drains Lake Thun, has only limited capacity to handle the excess runoff. The lake is fed by water from Lake Brienz to the southeast, which is 6m higher than Lake Thun, and various streams in the Oberland, including the Kander.In 1835, passenger ships began operating on the lake. Ten passenger ships, operated by the local railway company BLS AG, serve the towns of Interlaken and Thun; the Interlaken ship canal and Thun ship canal connect the lake to Interlaken West railway station and Thun railway station respectively.