Stock photo: Frozen Medicine Lake Maligne Lake Road Jasper National Park Alberta Canada

Stock photo of frozen channels through the ice and snow on Medicine Lake, along Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada.

This stock photo shows channels made by water under the ice and snow on Medicine Lake in Winter, along Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada. Jasper National Park forms part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. Medicine Lake is a geologic anomaly in the sense that it is not actually a lake but rather an area in which the Maligne River (flowing from Maligne Lake into the Athabasca River) backs up and suddenly disappears underground. During the summer months during intensified melt-water runoff, the lake (which during the winter months is a meandering frozen river), fills to levels which fluctuate over time and with the runoff events. Much like a bathtub that is filled too fast for it to drain, it becomes laden with water (lake) until it can slowly drain as the tap flow (runoff) is reduced (river). The underground system is extensive and during the 1970s researchers used a biodegradable dye to determine the underground river's extent. The dye showed up in many of the lakes and rivers in the area to the point where it became clear that the underground system was one of the most extensive in the world.