And, despite tales of a deep mutual antipathy between Mr Lake and Mr Holbrooke, it would be foolish to rule the pugnacious Mr Holbrooke out of contention for a big job.

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It turns out that Lake Chad is not very deep and has dried up many times in the past, the last being about 2, 000 years ago.

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Great Bear Lake is largely unknown, but is in fact the third largest lake in North America, as deep as 1, 400 feet in places.

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The only visible evidence of the ambitious tower he had planned is a cylindrical 76-foot-deep foundation hole and a ramp access to nearby Lake Shore Drive.

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After negotiating their way down a series of steps carved into the steep rock face, explorers of the Blue Lake Grotto are faced with a deceptively deep pool of limpid blue-green water.

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The aircraft, an aerobatics trainer, was in the middle of the lake, which was "murky" and deep, he added.

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One of the largest flooded cavities in the world (the lake at the bottom is estimated to be 70m deep), this cavernous subterranean space was only discovered by locals in 1924.

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Subsequent analysis showed that the lake was 50km wide, 225km long, 500 metres deep, and at least 2m years old though new data presented to the workshop suggest that its age may be closer to 15m years, and that it could even predate the glaciation of Antarctica, which occurred around 40m years ago.

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