cryptodepression

From crypto- (“hidden”) +‎ depression (“area lower in topography than its surroundings”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɹɪptəʊdɪˈpɹɛʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɹiptoʊdəˈpɹɛʃ(ə)n/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cryp‧to‧de‧press‧ion

cryptodepression (plural cryptodepressions)

1. (geography, limnology) The portion of a lake which lies below sea level.
   • 1957, G[eorge] Evelyn Hutchinson, A Treatise on Limnology, volumes I (Geography, Physics, and Chemistry), New York, N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, →OCLC, page 165:

     When the bottom of the lake lies below mean sea level, it is said to occupy a cryptodepression, the depth of which is the depth below sea level of the deepest point of the basin.

   • 1975 March, Robert V. Thomann, Dominick M. DeToro, Richard P. Winfield, Donald J. O’Connor, “Section IV: Lake Ontario – Background”, in Mathematical Modeling of Phytoplankton in Lake Ontario: 1. Model Development and Verification (Ecological Research Series; EPA-660/3-75-005), Corvallis, Or.: National Environmental Research Center, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, →OCLC, page 8:

     The lake's elevation above sea level is 74.01 meters (242.8 feet) which makes its depth of cryptodepression to be 170 meters (558 feet).

   • 1979 June, “Appendix A: Problem Identification”, in A Study to Determine the Feasibility of Providing Flood Control Improvements to the Susupe Chalan Kanoa Area, Island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Draft Detailed Report and Environmental Statement, Fort Shafter , Hi.: U.S. Army Engineer District, Honolulu, →OCLC, page A-10:

     The greater volume of the lake [Lake Susupe] occupies a cryptodepression (that portion which lies below sea level). Based upon a surface elevation of +2.5 ft determined on 20 December 1978 by Juan C. Tenorio and Associates' surveyors, the depth of the cryptodepression is -1.4m (4.7 ft) below sea level.

   • 1988, R. B. Wood, J. F. Talling, “Chemical and Algal Relationships in a Salinity Series of Ethiopian Inland Waters”, in Hydrobiologia: The International Journal of Aquatic Sciences, volume 158, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29; reprinted in J. M. Melack, editor, Saline Lakes: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Inland Saline Lakes, Held at Nairobi, Kenya, August 1985 (Developments in Hydrobiology; 44), Dordrecht: Dr. W. Junk Publishers, 1988, →DOI, →ISBN, abstract, page 29:

     At present there are three major closed systems (Awash R. – Afar drainage, northern rift lakes, southern rift lakes), numerous crater lakes with seepage-in and -out, and two cryptodepressions with marine inputs.