In 1971 and 1991, eruptions of the Hudson Volcano severely affected the local economy, especially that of sheep farming.

A car ferry operates between Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez and Chile Chico in the Chilean sector of the lake.

The graben channeled mountain glaciers which formed terminal moraine helping to modify the present-day shape of the lake.

The tectonic activity that formed the depression can be inferred to subduction of the triple joint that has occurred over the past 20 million years, as indicated by ripple marks in volcaniclastic sediments observed along the southern shoreline.

There is some speculation on whether the tectonics and crustal heat flow in the lake area are influenced by the asthenospheric window that exists beneath the crust in this region of Patagonia.