Pfäffikersee

Pfäffikersee
Map of Pfäffikersee
Location	Canton of Zürich
Coordinates	47°21′08″N 08°46′48″E / 47.35222°N 8.78000°E / 47.35222; 8.78000Coordinates: 47°21′08″N 08°46′48″E / 47.35222°N 8.78000°E / 47.35222; 8.78000
Primary inflows	Kemptnerbach
Primary outflows	Aa
Catchment area	40 km2 (15 sq mi)
Basin countries	Switzerland
Max. length	2.5 km (1.6 mi)
Surface area	3.3 km2 (1.3 sq mi)
Average depth	18.5 m (61 ft)
Max. depth	36 m (118 ft)
Water volume	59×10^6 m3 (2.1×10^9 cu ft)
Residence time	2.085 years
Surface elevation	537 m (1,762 ft)
Settlements	Pfäffikon, Irgenhausen, Auslikon, Wetzikon, Seegräben

Pfäffikersee (or Lake Pfäffikon) is a lake in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland, near the town of Pfäffikon. It is 2.5 km long and 1.3 km wide at the middle. The lake was created in the last ice age when a moraine blocked off the ability for the lake to empty north towards Winterthur. There is also a hiking trail around the lake that people often bike and walk on, and the area is considered protected lands, among them the Robenhauser Ried and the prehistoric settlement Wetzikon–Robenhausen, discovered and researched by Jakob Messikommer (1828–1917), which became a serial site of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. In Roman era, along Pfäffikersee there was a Roman road from the vicus Centum Prata (Kempraten) on Obersee–Lake Zürich via Vitudurum (Oberwinterthur) to Tasgetium (Eschenz) to the Rhine. To secure this important transport route, the Irgenhausen Castrum was built.

Pfäffikersee at Pfäffikon, Seegräben in the background

as seen from the Roman castrum Irgenhausen