An amateur photographer on holiday in Argentina captured this breathtaking picture of the moment an enormous ice bridge ruptured and plunged into a lake below.

Christian Grosso was visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina's Patagonia region and had his camera trained on the ice bridge at the opportune moment.

Another holidaymaker had a camcorder to capture a video of the dramatic collapse.

Breathtaking image of an ice bridge collapsing at the southern tip of the Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, last month

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The dramatic collapse sends thousands of tons of ice plummeting into the waters, sending a massive wave surging through the lake below.

At nearly 20 miles long, the Perito Moreno is one of the largest in Patagonia, a region at South America's chilly southern tip.

Extending down from the Southern Patagonian Icefield, high in the Andes, the glacier's tip periodically cuts off Lake Argentino's major southern arm, which is known as Brazo Rico, according to Nasa's Earth Observatory.

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