water that contains many different elements

Remarkable lakes of the World

Dr. Asma Ali (Ecologist)

As you try to understand  planet Earth, your curiosity grows more. An intense heat of Lava emanating from a volcano or a sound of conch shell of waterfall, upheaval of the deep sea waves or struggle of mountain range with the blows of strong wind. Aggressive form of Tornado and hurricane or to enjoying sun bath in quit seashore and a covering of large area of land with a thick layer of ice. Every part of the earth tell us a different story and to know more about it I need to keep digging.

Today I am taking down about most curious lakes of Earth such as Lake Natron , Lake Hillier, Boiling lake,  Spotted lake and Frying pan lake.

Lake Natron:

Lake Natron is situated in Northern Tanzania at the border with Kenya, is probably the world’s most caustic body of water.It sits below 01 Doinyo Lengai, a soaring active volcano in the rift Valley is about 600 m. The lake has red colour due to the salt loving microorganisms,  including some cyanobecteria ( that makes their own food by photosynthesis),  thus the red accessory photosynthesizing pigment in the cyanobecteria produces the deep red colour of the open water of the lake.

Despite the highly alkaline state of the striking red waters the lake Natron is a breeding ground for hundreds of thousands of lesser flamingo. It also shows the presence of certain fish like Alcolapia alcalica, Alcolapia latilabris, Oreochromis ndalalas, Alcolapia grahami.

Lake Hillier :

Lake Hillier is about 600 m in length by about 250 m in width.  The most notable feature of the lake is its pink colour. Lake Hillier is a saline lake on the age of middle Island in the Goldfields-Esperance region, off the South coast of Western Australia.

Lake Hillier is visited by the Mathew Flinders expedition on 15 January 1802,  and described the lake as follows-.

“In the north- eastern part was a small  lake  of a rose colour,  the water of which,  as I was informed by Mr. Thistle, who visited it, was so saturated with salt that sufficient quantities were crystallized near the shores to load a ship.”

The pink colour of Lake Hillier  is permanent and doesn't alter when the water is taken to a container.  Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) and Metagenomic Research Group (MGRG) has  performed a Metagenomic analysis of the lake to find some microorganisms such as Dunaliella, Salinibacter ruber,  Dechloromonas aromatica and a few species of Archaea, which causes the salt content in the lake to create a red dye which helps to produce the colour. The unusual hue of the lake make it centre of attention.

Boiling lake:

Dominica’s boiling lake is the second largest hot lake in the world. The lake is about 61 metre to 76 metres cross, is filled with bubbling greyish-Blue Water. Boiling lake is situated in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, Dominica’sWorld Heritage site.

                   The two Englishmen Edmund Watt and Henry Alfred Nicholis were  the first who visited to boiling lake in 1870. In 1870s boiling lake was deep but after a phreatic eruption nearby 1880s the lake disappeared and turned into a fountain of hot water and steam. During the time, Lake have been faced few more phreatic eruption, from December 2004 to April 2005 later the Lake levels Rose again. The rapid draining and refilling of the lake shows that a continuous flux of steam or gas could be generated by an underline magnetic intrusion, that dries water up into the lake.

 

An adventure film maker George Kourounis became the first person to crop the boiling lakethrough suspended ropes over the most violently boiling section for TV Series Angry planet.

Frying pan lake:

Frying pan as name suggested it's a world’s largest hot spring. It is located in the Echo crater of the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley, New Zealand.

                                   Bubbling of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide gas to the surface of frying pan lake appears to be boiling, but the lake’s average temperature is 55 degree Celsius. The lake and it's outflow Waimangu stream, have an average pH level of 3.8.

It has been observed that hydrothermal system interconnect frying pan with the nearby Inferno crater lake. When the water level and temperature of Inferno crater Lake increase,  the water level and its outflow frying pan lake decrease.

Spotted lake :

Spotted lake is situated, Northwest of Osoyoo in the eastern  Similkameen Valley of British Columbia, Canada. It is about 0.7 kilometre in length and 0.25 km in width, with surface elevation of 573 metre ( 18 80 feet), contains various minerals in abundant amount such as Magnesium sulphate, Calcium and Sodium sulphate; lower amount of silver and Titanium is also observed in this lake. 

Interestingly in summer,  when most of the water evaporate, the colourful mineral deposit appear this happens because of the mineral composition and seasonal amount of precipitation. Crystallization of Magnesium sulfate in summer is responsible to spot colour.

                    

  Evidence says that during World War-I the minerals of spotted lake were used in manufacturing ammunition. Spotted lake used as sacred though it provides therapeutic waters.

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