The colour of water in Maharashtra’s Lonar lake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, has changed to pink.
And now scientists are investigating why this 78-hectare-large lake, situated in the world’s largest basaltic impact crater, has changed color overnight.
The 56,000-year-old Lonar crater sanctuary lake in Buldhana district has turned pink overnight.
The 77.69 hectare lake area is part of the Lonar sanctuary that totals 3.66sqkm. It is famous as the world’s largest basaltic impact crater. Two other similar ones are in Dhala and Ramgarh in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively but both are relatively unknown.
Of late, the bright pink color has not only surprised locals, but also nature enthusiasts and scientists.
#LonarLake also known as #Lonarcrater turns PINK due to high #Salinity and action of #algae but it needs to be confirmed.
— Ajeet Kumar?? (@Ajeet_Kumar7) June 12, 2020
Geo heritage monument located in #buldana district, #Maharastra
52000 years old #LonarLake was created by an #Asteroid collision. pic.twitter.com/rCuMqEoWlU
Algae?
Experts say this is not the first time that the crater lake’s water turned pink, but this time the color is so bright.
Officials attribute the sudden change in color to the high salinity and presence of algae in the water body:
“There are algae in the water body. The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change.”
“There is no oxygen below one meter of the lake’s water surface. There is an example of a lake in Iran, where water becomes reddish due to an increase in salinity.“
The level of water in the Lonar lake is currently low in comparison to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it.
“The low level of water may lead to increased salinity and change in the behaviour of algae because of atmospheric changes…this may be the reason for colour change. This is not the first time that the colour of water has changed.”
“In case of a natural phenomenon, there are fungi which generally give a greenish colour to water most of the times. This (the current colour change) seems to be a biological change in the Lonar crater.”
The Lonar Lake Formation
The Lonar Impact Crater Lake lies within the only known extraterrestrial impact crater found within the great Deccan Traps, a huge basaltic formation in India.
Lonar Lake was created by the impact of either a comet or of an asteroid, which impacted from the east, at an angle of 35 to 40 degrees, 52,000 – 570,000 years ago.
The Smithsonian Institution, the United States Geological Survey, Geological Survey of India, the University of Sagar and the Physical Research Laboratory have conducted extensive studies of the site. A 2019 study, conducted by IIT Bombay found that the minerals, in the lake soil, are very similar to the minerals found in moon rocks brought back during the Apollo Program.
And did this comet / asteroid also brought some weird life from the outer world? It hink this is why scientists actually investigate this weird crater lake. More strange geology news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [NDTV, TOI]
Algae bloom all right. Can grow and invade a lake in 24 hours. We have a very weird lake in our area. The top part of the lake is fresh water. The lower part of the lake is salt water.
This is even weirder: Fresh water always floats on top of saltwater. However, they have found ocean size bodies of fresh water near the bottom of most of our oceans. So much for the old theories.
thanks!
We have been always told that we are body, soul, and spirit, but that is not true. We are spiritual beings inside a temporary created flesh body, who are air breathing with a soul. The key is what Jesus said. That which is flesh is flesh. That which is spirit is spirit. Once a person learns that we existed in spiritual bodies prior to this age of being born into the flesh, then the mysteries in the Bible start coming together. There was an age before this one. Many of us have had odd memories, dreams and even visions of what happened back then. It was the Rebellion of Lucifer with almost one third of GOD’s creation. The chaos and scars in the Universe testifies to that great event. The evidence is everywhere. Soon this age of the flesh will come to an end. In a twinkling of an eye. Then we will be changed back into our spiritual bodies from which we came. The next age everything will be created by Jesus in spirit. Perfect and incorruptible. Even our memories of this age in the flesh will be gone, and I say good riddance.