Around 56,000 years ago, a meteorite hit Buldhana district, Maharashtra, resulting in the formation of the Lonar crater lake whose water is both saline and alkaline. The lake is a stunning water body, a national geo-heritage monument, and currently in the news for a unique reason.
According to Deccan Herald, over the past 3 days, the colour of the lake has turned from green to pink. IAS Suman Rawat Chandra (DM & Collector of Buldhana) shared the pictures.
#LonarLake currently. Wonders of the nature. @YaleBlueGreen @YaleFES @YaleE360
•#biodiversity #saltwaterlake #brilliantbuldhana pic.twitter.com/84l782FVwq— Suman Rawat Chandra, IAS (@oiseaulibre3) June 10, 2020
Mumbai Mirror quoted MN Khairnar, deputy conservator of forests (wildlife), Akola saying,
“We are observing this for the first time. We will collect samples of the lake water for testing to find the reason behind the occurrence. These samples will be sent to Neeri, Nagpur, and Agarkar Research Institute, Pune.”
The Hindu quoted Gajanan Kharat, a member of the Lonar lake conservation and development committee explaining, “There are algae in the water body. The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change.”
Maharashtra’s #LonarLake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, turns pink with experts attributing it to salinity and presence of algae in water body pic.twitter.com/bAAMBrDnsu
— DD News (@DDNewslive) June 11, 2020
Here is a video by Mr.Gajanan Kharat, Geologist, explaining to us why the colour of #LonarCrater Lake has changed. #LonarLake #MaharashtraTourism #MaharashtraUnlimited #Lonar pic.twitter.com/plZx7YFnF8
— Maharashtra Tourism (@maha_tourism) June 11, 2020
If the lake did in fact change colour due to low water level (causing increased salinity) and atmospheric conditions affecting the algae (increased temperature and warm water), the effect may be reversed when the monsoon increases the water level. Until then, let’s marvel at the beauty of nature.