But there’s no evidence the lake is the “deadliest place for animals”.īrandt told Huffington Post that the “soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry”.
Huffington Post quotes Brandt as saying in his book that “no one knows for certain” how the animals die, “but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, causing them to crash into the lake”. The collection has been turned into a book, and includes several other photos of flying animals “petrified” by the soda lake. The photos are part of Brandt’s Across the Ravaged Land collection, snapped from 2010 to 2012. National Geographic says the photos were taken by photographer Nick Brandt, who “unexpectedly found the dead animals that had washed up on the shore, preserved by the lake, and posed them as they had been in life”. The lake’s water is a concentrate of a caustic alkaline brine due to its significant amounts of carbonate and low levels of calcium and magnesium. The lake’s high alkalinity can reach a pH of more than 12 and the surrounding bedrock is “composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachyte lavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period”. But is it “deadly” for animals, turning any that enter its waters to stone? We investigated.Īccording to the Tanzania Tourist Board, Lake Natron is a soda lake where high levels of evaporation have left behind the minerals natron and trona. Lake Natron is a real lake in the East African country of Tanzania. “Any animal which enters the lake turns into stone-like structure.” “Natron lake in Tanzania is the most deadliest place for animals,” the text reads. But what actually happens is that the corpses of animals which died in the lake are sometimes preserved by the sodium carbonate minerals and other salts that were used by the ancient Egyptians for mummification - calcifying their bodies.A graphic doing the rounds on Facebook shows three eerie photos of grey, sculpture-like animals – a bat and two birds. More than 2 million lesser flamingos use the lake as their primary breeding ground in Africa.īut when animals die and end up in the water, something odd happens: it looks like living animals turned to stone instantly on hitting the lake. Karumbaįlocks of flamingos, other birds and tilapia fish all call the lake their home. Lesser flamingoes flock to Lake Natron in their droves for breeding season Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. While it may be paradise for haloarchaea, many creatures can't survive in such alkaline waters – but animals whose bodies are adapted to such pH levels also inhabit the lake, meaning Lake Natron is far from barren. The reason for the lake’s colorful water is down to haloarchaea, microorganisams that flourish in its salty waters – the vermillion shade is even more stunning at the end of the dry season, when the water level is especially low. The stunning red color is caused by haloarchaea, microorganisms which love salty water Image: imago/Bluegreen Pictures/J.-C. The water comes from mineral hot springs and a river, but the lake doesn't drain out to any sea or river – evaporation is how the shallow lake loses water, which can reach as high as 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit). The lake actually takes its name from the naturally-occurring blend of chemicals it contains. This raises the lake's alkalinity to far above water's normal neutral pH of 7. Lake Natron's very alkaline water has a pH of around 10.5 - too high for many animals Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Mary Evans Picture Library/A. Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano, lies not far from the lake. It owes its unusual chemistry to the surrounding volcanic geology: the minerals, particularly sodium carbonate, and salts created by volcanic processes flow into the lake from the surrounding hills. The lake's extremely alkaline water has a pH as high as 10.5, similar to milk of magnesia, a treatment used to neutralize stomach acid. But when coupled with the sight of dead animals seemingly turned to stone, the lake appears even more eerie. The scarlet waters of Lake Natron in northern Tanzania are eye-catching enough by themselves.
0 kommentar(er)
