What has caused this lake to turn pink? Is the reason the same as why snow in Antarctica turned red this year?
That remains the question on everyone’s mind after Lonar Lake in Maharashtra suddenly changed colour recently. Experts believe that the change is likely due to either increased salinity in the water, the presence of algae or a combination of both — like parts of Utah’s Great Salt Lake or Lake Hillier in Australia.
Gajanan Kharat, a local geologist, said in a video posted to Maharashtra Tourism’s Twitter feed, that this has happened before, but was not as prominent. “It’s looking particularly red this year because this year the water’s salinity has increased,” he said. “The amount of water in the lake has reduced and the lake has become shallower, so the salinity has gone up and caused some internal changes.” Kharat said that researchers are also investigating if the presence of red algae caused the color change.
Samples are being sent to labs to truly decipher the reason behind the change in colour of the lake. This lake is located 500 kilometres east of Mumbai and has served as a major tourist attraction ever since it came into being once a meteorite hit the Earth in the same spot some 50,000 years ago.