Video Discription |
Discover Lake Natron, a lake that Turns Animals to Stones
DISCLAIMER : For Copyright Matters please Contact us directly.... Email Address emmastopten@gmail.com. Thanks
Hello Displorers, welcome to another informative video presented to you by Displore and thanks for watching. In this video, we shall take a picnic to lake Natron, but make sure you take a body suit along, because we shall need protection as this lake is noted to turns animals to stones. In 2011, when he was traveling to shoot photos for a new book on the disappearing wildlife of East Africa, Across the Ravaged Land, photographer Nick Brandt came across a truly astounding place: A natural lake that seemingly turns all sorts of animals into stone. “When I saw those creatures for the first time alongside the lake, I was completely blown away,” says Brandt. “The idea for me, instantly, was to take portraits of them as if they were alive.”This pink body of water is a huge attraction both to humans as well as births especially pink flamingos who flock to the lake area but most of these birds meet their death as soon as they touch the lake water. They are turned to stones which can be kept for long and the reason for this peculiar lake’s characteristic lies in its water. In this video, we shall look into this spectacular beauty full of danger in eastern Africa and why it is acts the way it does.
If you are new here, welcome, be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss any of our videos.
The Basics of Lake Natron
Lake Natron is a salt or soda lake in Arusha Region in Tanzaniain the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance. At the southern half of Lake Natron,fault scarps and the Gelai Volcano can also be seen as well asnumerous near-white salt-crust "rafts" pepper the shallowest parts of the lake.The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River, which rises in central Kenya, and by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three metres deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The lake is a maximum of 57 kilometres long and 22 kilometres wide.
Why Lake Natron is so Ghastly
The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totalling 800 millimetres per year with temperatures at the lake frequently above 40°C.With such high temperature, it has led to high evaporation rates in the lake. High levels of evaporation have left behind natron or sodium carbonate decahydrate and trona or sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate. These deposits of sodium carbonate was once used in Egyptian mummification. The alkalinity of the lake can reach a pH of greater than 12. The surrounding bedrock is composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachyte lavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period. The lavas have significant amounts of carbonate but very low calcium and magnesium levels. This has allowed the lake to concentrate into a caustic alkaline brine.
The ghastly Lake Natron, is a Salt Lake meaning that water flows in, but doesn’t flow out, so it can only escape by evaporation. Over time, as water evaporates, it leaves behind high concentrations of salt and other minerals, like at the Dead Sea and Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
Unlike those other lakes, though, Lake Natron is extremely alkaline, due to high amounts of the chemical natron in the water which gives the water its very high pH of about 12 that is nearly as high as ammonia. And as you might expect, few creatures live in the harsh waters as it is home to just a single fish species, the Alcolapia latilabris, some algae and a colony of flamingos that feeds on the algae and breeds on the shore.
The surface of the lake can also be very deceitful from above as it looks like empty space. This causes migrating birds to frequently crash into the lake’s surface. Brandt theorizes that the highly-reflective, chemical dense waters act like a glass door, fooling birds into thinking they’re flying through empty space and not long ago, a helicopter pilot tragically fell victim to the same illusion, and his crashed aircraft was rapidly corroded by the lake’s waters. During dry season, when the water recedes, the birds’ desiccated as chemically-preserved carcasses wash up along the coastline.These chemically preserved bird and animal carcasses can be collected as finely-preserved specimens which are extraordinarily beautiful to see. Even human contact is also dangerously painful which is why nobody dares to swim in the lake ever. [ujMUypor350] |