![]() ![]() The water is oversaturated with salt, can reach temperatures of 140 degrees and has a pH between 9 and 10.5-so corrosive that it can calcify those remains, strip ink off printed materials and burn the skin and eyes of unadapted animals.ĭoes Natron lake turn animals into stone? How hot is the water that flamingos stand in? The alkali salt crust on the surface of the lake is also often colored red or pink by the salt-loving microorganisms that live there. The red accessory photosynthesizing pigment in the cyanobacteria produces the deep reds of the open water of the lake and the orange colors of the shallow parts of the lake. Scientists disagree on the source of the deadly gas within Lake Nyos. On the night of 21 August 1986, between 1,600 and 1,800 people and countless animals were killed by a large natural release of carbon dioxide gas. The lake responsible for the most deaths without drowning is Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Central Africa. This raises the lake’s alkalinity to far above water’s normal neutral pH of 7. ![]() The caustic lake has another strange quality: it appears to turn animals to stone. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance.ĭoes natron lake turn animals into stone?īright-red Lake Natron in Tanzania may not look inviting enough to take a dip – and that’s a good thing: its water is extremely alkaline. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. Lake Natron is a salt or alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania. Unlike those other lakes, though, Lake Natron is extremely alkaline, due to high amounts of the chemical natron (a mix of sodium carbonate and baking soda) in the water. The ghastly Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, is a salt lake-meaning that water flows in, but doesn’t flow out, so it can only escape by evaporation. The lake’s hypersaline water can strip away human skin, and breeds algae toxic to many forms of animal life, but the bird flourishes in these conditions thanks to its incredibly adapted body. Visit Lake Natron in Tanzania and you’ll find 75% of the world’s 3.2 million lesser flamingos. ![]() Because Lake Natron is brimming with alkaline water, it offers the perfect environment for this bacteria to thrive. Lesser flamingos primarily feed on a cyanobacteria known as spirulina (Arthrospira fusiformis), which grows in bodies of water with high alkalinity levels. ![]()
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