This Lethal Lake Turns Any Animal That Touches it to Stone
This lake literally turns animals into statues.
By Sadho Ram — 03 Oct 2013, 11:10 AM — Updated almost 11 years ago
A lake in Tanzania is calcifying any animal that's spent too much time in its inhospitable waters
Brandt found the creatures and arranged them into the poses you see here and included the images in his latest photography book Across the Ravaged Land, which explores the world's natural beauty, gradually disappearing at the hands of man.
Image via fastcompany.netThe highly caustic lake in Tanzania kills most animals unlucky enough to enter the water – and calcifies them
newscientist.comPhotographer Nick Brandt has been capturing images of wildlife petrified as a direct result of the unique chemical combination of the lake.
It's named Lake Natron and temperatures in the lake can reach 60 degrees Celsius, or 140 degrees Fahrenheit
Its alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.5. It takes it's name from a "naturally occurring compound" that's mostly made of sodium carbonate and a little bit of baking soda, according to MSN.
digitaljournal.comThe lake's high levels of natron come from volcanic ash from the Great Rift Valley, and they've given the water a very unusual side effect: Animals that die and are submerged in the lake are completely calcified and preserved.
Photographer Nick Brandt documented the lake's terrifying process
The animals that turned to statue from contact with the lake were discovered in 2011, by photographer Nick Brandt while he was traveling in East Africa, according to Grist. He took photographs of several of them.
digitaljournal.com
"I could not help but photograph them," he told New Scientist. "No one knows for certain exactly how they die."
"But it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake's surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake."
newscientist.comWhen salt islands form in the lake, lesser flamingos take the opportunity to nest – but it is a risky business, as this calcified bird illustrates
The animals are all arranged in poses by the photographer. Above, on the right we have a sea eagle and on the left a dove.
newscientist.comAbout Lake Natron
Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the eastern branch of the East African Rift.
The lake is fed by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River and also by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than 10 feet deep, and varies in width depending on its water level.
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