50,000-yr-old Lunar Lake in Maharashtra turns pink mysteriously, experts surprised

The colour of water in Maharashtra’s Lonar lake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, has changed to pink with experts attributing it to the salinity and presence of algae in the water body. Located around 500 km from Mumbai, the Lonar lake in Buldhana district is a popular tourist hub and also attracts scientists from all over the world. Of late, the change in colour of water of the lake, having a mean diameter of 1.2 km, has not only surprised locals, but also nature enthusiasts and scientists.

Experts say this is not the first time that the colour change has happened, but this time it is more glaring. The lake, which is a notified national geo-heritage monument, has saline water with pH of 10.5, Gajanan Kharat, member of the Lonar lake conservation and development committee, told PTI.

“There are algae in the water body. The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change,” he said. “There is no oxygen below one meter of the lake’s water surface. There is an example of a lake in Iran, where water becomes reddish due to increase in salinity,” he noted. Kharat said the level of water in the Lonar lake is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it.