Bacteria turned Lonar Lake pink
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Environment
- Published
23rd Jul, 2020
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- Recent study revealed that the colour of water in Lonar Lake in Maharashtra is due to a large presence of the salt-loving Haloarchaea microbes.
- Haloarchaea or halophilic archaea is a bacteria culture, which produces pink pigment, and found in water saturated with salt.
- Absence of rain, less human interference and high temperature could have resulted in the evaporation of water, increasing salinity and pH levels in the lake.
- Lonar Lake was created by a meteor impact during the Pleistocene Epoch.
- It is the only known hyper velocity meteorite crater in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth.
- It was notified as a National Geo-heritage Monument in 1979 by Geological Survey of India (GSI).