In fact, the flamingoes have become so dependent on this one particular lake as a breeding ground that they have in recent years become an endangered species. The alkaline morass of saline water and volcanic ash also affords some protection from predators, which typically shun the alien wasteland of the lake. It is the cyanobacteria that give the lake its characteristic unusual, eerie coloring of various hues of red and orange with their photosynthesizing pigments.Īs disagreeable as the lake's environment is for higher organisms, it is nevertheless a favorite haunt of thousands of birds, including a large number of lesser pink flamingoes, which feed off of the blue-green algae found in abundance here and use the lake as a major breeding ground. The only types of organisms that call this place home are various types of algae and salt loving microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, which teem in these waters when salinity levels rise due to evaporation, as well as certain species of extremophile fish such as the alkaline tilapia ( Alcolapia alcalica). It is so caustic in fact, that it can burn the eyes and nostrils of animals that are not accustomed to it, and is deadly to many creatures.
![lake natron ph level lake natron ph level](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b8/cd/e9/b8cde9fa78c8f62bc0abf63240c49e07--tanzania-nick-brandt.jpg)
With its high salt content, extreme alkalinity levels reaching as high as pH levels of 12, and scorching temperatures reaching up to 60 ☌ (140 ☏), most lifeforms find its waters to be caustic and inhospitable. The lake gets its name from its high levels of natron, a compound composed mostly of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, which are deposited within the lake via rainfall runoff from the Great Rift Valley volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai. It is a saline and soda lake that is 57 kilometers (35 mi) long and 22 kilometers (14 mi) wide, and mostly shallow, reaching depths typically no more than 3 meters (9.8 feet). Lake Natron lies within the Arusha Region of northern Tanzania, near its border with Kenya. For on the shores of this enigmatic African lake, there are bizarre corpses of various creatures that seem to have the appearance of being made of stone, as if the waters of this stygian lake have petrified them into rock caricatures of what they once were in life a macabre testament to the wondrous, and often weird powers of nature.
![lake natron ph level lake natron ph level](https://fmsfalconpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-2019-05-23-at-11.18.51-AM.png)
With its chemical composition and temperature daunting to most lifeforms, it's also holds the curious ability to not only lull birds and other creatures into its clutches and to their dooms, but also to slowly turn them into statues.
![lake natron ph level lake natron ph level](https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hazy-shelter.jpg)
There is a lake in a remote corner of Africa that represents one of the most extreme and inhospitable bodies of water on the continent.