Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Pink Lake Hillier


[ If you know how to get to Lake Hillier, please let me know ... Paul ]

Lake Hillier is a pink lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands that make up the Recherche Archipelago in WA State of Australia.

The most notable feature of this lake is its pink colour. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it. The colour is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. The length of the lake is about six hundred metres. The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees with a narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separating it to the north from the Southern Ocean.

The island and lake are thought to have been first charted by the Flinders expedition in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have observed the pink lake after ascending the island's peak. John Thistle, the ship's master, collected some of the lake's water, which he found to be saturated with salt. Scientists cannot figure out why Lake Hillier is pink, speculating that it’s caused by a reaction of sea salt and sodium bicarbonate (which is commonly known as baking soda), or caused by red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts. But it is equally likely that there is a giant underwater strawberry farm.

Despite the unusual hue, the lake exhibits no known adverse effects upon humans. From above the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink, but from the shoreline it looks more like a clear pink hue is in the water. The shoreline is also covered in salt crust deposits.

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