50,000-Year-Old Lonar Lake In Maharashtra’s Buldhana Turns Pink; Know What Caused This Change

Colour of water in Maharashtra's Lonar lake has changed to pink. Experts attribute it to the salinity & presence of algae in the water body. The 113-hectare Lonar lake, also known as Lonar Crater, in Buldhana district of Maharashtra was formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago. Located around 500 km from Mumbai, it 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, a notified national geo-heritage monument has saline water with a pH of 10.5, Gajanan Kharat, member of the Lonar lake conservation & development committee, told PTI. Kharat said the level of water is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it. Dr Madan Suryavanshi, head of the geography department of Aurangabad's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, said, ‘this can't be a human intervention.”