Strange lakes of the world. Unusual lakes on earth

What else does our mysterious and beautiful nature? How many interesting bodies of water, birds and animals there are on our Earth. And I would like to tell you about the 4 most unusual lakes on Earth. Who would have thought that there would be an asphalt lake on our native Earth? And it turns out there is even such a thing.

Asphalt Lake

Trinidat Island became famous only because in its central part there is a real asphalt lake. Magnificent asphalt! Of course, you can’t go into the lake and take a dip, but it is located in the crater of a former mud volcano, its depth is... 90 meters (!), and its area is 46 hectares. Emerging from the bowels of the earth through a volcano, oil lying at great depths loses all its volatile substances under the influence of evaporation and turns into asphalt. All this happens in the center of the lake basin. The place where more and more new layers of liquid asphalt appear is called “Mother Lake”. It is thanks to him that the Trinidad lake retains its reserves, despite the fact that every year up to 150 thousand tons of asphalt are extracted from it, which is used for construction needs. The bulk of it is exported to the USA, England and China. During the development of the lake, more than 5 million tons of asphalt were extracted, while the level of the miracle lake dropped by only half a meter! Any object that falls on the surface of the lake disappears into the black abyss. Scientists who explored the coastal depths of the “reservoir” discovered a whole cemetery of prehistoric animals. Including skeletons of mastodons, extinct during the Ice Age, which lived in this region. There are also deposits of valuable resin in the Dead Sea, famous for its salt reserves. The whole world knows about the extreme salinity of its water, in which it is impossible to drown. However, only specialists know about the deposits of the rarest resin. Extraction of this unique substance from waters Dead Sea has been going on since ancient times. Resin is used in a wide variety of fields: medicine, for road construction, coating ship hulls, and in the chemical industry.

Ink Lake

This unusual lake is located in Algeria, near the city of Sidi Bel Abbess. The lake is filled with ink. There are no fish or plants in the lake, since the poisonous dark blue ink is only suitable for writing with! Until recently, people could not understand how such an unusual substance ended up in the reservoir. Scientists, having carried out relevant research and analysis, came to the conclusion: it’s all about the composition of the water of two small rivers flowing into this mysterious lake. One of them contains simply a huge amount of dissolved iron salts, the other contains all kinds of organic compounds from peat bogs located in the river valley. Merging together into a lake basin, the streams interact with each other, replenishing the amount of wonderful ink. Locals They relate to this miracle differently: some consider it a devilish obsession; others, on the contrary, benefit from it. The ink is sold not only in stores in Algeria, but also in Africa, the Mediterranean countries, and the Near and Middle East.

empty lake

But the mystery of the Russian Empty Lake, located in Altai, has not yet been revealed. All the reservoirs around are teeming with fish and lake game, but in Pustoy there is not a blade of grass, not a fry, not a bird on the shore, and this despite the fact that rivers flow from the fish lakes and flow into Pustoy. Researchers have tried dozens of times to populate mysterious lake local aquatic fauna and flora, giving preference to the most unpretentious species. However, all the experiments ended the same way: the fish and other living creatures, after a day or two, died, the vegetation rotted. The empty remained empty. But what is most surprising is that chemists, who have repeatedly analyzed water for the content of toxic substances, have proven that the water is absolutely non-toxic, suitable for consumption, and even... resembles champagne thanks to the smallest bubbles of harmless natural gas. The water of the lake was studied by experts from Germany, the USA, Belgium and Britain, and no one until now could explain or at least offer a plausible hypothesis about the phenomenon of this amazing reservoir. Will this mystery be solved in the foreseeable future? Alas, the experts shrug their shoulders vaguely.

acid lake

But still, the most “dead” sea on planet Earth is the ill-fated Lake of Death - a large body of water located in Sicily. Its shores and waters are devoid of any vegetation and living creatures; even birds do not fly over the lead-gray water. Swimming in it is deadly. Any living creature that falls into the water of this terrible lake dies instantly. A person who dips his hand into the water for a second watches in horror as it turns red, becomes covered in blisters, the skin peels off, revealing bloody bones, bursting veins and blood vessels. But the fact is that water contains in huge concentration... sulfuric acid. Very dangerous studies conducted by scientists in 1999 led to a stunning conclusion: concentrated sulfuric acid is released into the lake from two sources located at its bottom. It is not surprising that from time immemorial the Sicilian mafia hid their victims in these deadly waters: an hour - and a person does not even have teeth left.

When we were students, in geography lessons, we learned amazing things about the world around us. And one of the topics that has always interested people is lakes. Over the many years of existence on the planet of this natural phenomenon, man has even learned to create artificial lakes on his own! However, what do we know about them? Yes, the deepest is Baikal, and the one with the largest reserves fresh water- Titicaca. This is undoubtedly basic knowledge, a base, so to speak, but in this article we want to tell you about much more unusual lakes that you have hardly heard about in schools and universities. We present to you the top 10 most amazing lakes on the planet. Happy reading!

Who among us has not admired our reflection in the surface of the water? The lack of wind turns the calm surface of the reservoir into an amazing semblance of a mirror, however, Lake Mattison has surpassed all standards. The surface of this lake is so smooth that it can not only resemble, but also surpass any real mirror. Mattison captures the peaks of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook with incredible clarity. Every little detail is visible in such detail that it will be hard to believe your own eyes. And all you can do is admire the stunning picture that appears before you.

Kelimutu Lakes

Volcanoes are incredibly dangerous creatures of nature. But in addition to hot lava and destruction, they can also present pleasant surprises. For example, the craters of the Indonesian volcano Kelimutu filled with water for some time, and as a result turned into three beautiful lakes. And in addition to their unusual location, they all have different colors, which, moreover, are not constant. Lakes change their colors just like a person changes his mood. It is quite possible that, noticing this feature, local residents attached special significance to the amazing lakes. And they were given the appropriate name - unusual and “talking”. "Lake of the Elderly", "Lake of the Young and Women" and "Enchanted". One of the local legends will tell you that only the souls of the righteous fall into the first two lakes, while the souls of sinners are doomed to endless wanderings among the expanses of the Enchanted Lake. And that is why the bodies of those who drowned in any of the lakes could not be found. Local Indonesians believe that water takes away both body and soul. The constant steam that rises above all three lakes will add to the atmosphere - here you will involuntarily believe in ghosts...

Once again we () turn to the knowledge acquired at the school desk. What is asphalt? Those who have diligently crammed may recall that this is a substance that was invented and manufactured by man. Whatever the case! Nature continues to amaze and laugh at all of humanity. The Peach Lake reservoir represents more than seven million tons of asphalt, naturally occurring, in a liquid state. This is one of the most amazing places on the planet. Peach Lake's asphalt is never in a frozen state; it constantly flows and is shrouded in clouds of thick smoke. But, despite such an unusual component, on the surface of the lake in a certain place you can also find a simple clean water. And therefore, numerous curious tourists not only admire the unusual natural phenomenon, but also often swim. In addition, while exploring the coast, you will probably come across interesting museum, the exhibits of which are a variety of objects that were found in Peach Lake.

Jiuzhaiguo Lake

Crystal clear and surrounded on all sides by beautiful vegetation - this is how you can describe the Chinese Lake Jiuzhaiguo. You, of course, learned a long time ago that when the temperature of water drops below zero, its state of aggregation changes. However, this lake “violates” our usual rules. The water in Jiuzhaiguo is never covered with ice, regardless of the thermometer readings. For quite a long period of time, scientists believed that this phenomenon could be explained thermal spring or its likeness, but long research and active searches led to nothing. In addition, this theory not only did not receive confirmation, no reasons were found for the year-round non-freezing state of the lake. Well, at least they couldn’t explain it, but everyone – both local residents and tourists – can admire unforgettable beauty Jiuzhango at any time of the year.

Kliluk Lakes

We have more than once begun comparing lakes by their depth, by their area and cleanliness, but what criteria are required for a lake that contains... many smaller lakes, which, moreover, are completely different in terms of the parameters listed above. Thanks to the sun, which partially evaporates the water, on Lake Kliluk, paths made of lime become visible to the eye, which are a “partition” between tiny lakes. This Canadian lake is translated as “spotted”. And all because, due to differences in the depth of the lakes and the effect of sunlight, each of the mini-lakes can change the color of their waters in the most unexpected way. However, such metamorphoses can only occur in summer and autumn; in the rest of the year, Kliluk is no different from other lakes. Several years ago, the territory was made a protected area, for which incredible efforts were made indigenous people those places.

This lake can be found in Kenya, but its peculiarity lies in the fact that it was not to the liking of people, but of birds, thanks, by the way, to whom the lake acquired the status of a National Park. There are countless representatives of the “feathered” class on the lake - you can see ducks, herons, pelicans, and quite a lot of others, because about four hundred and fifty species of birds were counted on Nakuru. However, the real highlight of Kenya National Park are the beautiful flamingos, which make up the vast majority of all the birds that live there. Pink inhabitants sometimes fill a body of water so closely that the water surface is almost completely hidden from view. You can admire as many flamingos as your eyes can take in! But it is also interesting that in addition to the huge number of birds, in the park you can also see animals, of which there are about sixty species.

In our age of complete disregard for nature, the property of the American Crater Lake is more valuable than ever - it is one of the cleanest bodies of water on the planet. For many centuries, the Indians kept the very existence of this lake a secret, protecting it from all curious people who tried to study the nature of those places. Of course, the endless protection of the Crater was not feasible, and therefore, today, the territory of this region is officially declared as a National Park of the United States. The lake is also unusual for its small island, which is located in part of its waters and is of volcanic origin. However, this reservoir is famous for something else. For a century now, a log has been floating in the waters of the Crater. You probably thought: “What’s unusual here,” right? But the fact is that the log is more than nine meters long and “travels” in a vertical position! And besides, thanks to the low temperature of the water in the lake, the log was very well preserved, despite its age.

Nature has also created underground rivers for us. Of course, their position is easy to understand from the name, but nature has once again defeated logic. And this time, through the dome of one Texas underwater river, after it collapsed, the underground water abruptly changed its location. However, the interesting thing is that the dome did not fall completely. As a result, a semblance of a very mesmerizing canopy of a natural creation, of enormous size, was formed. Lake Hamilton is located just below it. And this whole magical picture is complemented by a fifteen-meter magnificent waterfall. You probably won’t want to leave such a nice and unusual place!

Beautiful Melissani is unique in that instead of a beach with warm golden sand, the clear waters are surrounded by rock formations. The reason for this was the location of the reservoir - in caves, at a fairly low level. The famous phrase “Water wears away stones” perfectly describes the origin of this Greek lake. The water, in search of a way out, slowly and thoroughly eroded the rocks. This is how, long and persistently, the water destroyed space for itself, which later turned into one of the most unusual and beautiful places on the planet. Melissani is not fully illuminated by the sun, and depending on the angle at which the sun's rays fall on the surface of the reservoir, the lake changes its hue over the course of twenty-four hours, and quite dramatically. In addition, the water is so clear that all visitors to the cave will have the feeling that they are not floating, but simply floating in the air.

In this article we have cited many lakes with crystal clear waters, or, on the contrary, with a unique blue tint. There were even lakes with yellow-colored waters, which, of course, was a very pleasant picture. However, Lake Hillier surpassed everyone in beauty and unusualness. There are only about six lakes on the planet in which the water has a pink tint. The reason for this was a certain type of algae – Dunaliela salina. Of course, those bodies of water in which it can be found are salty. The exception is the Australian lake. It is surprising that absolutely nothing was found in its water that could cause the water to turn pink. However, contrary to all canons, Hiller has a delicate pink tint. After such phenomena, one can only wonder what Nature is capable of.

Most people take the beauty of our world for granted, simply forgetting about it in the whirlpool of everyday life. And, sad as it may be, humanity has made a lot of efforts to speed up the process of destroying the natural beauty of the world around us. Outdoor recreation is an excellent way to restore strength and energy. Fresh air and cool water can work wonders. Today we bring to your attention a collection of 12 of the most unusual and mysterious lakes, which will surely give you a lot of new impressions:

12. Kliluk (British Columbia, Canada)

This lake, located in British Columbia, is decorated with colorful spots that are clearly visible from afar. Studies have shown that the lake's waters contain high levels of minerals such as magnesium, calcium and sodium sulfate. These substances provoke the appearance of peculiar spots in summer months. This feature of the lake has made local residents consider this body of water sacred since ancient times.

11. Lake Vostok (Antarctica)


The peculiarity of Lake Vostok, located in East Antarctica, is that it is one of the largest subglacial lakes in the world. It once came to the surface, but as a result of global warming it was buried under ice. Research has shown that the lake may have its own ecosystem, which holds many surprises considering the fact that it has been isolated for millennia.

10. Taal Lake (Batangas, Philippines)


Taal looks impressive from a bird's eye view. What's even more amazing is that it is a natural lake. At its center is volcanic island. What’s even more amazing is that there is also a lake in the center of this island! The volcano island itself is classified as active, although only one minor eruption has been recorded here over the past decade.

9. Lake Groom (Nevada, USA)


Area 51 in Nevada has always been a source of various rumors and gossip due to its closeness to the public. It is for this reason that Lake Groom, located to the north of it, is considered one of the objects where strange and mysterious things happen. This is a salt marsh whose flat surface is ideal for use as a military runway.

8. Lake Hillier (Esperance, Western Australia)


A lake of such a strange pink color in itself raises suspicions about what is hiding in its waters. In fact, everything is quite simple: the lake itself is located among a eucalyptus grove, and a special pinkish tint is given to it by a dye produced by bacteria living in its depths. Eucalyptus trees, in turn, create the necessary contrast.

7. Plitvice Lakes (Croatia)


Plitvice Lakes in Croatia are widely known throughout the world. Limestone rocks contributed to the formation of the most intricate caves and waterfalls. They are the ones that attract millions of visitors to this national park every year.

6. Peyto Lake (Alberta, Canada)


The Canadian Rockies are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. One of the amazing local attractions is Peyto Lake. It is most beautiful in the summer, when the glacier caps melt, giving its waters an amazing hue.

5. Five Flower Lake (north of Sichuan, China)


This lake got its name due to its special properties. Local residents consider the lake to be enchanted. Algae, fallen tree trunks and travertine give it a rich range of shades.

4. Lake Abraham (Alberta, Canada)

It's hard to believe that a person is capable of creating a pond of such beauty. Abraham Lake was founded on the upper North Saskatchewan River in the lower part of the Canadian Rockies. It looks so majestic that it fits perfectly into the surrounding landscape. What makes it unique are the frozen ice bubbles located under its surface.

3. Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia)


The lake is the largest freshwater body of water in the world. According to some estimates, this lake is more than 25 million years old. Thanks to such a long period, today this lake is home to the most amazing shapes life.

2. Crater Lake (Oregon, USA)


This lake is the main tourist attraction in national park Crater Lake in Oregon. This is the deepest and one of the most beautiful lakes in the United States. Thanks to almost complete natural isolation, this lake is one of the cleanest bodies of water.

1. Lakes in the Badan-Jaran desert (China and Mongolia)


An oasis in the desert is always particularly spectacular. The Badan-Jaran Desert covers the territories of Mongolia and China and is famous for the presence of more than 140 lakes. These lakes are located among sand dunes and appeared thanks to a network of underground sources.

And also anomalous creatures are born that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.
Some lakes are the sites of catastrophic events in history, such as or, while others contain unique geological strata.
We present to our readers the 13 most amazing lakes on our planet.

Boiling Lake

Boiling Lake on the island of Dominica is the second largest in the world, although you probably wouldn't want to dive into its waters.
Along the shores, the water temperature rises to 80-90 degrees Celsius, while the central part is too hot to get close and take measurements. The lake is almost completely covered with clouds of steam, and its grayish water is constantly seething.
Laguna Colorado

The water of this eerie lake in Bolivia is blood red, and its surface is covered with strange islands of sodium tetraborate, the same substance that is found in many detergents.
The color of the lake is associated with colored bottom sediments and a large number of red algae that grow rapidly in this place. People often walk in the waters of this lake, in sharp contrast
Plitvice Lakes

These amazing lakes in Croatia are truly unique, and the national park of the same name represents one of the most beautiful places in the world.
In reality, it is a complex of 16 lakes, all interconnected by a series of waterfalls and caves. Each lake is separated from the others by thin natural dams of travertine - an unusual shape that is slowly formed from local lichens, algae and bacteria. Travertine dams are growing at a rate of 1 centimeter per year, making the lakes extremely vulnerable.
Lake Nyos

This lake in Cameroon is one of the few known exploding lakes in the world. Directly below it is a cavity with magma that fills Nyos carbon dioxide and turns its water into carbonic acid.
Recently, in 1986, the lake produced a huge explosion that suffocated 1,700 people and 3,500 head of livestock from nearby villages. This was the largest case of asphyxia due to a natural phenomenon.
There is a danger that this could happen on one of the three exploding lakes in the world. In fact, it is Nyos that may be the most likely place for a repeat disaster, since the natural channel along which the lake flows is fragile and vulnerable to cracks.
Aral Sea

The Aral Sea, once one of the world's largest lakes, is now an almost completely dry desert. On its territory you can see the rusted skeletons of ships that once plied the expanses of this reservoir, emphasizing its scale.
Since 1960, the lake has steadily decreased in size, primarily due to irrigation projects of the former Soviet Union, within which the river beds that fed the lake were changed.
Today the area Aral Sea only 10 percent of previous sizes. The region's fisheries and ecosystems have been devastated in what has been described as one of the world's worst disasters. environmental disasters planets.
Peach Lake

Dismal Lake on the island of Trinidad is the world's largest natural source of bitumen. The lake covers an area of ​​more than 40 hectares, its depth is up to 75 meters, and it is even inhabited by extraterrestrial, extremophile organisms.
Local residents claim that the waters of this lake have mystical properties. medicinal properties for everyone who bathes in it, although such claims have not been proven. Interestingly, bitumen obtained from Peach Lake was used to pave some New York City streets.
Lake Don Juan

The hypersaline lake, discovered in 1961 in Antarctica, is the saltiest body of water on the planet.
Its salt content is more than 40 percent, so high that Lake Don Juan never freezes, even though it lies near the icy south pole.
Dead Sea

The deepest hyperhaline lake in the world is too salty for living creatures to live in it, which is why the reservoir got its name.
The surface of the lake is 415 meters below sea level, making it the lowest on Earth. The salt levels in the Dead Sea make it very difficult to swim, but extremely pleasant to drift.
In the mid-20th century, ancient biblical scrolls were discovered in caves along the Dead Sea in Israel. They have been preserved partly due to the unique climate of these places. The Dead Sea also borders the state of Jordan.
Taal Lake

Taal Lake, located in island state The Philippines deserves special attention, since in its center there is an island called Volcano.
Since there is also a small lake in the crater of Vulcan Island, this entire complex is known as largest lake in a world on an island, which in turn is also in a lake on an island. The tongue twister doesn't end there: there is also a small island in Vulcan Island Crater Lake called Vulcan Point. Got it?
Lake Balkhash

Lake Balkhash, located in Kazakhstan, is the 12th largest lake in the world, but this is not actually what makes it unique. This lake is surprising in that half of it consists of fresh water, while the other half is salt water.
Balkhash partly maintains this balance due to the fact that its two halves are connected by a narrow piece of land 3.5 kilometers wide and 6 meters deep.
There are fears that Balkhash could dry up like the Aral Sea, since the beds of many of the sources that feed it are currently being changed.
Tonle Sap

The unique Tonle Sap ecosystem in Cambodia is difficult to classify as a lake or a river.
During the dry season, the waters of the Tonle Sap flow into the Mekong River, but during the monsoon period the water flow is so intense that it is literally carried back out of this river, resulting in the formation of the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia. It is especially different in that its course changes in the opposite direction twice a year.
Because of these unusual conditions, the region is a real treasure trove in terms of , and has been named a UNESCO biosphere.
Crater Lake

After a large-scale eruption of Mount Mazama in the center of the American state of Oregon 7,700 years ago, a huge caldera was left about 600 meters deep into the mountain. Despite the complete absence of feeding sources, the crater of Mount Mazama gradually, over thousands of years, was filled with simply sediment.
Today it is the second deepest lake in North America, and its waters are practically the clearest, cleanest and least polluted in the whole world.
Lake Baikal

The huge body of water in Russia is truly unusual. This is the oldest and deep lake world, in addition, it is the second largest on the planet and contains almost the purest water. By unknown means, it remained filled for 25 million years, and in given time The lake contains 20 percent of the entire Earth.
Two thirds of the 1,700 species that call Baikal home cannot be found anywhere else in the world. It is not surprising that in 1996 the region was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It’s hard to even imagine on our planet that there wouldn’t be the huge number of bodies of water that exist now. Among the lakes, some are very beautiful, some are romantic or scary, and some are simply unusual. They have a strange color of water, amazing nature around or even strange behavior like disappearing...

The most unusual lakes peace

It’s hard to even imagine on our planet that there wouldn’t be the huge number of bodies of water that exist now. Among the lakes, some are very beautiful, some are romantic or scary, and some are simply unusual. They have a strange color of water, amazing nature around them, or even strange behavior like disappearing strictly in mid-March.

Morning Glory Lake, Yellowstone National Park, USA

This small hot spring is no more than two kilometers long. He has a very capricious character and amazing behavior. Very often the source changes its color from purple, inky to a shade of light turquoise. In addition to this, it behaves completely inconsistently: sometimes the surface is calm, and sometimes it begins to seethe and worry. Initially, the water temperature was quite high, but coins thrown from below by tourists, which clogged the source from below, “helped” reduce the temperature level. It’s good that at least the water remained clear and clean.

Kliluk Lake (Spotted Lake) in Canada

Spotted Lake is literally a solution of mineral salts and substances. If the water evaporates, bizarre islands appear on the surface of the lake. Moreover, depending on the time of year they have different colors. The water of the lake is healing, which is why Canadian Indians revere the lake as sacred. True, you won’t be able to swim in it - there is a fence around it, and it has officially been transferred to the ownership of local residents.

Empty lake in Russia

– a place where miracles live that even scientists cannot explain. The empty lake is so named because there is no living creature either in it or near it. Although rivers from fish lakes flow into it. Repeated attempts to populate the reservoir led to nothing. Chemists also determined the water to be suitable even for drinking. In such cases, you can definitely believe in the mysticism and negative energy of the place.

Asphalt Lake, Trinidad

Peach Lake is a natural source of asphalt; it is located in the crater of a mud volcano, and of course you can’t swim there. It was formed from oil reserves that reached the surface after the fracture of the Caribbean continental plate. In the sun, oil turns into such high-quality asphalt that even today roads can be laid with it. The development of the deposit is also underway - approximately 150 thousand tons are mined. I wonder, what about the roads in the city itself, if most of the production is exported?

Acid lake in Sicily

The most poisonous lake, in the waters of which there is a very high percentage of sulfuric acid. How does it get there, scaring away all living things, even birds that disdain to fly over the water? A 1999 study showed that acid enters the water from two underground sources. The reservoir has a very sad history: for a long time the mafia used the waters as a large cemetery for their victims. An hour after the dive, not a trace of the living organism will remain.

Ink Lake in Algeria

The city of Sidi Bel Abbes is famous for its incredibly beautiful water “neighbor”. The lake is amazing because its waters actually provide ink suitable for writing. It turns out that it’s all about two rivers that bring iron and other organic compounds from peat bogs to the lakes. Buying such ink is considered an honor not only in Algeria.

Jellyfish lake in Palau

25 million Mastigias jellyfish – is it a joke? And this number chose one small lake. Their main meetings take place in the center of the lake, preventing them from breaking through inside the circle. But if a person approaches, they will gladly let him into their kingdom. True, it is impossible to go deeper than 10 meters - the water there is already toxic. All jellyfish are observed with pleasure by biologists.

Kelimutu Lakes on Flores Island, Indonesia

These rainbow lakes are constantly changing color. Today the reservoir will be black, and in a couple of days it will flaunt a blue robe of water. Everything is explained simply: a large number of minerals helps change the color of water. They say that the color of the lake depends on which souls of the dead settle there: at least that’s what the locals believe.