Unique lakes of the planet. Ijen volcano acid lake

The most amazing volcanic lakes in the world are waiting for you. Such a lake can form in several different ways: first of all, it can be a simple crater filled with water. Another form of formation is when a volcano erupts, releasing a large number of magma. After that, a void is formed, falling under the weight of the earth and forming a crater, which is eventually filled with water. All of these lakes have an explosive past, a beautiful and majestic present, and a potentially destructive future. Each of the volcanic lakes contains its own history.

Lake Ijen

Ijen Lake is a crater-type lake located in East Java, Indonesia. It is located in a group of stratovolcanoes, in the Ijen volcano. acid lake 1 km wide, with beautiful turquoise water. It is a well-known sulfur mining hotspot, as there are active geysers on one side of the lake that are constantly bringing sulfur to the surface. There it is broken into pieces and carried out of the crater in baskets. Molten, hot-red sulfur passes through the channels, depositing on the bottom, where it cools to a bright yellow color.

Coatepeque caldera lake


Coatepeque Caldera is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador. It was formed after a series of huge eruptions 72,000 and 54,000 years ago. After these two great volcanic eras, cones formed and volcanic domes, and large areas from lava flows along western edge calderas. On the east side of the caldera is a volcanic lake called Coatepeque. This lake covers an area of ​​26 km. sq., which makes it one of the most big lakes in El Salvador. Many hot springs constantly fill Coatepeque with water. Notable is the island called Teopan, which was sacred place for the Maya Indians.

Lake Towada on the island of Honshu


Lake Towada is the largest volcanic lake in Japan and the 12th largest in Japan. It is located in the caldera active volcano with the last major eruption dating back about 13,000 years ago. Towada is actually located in a double caldera, since not big eruption destroyed another caldera under the lake about 5,400 years ago. The moments of volcanic eruptions are well recorded in history, and the last famous eruption was about 1000 years ago. Devastating ash and pyroclastic flows destroyed crops and even caused temperatures to drop, followed by a cold winter and severe famine.

Lake Katmai Volcano


Katmai Volcano is a complex of stratovolcanoes found on the Alaskan Peninsula in southern Alaska. In the center is a filled lake caldera, approximately 4 km in diameter. The caldera was formed by the eruption of Novarupta in 1912, its rim now reaches a maximum of 2,047 meters. Virtually nothing was known about the volcano before the huge eruptions in 1912, due to the uninhabitable location, but some records have been left by neighboring villages since the 1800s that the Katmai volcano in the area is often active.

Lake Laach in Germany


Lake Laach, also known as the Laacher See, is located in the Rhineland Caldera, Germany. It is approximately 9 km in diameter, near the cities of Koblenz (24 km), Bonn (37 km), Andernach (8 km) and Mayen (11 km), at a distance of 8 km from the river Rhine. The caldera was formed after the massive eruption of the Laacher See volcano, which occurred approximately 12,900 years ago. Approximately 6 cubic kilometers of magma was erupted, almost 16 cubic kilometers. ash is released into the atmosphere. This eruption caused a global cooling and the ash can be found all over Europe, with many unique minerals found in the area.

Lake Taupo in New Zealand


Lake Taupo is located on the North Island and is the most big lake in New Zealand. The surface area is approximately equal to 616 km2. Taupo is believed to have formed around 26,500 years ago. The largest known eruption occurred 69,000 years ago, and scored 8 on the VEI scale (Volcanic Eruption Scale). Approximately 1170 km3 of magma and ash were ejected into the atmosphere, and a large caldera and lake formed. Taupo is believed to have erupted approximately 27 times since then, and the last major eruption can be dated to 180 AD, when 30 km3 of ash and lava was ejected from the volcano in 5 minutes. The ash column from the eruption was twice as high as that from the eruption of Mount St. Helena, chronological records from China and Rome claimed that the sky turned red. This volcano is currently considered dormant, but it is likely that it will wake up from its long dormancy in a few hundred years.

Lake Toba


Lake Toba - huge lake in a caldera on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Over 100 km long and 30 km wide, Toba is the largest in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. It formed +/-70,000 years ago when a massive super volcano erupted in the largest volcanic explosion in at least 25 million years. The eruption, believed to have had a VEI of 8, caused a global winter in which most of the people living at the time died.

Lake Crater


Crater Lake - beautiful lake calderas in South Central Oregon, USA. It has stunning dark blue water, perfectly clear. Crater is the main attraction in the National Park of the same name. The lake is one of the clearest bodies of water in the States with a depth of clarity of 43.3 meters. It was formed approximately 7,700 years ago when Mount Mazamu's volcano collapsed into the caldera below it. It is believed that the Klamath Indian tribe saw the fall of Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake. Their legends and stories speak of a great battle between the sky god Skell and Llao, the god of the underworld. The mountain was destroyed during the battle, and was created amazing beauty lake. The Klamath people used the lake to search for visions, and it still plays an important role in the spiritual life of the tribe. Crater is also famous for the "old man" - once a big tree, now a stump that has been growing right in the middle of the lake for over a century. It is well preserved due to the cold temperature of the water.

Heavenly Lake in China


The Lake of Heaven is located on the border between China and North Korea. It is located in a caldera and covers approximately 9.82 km. sq. This is a stunningly beautiful lake that is usually covered in ice from October to June. This is also a home legendary monster, called the Tianchi Lake Monster. In 1903 he was noticed for the first time. The creature looked like a buffalo and attacked 3 people, then retreated back into the water after receiving 6 bullets before that. In 1962, a telescope viewer reported seeing two creatures chasing each other in the water, and hundreds of people confirmed the sighting the same day. The description of the monster has changed over the years, now it was a creature with a 1.5 meter neck, with a white ring around the base of its neck, and gray skin. In 2007, a reporter named Zhuo Yongsheng said he filmed 20 minutes of video showing six unidentified creatures swimming in the lake. He showed fragments of the film, in which six unidentified creatures swam and interacted with each other. He said that they swam around for almost 1 hour before disappearing underwater.

Lake Nyos in Cameroon


Lake Nyos, 2 km long, is located in the North-Western part of Cameroon. Beneath it is a chamber of magma, from which carbon dioxide constantly seeps out, turning water into carbonic acid. More than a thousand years of penetration carbon dioxide, seeping into the lake, made it supersaturated, which had some devastating effects on August 2, 1986. A shift in the underground plate caused the lake to release 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, which escaped at a speed of 100 km. The cloud suffocated over 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock within a 25 km radius. This is the first known mass asphyxiation due to a natural phenomenon, after which the Guinness Book of Records named Nyos the most dangerous lake in the world. Scientists are still working on cleaning up the lake to make it safer.

lava lakes



Even though they are not lakes in the general sense, they have a volcanic source, and are very interesting, so we will also add them to the selection. A lava lake is a rare occurrence that can occur in three ways. Either the new channel erupts enough lava to partially fill the crater, or lava flows enter the crater, or the new channel erupts over several weeks, creating a crater around itself. The result is a lake of liquid lava. There are currently only 5 lava lakes on earth: Erta Ale (pictured), Ethiopia; Mount Erebus, Antarctica; Kilauea, Hawaii; Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Marum in Vanuatu.

Pool with Champagne


Again, this is not quite a lake, but still a stunning aftermath of a volcanic eruption. The Champagne Pool is an outstanding geothermal phenomenon in Wai-O-Tapu, a geothermal area in the Bay of Plenty, near north island New Zealand. Hot spring located approximately 30 km southeast of Rotorua and 50 km northeast of Taupo. This name is derived from great content carbon dioxide (CO2), which makes it look like a pool of bubbling champagne. The hot spring was formed 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, making it a relatively young system geologically. Its crater is approximately 65 meters in diameter, with maximum depth approximately 62 m. The Champagne basin is filled with an estimated volume of 50,000 m3 of geothermal fluid. The orange tint around the edges is due to arsenic deposits.

A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcano crater or caldera. Also, a lake can appear in a meteorite crater or in an artificial recess created by man (for example, as a result of an explosion). Sometimes lakes that form in calderas are called caldera lakes, although more often such a distinction is not made. Crater lakes that occupy the vents of active volcanoes are sometimes called volcanic, and the water in them is often acidic, saturated with volcanic gases and muddy with a strong green tint. In lakes in dormant or extinct volcanoes fresh water, and the transparency in them can be simply amazing due to the absence of inflowing flows and deposits. Crater lakes form when moisture within them fills a depression. The water level rises until an equilibrium is reached between the ratio of incoming and outgoing water. Sources of water loss can include evaporation, underground seepage, and sometimes surface seepage or excess water when the lake's water level reaches the lowest point of its rim. We present to your attention some of the most beautiful crater lakes in the world.

(Total 15 photos)

1. Crater Lake Mazama Volcano, Oregon, USA. well known crater lake in USA. It is located in the caldera of Mount Mazama. This is the deepest crater lake in the US - its depth is 594 m. It is fed by rain and snow, there are no sources of water inflow or outflow on the surface, and therefore it is one of the cleanest lakes in the world. (Ben Canales)

2. Lake Quilotoa, Ecuador. Quilotoa is a water-filled caldera of the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 km wide caldera was formed by the collapse of a dacitic volcano after catastrophic eruption 800 years ago, which resulted in pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached Pacific Ocean, and a huge amount of ash was released into the air. Since then, the caldera has turned into a 250 m deep lake with greenish water (due to dissolved minerals). There are hot springs on the eastern slope of the volcano, and fumaroles have formed at the bottom of the lake. (Annom)

3. Crater lakes of the Albertine Rift in Africa. In a region full of people, there are still some empty spaces - for example, the rift in Queen Elizabeth Park with crater lakes formed by volcanic eruptions. If in the 1920s and 1960s this place would not have been taken over by environmental agencies, they might not be here now. The Albertine Rift is backed by some of the most high mountains in Africa, including Mount Virunga, Mitumba and Rwenzori. Here are rift lakes, which include some of the most deep lakes in the world (up to 1470 m). Most of the region lies within national parks, for example, Virunga Park in Democratic Republic Congo, Rwenzori Park and Queen Elizabeth Park in Uganda. Lake Victoria is considered part of the system rift valley, although in fact it lies between two branches. All the great lakes of Africa were formed as a result of the formation of a rift and are located within the rift valley. (Joel Sartore)

4. Kelimutu Crater Lake, Flores Island, Indonesia. There are three amazing crater lakes of different colors in the Kelimutu volcano. Tiwu Ata Mbutu (Lake of the Old People) is usually blue and is the westernmost of the three. The other two - Tivu Nuva Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Boys and Maidens) and Tivu Ata Polo (Enchanted or Enchanted Lake) are separated from each other by a crater wall, and the colors of the water in them are green and red, respectively. Kelimutu is very interesting for geologists, because these three lakes have different colors of water, but are located on the crest of the same volcano. (Rosino)

5. Pinabuto volcano crater lake, Luzon, Philippines. Lake Pinabuto is a crater lake at the top of the Pinabuto volcano, which appeared after its eruption on June 15, 1991. The lake is located near the borders of the Philippine provinces of Pampanya, Tarlac and Zambales. Exactly this deep lake in the country - 800 m. It is located about 90 km northwest of the capital Manila. (nucksfan604 on Flickr)

6. Crater lake of the Zao volcano, Honshu, Japan. Mount Zao is complex volcano on the border between Yamagata and Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. It consists of several stratovolcanoes and is the most active volcano in northern Honshu. IN central volcano The group includes several lava domes and a tuff cone containing a crater lake called Okkama. It is also called the "Pond of Five Flowers" because. it changes color depending on the weather. The lake is located in a crater formed by a volcanic eruption in the 1720s. The diameter of the lake is 360 m, the depth is 60 m. This is one of the main attractions of the region. (Aaron Jarrad)

7. Crater Lake of Katmai Volcano, Alaska, USA. Katmai is a large stratovolcano on the Alaska Peninsula within the Katmai National Park and Preserve. Its diameter is about 10 km, and the parameters of the lake inside are 4.5 x 3 km. It was formed during the 1912 eruption. The maximum elevation of the edge of the caldera is 2047 m. In 1975, the surface of the crater was at an altitude of about 1286 m, and the bottom was somewhere at 1040 m. The volcano is located on Kodiak Island. (Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps)

8. The tip of the volcano in the crater lake of the volcano Taal, Luzon, Philippines. Taal Volcano is a complex volcano on the island of Luzon, Philippines. The lake partially fills the Taal caldera, which was formed by powerful prehistoric eruptions sometime between 140,000 and 5380 BC. BC. Viewed from the Tagaytay Range, Tal Volcano and its lake are the most beautiful sights in the Philippines. It is located 50 km south of Manila. A lone rock sticking out of the lake is the footprint of an old volcano, which is now surrounded by a lake 2 km wide. This tip is now the largest island in the lake on the island, which is located in the lake on the island, i.e. tip in crater lake on Taal Island in Taal Lake, on the island of Luzon. What is incomprehensible? (Junjun Mac1)

9. Deriba Crater Lake, Marra Volcano, Darfur, Sudan. Deriba Crater - highest point Marra volcano at an altitude of 3042 m, in Darfur, in the western part of Sudan. The edge of the caldera became the new highest point in Sudan after the independence of South Sudan. Its diameter is 5-8 km along the outer edge of the crater. The inner crater is filled with a lake. Deriba caldera, 5 km wide, was formed by the eruption of the Marra volcano about 3500 years ago. The volcano is considered dormant, but not extinct, because. it still has hot springs and fumaroles. (J Williams)

10. Crater Lake, Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand. Ruapehu Volcano is an active stratovolcano in the southern part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand. It is located 23 km northeast of Ohakune and 40 km northwest of south coast Lake Taupo, within the Tongariro National Park. On its slopes are the main ski slopes and glaciers of the North Island. Ruapehu is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and the largest active volcano in New Zealand. This is the highest point of the North Island, which includes three peaks: Tahurangi (2797 m), Te Heuheu (2755 m) and Paretetaitonga (2751 m). A deep active crater lies between the peaks and is filled with a lake. (Adrian Macneil)

11. Yak Loum Crater Lake, Ratanakiri, Cambodia. Yak Loum is a lake and a popular attraction in the Ratanakiri province in northeastern Cambodia. The beautiful lake, located about 5 km from the provincial capital of Banlung, occupies a 4,000-year-old volcanic crater. Due to the incredible depth of the lake (48 m), its waters are very clean and transparent. The lake has an almost perfect round shape (0.72 km in diameter). The lake is surrounded by dense forests, where many exotic birds live. (Ethan Crowley, of Ethan Crowley Productions)

12. Crater Lake Kerid, Iceland. Kerid is a volcanic lake in the south of Iceland, on the popular tourist route known as the Golden Circle. It is one of several crater lakes in the region known as the Western Volcanic Zone, which includes the Reykjanes Peninsula and the Langjökull Glacier. The caldera is made up of red volcanic rock. Its depth is about 55 m, width - 170 m, and diameter - 270 m. It is about 3000 years old, it is half the age of the surrounding volcanic formations. While most of the crater has a steep slope with little vegetation, one wall slopes more smoothly and has moss growing on it. You can easily walk down it. The lake itself is relatively shallow (7-14 m), but thanks to the minerals in the soil, it has a stunning shade. (progresschrome)

13. Crater Lake Licancabur, Chile. Licancabur is a symmetrical stratovolcano in the southern part of the country, on the border of Chile and Bolivia. The lower three quarters of the northern slope belong to Bolivia (from 5400 m from the base to 4360 m), and the largest part belongs to Chile. The peak and the crater are located in Chile, its width is about 400 m, and the parameters of the lake inside are 70-90 m. Most of the year, Lake Licancabur is covered with ice. This is one of the highest lakes in the world, and despite the air temperature, which can reach -30°C, there is a planktonic fauna. (Albert Baker)

14. Geothermal crater lake Viti, Askja, Iceland. Askja is a stratovolcano in a remote part of the central highlands of Iceland. The name Askja refers to a complex of several calderas within the Dingjyfjoll mountains, rising up to 1510 m. In Icelandic, askja means "box" or "caldera". This region is only accessible for a few months of the year. It is located in the rain shadow area, with only 450 mm of precipitation falling here every year. This area was used during the test of the Apollo program to train astronauts to fly to the moon. Oskuvatn - large lake, filling most a small caldera, which appeared as a result of the 1875 eruption. Its surface lies about 50 m below the main crater floor and covers about 12 km². When the lake formed, it was warm, but today it is covered with ice for most of the year. This is the second deepest lake in Iceland (220 m). Viti is a small crater on the northeastern shore of the lake with a diameter of about 150 m. It contains a geothermal lake with mineral-rich water. (Boaworm)

15. Divine Lake, Paektusan Volcano, China, North Korea. Divine Lake is a crater lake on the border of China and North Korea. It lies within the caldera on the Paektusan volcano. It is partly located in Yanggang Province, North Korea, and partly located in Jilin Province, China. The caldera where the lake is located was formed as a result of major eruption in 969. The surface of the lake is located at an elevation of 2189 m. The lake covers an area of ​​9.82 km². Average depth lakes - 213 m, maximum - 384 m. From mid-October to mid-June, it is usually covered with ice. (Bdpmax)

The term "volcanic lake" appeared in the volcanological literature not so long ago. Over the past 15 - 20 years large group researchers use it quite widely, putting the following meaning into the term: A volcanic lake is a reservoir that occupies part of a negative volcanic relief (volcanic crater, maar, explosion funnel, caldera, part of a valley blocked by a lava flow), in which, to one degree or another, they have the place of receipt of endogenous (from the bowels of the earth.) energy and matter.

The share of this input can be reduced to a minimum at the moment (for example, cold lakes in maars), but in such lakes water interacts with igneous rocks, which undoubtedly affects their composition. In addition, there is always the possibility of the resumption of frozen volcanic processes.

Volcanic lakes are an integral part of volcanic processes and the landscape. The main distinguishing feature of such lakes is the presence in the balance of energy and matter of water bodies of a source from the depths of the Earth (often very powerful), which can significantly affect the hydrodynamic and hydrochemical processes in the lake. The volcanic lake is like a window through which you can "look" into the depths.

Especially often volcanic lakes are found in the famous Pacific volcanic ring, which includes volcanoes of Kamchatka, the Kuril and Japanese islands, Malay Archipelago, Philippines, New Zealand, Andes, Cordillera, Alaska, Iceland. On Japanese islands almost half of the lakes volcanic origin. Volcanic lakes can be found in Europe, Africa, Australia and even Antarctica. Here, about 3 km from the Soviet Antarctic station Bellingshausen, there is a young volcanic crater filled with the waters of Lake Glubokoe.

Volcanic lakes often have diverse flora and fauna, which actively participate in the biogeochemical cycle of matter. Due to this, various bottom sediments are formed, which have different sources of formation. Often in volcanic lakes find layers of ash brought from other volcanoes. In the bottom sediments of lakes, many chemical elements accumulate, and highly mineralized waters are often liquid ore.

The presence of large volumes of water in the crater of the volcano creates a danger during eruptions, which are accompanied by the release of a huge amount of stones and dirt, as well as the formation of powerful lahars (hot mudflows from a volcanic structure). All this is extremely dangerous for the population living near such volcanoes. The crater lake of the Kelud volcano (Fig. 2) on the island of Java has become widely known. The Kelud volcano itself is not high - a little more than 1730 m, its top is destroyed and is a crater filled with a lake. During a volcanic eruption, this lake boiled and splashed more than once. From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century, this happened 10 times. At the same time, flows hot water and dirt flowed down, destroying everything in its path. In 1919 As a result of such a catastrophe, more than 100 villages were destroyed in a few moments and more than 5 thousand people died. Now the level of the lake with the help of tunnels has been lowered to 50 m.

Officially, one of the most difficult professions in the world is the work of sulfur miners on the Ijen volcano, located in the east of the Indonesian island of Java. People here work in extremely toxic fumes at temperatures over 115°C, lifting 90kg baskets and treading over crumbling chasms. Workaholics get only $5 a day for this, which is considered to be an extremely well-paid job here. No wonder their average life expectancy is only 30 years!

At first glance, it seems that the views of Ijen are at least a photo from space or, in extreme cases, from a science fiction film, the local landscapes are so unusual for our eyes. All because the volcano is really the rarest place on the ground.

Ijen volcano - ancient dormant volcano, in the crater of which an acidic lake of extraordinary azure-blue color was formed, about one kilometer wide and 212 meters deep. It consists of sulfur formations and hydrochloric acid. The lake in the Ijen crater is recognized as the most acidic volcanic lake in the world. The temperature on its surface is 50-60°С, in depth - more than 200°С.

The shores of an unusual lake shimmer with gold, these are pieces of sulfur, for which hard workers descend here through sulfur fumes that continually escape from the walls of the volcano. They are extremely hazardous to health, cause pain in the eyes and a strong dry cough, prolonged exposure threatens to destroy the lungs. When visiting the volcano, be sure to wear a mask and carry water and a handkerchief with you to protect yourself from harmful fumes. In 2003, on Ijen, due to non-compliance with these security measures, one of the French tourists lost his life.

Ijen is unique place of our planet, film crews regularly meet here trying to capture this rare miracle of nature.

The volcano is located in the same national park Ijen or Gunung Kawa Ijen. Just a two-hour drive from it is the large pier Ketapang (Ketapang) from here depart sea ​​vessels on Bali. You can also get to Ijen from Yogyakarta, located