That is the question in the minds of people all over India after Lonar Lake in the state of Maharashtra suddenly changed color in the last few days.
Experts believe that the change is probably caused by an increase in salinity in water, the presence of algae or a combination of both – like part of the Great Salt Lake in Utah or Lake Hillier in Australia.
Gajanan Kharat, a local geologist, said in a video posted Maharashtra Tourism Twitter feed, that this has happened before, but it doesn’t stand out.
“It looks very red this year because this year the water salinity has increased,” he said. “The amount of water in the lake decreases and the lake becomes shallower, so the salinity rises and causes some internal changes.”
Kharat said that the researchers also investigated whether the presence of red algae caused discoloration.
Samples were sent to several laboratories, he said, and “after they study them we will be able to definitively say why the lake’s water turns red.”
The lake, which is located about 500 kilometers (311 miles) east of Mumbai, was formed after a meteorite hit the Earth about 50,000 years ago, according to CNN affiliates, CNN News 18. This is a popular tourist attraction and has been studied by scientists around the world, CNN News 18 reports.
