Dead Sea (Bordered with Jordan, Israel and Palestine)
The Dead Sea is not actually a sea but a salt lake, which is a type of lake that has a higher concentration of salt and minerals than any ordinary lake in the world.
It is very significant in history and was often cited in the Bible both in the Old and New testament. This was once the site for King David’s refuge and Jesus Christ was also told to have walked above its waters. The Dead Sea is also known as the Sea of Death because no macroscopic living things can thrive in it. The high salinity of the water makes it impossible for life to form with the exception of very few bacteria and fungi. In fact, the water from the Dead sea is 9.6 times saltier than the ocean.
Trivia:
The Dead Sea is the Earth’s lowest elevation on land at 423 meters below sea level and because of the high concentration of salt in the water, the buoyancy of the water is so strong that a person cannot swim underwater. The water will push the body to float. The water and sand are also believed to have therapeutic powers to cure certain skin diseases and are used for cosmetics and skin treatments.
Lake Berryessa Glory Hole (California)
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. It is very important because it is not only a tourist attraction but more so, as a source of hydroelectric power essential to the North bay region of the San Francisco Bay.
What makes it interesting and amazing is the bell-mouth spillway located on the south-eastern side of the lake. This “Glory Hole” is the largest of its kind with a diameter of 72 feet. The hole has a vertical drop of 200 feet and shrinks down to 28 feet. Once the water level reaches the maximum level, the spillway becomes submerged and it swallows excess water at an unbelievable rate of 48,800 cubic feet per second. The excess water goes into a concrete pipe 700 feet away from the lake on the other side of the dam.
People are not permitted to go near the hole especially when the water level is high for obvious reasons. There are buoys placed across the lake to prevent swimmers and boaters from going beyond the marked line.
Abraham Lake (Alberta, Canada)
Abraham Lake is actually a man-made lake in Alberta Canada, upper north of the Saskatchewan River at the foot of the Canadian Rockies. It is really beautiful during summer but what makes it amazing is the frozen bubbles found underneath the lake during the winter season. These frozen or ice bubbles underneath are piled up together like bluish-white cotton wool or white rocks piled on top of each other in an orderly fashion.
These frozen bubbles are actually methane gas that is produced when bacteria at the bottom of the lake decompose organic matter like animals, plants, and trees that died and sank to the bottom. Once methane is released a bubble is formed and it rises to the surface and evaporates in the air. During the winter, these bubbles are trapped when the lake is frozen and are unable to escape. These form the ice bubbles because methane gas gets frozen when it comes in contact with a colder surface. Once the ice is cracked, the bubbles pop, and methane is released into the air
Crater Lake (Oregon)
Crater Lake is a lake formed during the collapse of Mount Mazama 7,700 years ago. It is a lake caldera that is 2,148 feet deep and considered the deepest in the United States and 7th or 9th deepest lake in the world depending on the depth measured.
There are no rivers or any other bodies of water connected to the lake. Because of this, the water in the lake is considered one of the purest because of the absence of pollutants. The water is very clear and it has a visibility of up to 43.3 meters.
Inside the lake, there is also a lone feature popularly called “the old man of the lake;” it is a tree and is estimated to be a century old. There are also 2 separate islands namely, wizard island and the smaller island Phantom ship.
Lake Baikal (Siberia)
Lake Baikal is a rift lake which is a type of lake that is formed through continental crust being pulled apart. It is the deepest lake in the world with a depth of 1,642 meters (5,387 ft). The bottom of the lake lies 1,186.5 meters below sea level and underneath the lake floor is where the 7 kilometers of sediments are located placing the rift floor some 8-11 kilometers below the surface. It is the deepest rift on Earth and is still not explored.
Americans and Russian scientists study the core sediments and interestingly enough, each sediment contains detailed climactic records dating as far back as 250,000 years. This means that Lake Baikal is one of the oldest or most ancient lakes in geological history. Its age is estimated between 25-30 million years.
Lake Baikal is also rich in biodiversity. 80% of animals living within the area are endemic and more than 1000 species of plants thrive within the lake. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996 and since then has been protected.
crystal clear waters…
This is what it looks like during summer
Additional: Green Lake In Austria
Grüner See (Green Lake) is a lake in Austria that is amazing in that it is not your typical lake. In the winter, the lake is very shallow at 2 meters (deepest part). The surrounding area is made into a park where people can just sit and relax. However, in Spring, the lake undergoes a major transformation. As the ice melts, the water gushes down from the mountains to the lake and as the lake basin collects the clear waters, the surrounding park becomes submerged and the water reaches its deepest level at 12 meters. Divers can marvel at the site underneath the clear green waters . . . they can sit on the benches, swim over the trails, take pictures of the submerged bridge, and just marvel at the tree trunks and plants with their flowers under the waters…!
Taal Lake (Batangas, Philippines)
Taal Lake is a freshwater lake located in the province of Batangas in the Philippines. It is the country’s third-largest lake and also the most photographed. It is always featured and shown in postcards and magazines mainly because it cradles the world’s smallest active decade volcano, the Taal volcano. The lake fills the Taal caldera which is a remnant and the spot where historical eruptions occurred dating back to 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Regular precipitation accumulated within the caldera which eventually dissolved salt contents eradicating the salinity of the water completely.
At the center of the lake is the Volcano island where volcanic activity is centered up to this day. Within the volcano island, there lies another lake known as the Main Crater lake. Historically, the crater lake was divided into three crater lakes with three different colors, red, yellow, and emerald green. These craters were lost during a massive eruption in 1911 and what remained until now is a large crater lake.
Within the Main crater lake is also a small island known as the Vulcan point. It is a remnant of the old crater floor. At 40 meters, Vulcan point is the world’s largest island within a lake (Main crater lake) on an island (Volcano Island) within a lake (Taal Lake) within an island (Luzon Island). It is confusing but that is what makes Taal Lake amazing
Five Flower Lake (China)
The Five-flower lake is one of the most popular and most beautiful lakes among the lakes found in the Jiuzhaigou National Park in China. It is renowned worldwide and thousands of tourists visit it every day. It lies at the end of the Peacock river at a height of 2,472 meters above sea level and has a depth of five meters only. This shallow lake reflects multiple colors and definitely a great sight to feast your eyes with. The leaves of varying colors gathered at the lakefront interlaced as a multi-colored brocade. The bottom of the lake is littered with ancient trunks of trees crisscrossed everywhere. The water is a clear turquoise with a tinge of red, yellow, green, and blue. In fact, it’s so clear that you can see the bottom of the lake with the tree trunks scattered below.
Spotted Lake (British Columbia, Canada)
The Spotted lake is found in Osoyoos, British Columbia in Canada. The most notable feature of the lake is the multi-colored spots that are very visible and prominent even when viewed from the highway. The lake contains the world’s highest concentration of different minerals most notably, magnesium sulfate, calcium, and sodium sulfates. Aside from these three most prominent minerals, the lake also contains a higher concentration of eight other minerals and small doses of four others including silver and titanium. These spots consisted mainly of magnesium sulfate and as a result during summer, these spots become crystallized. The lake evaporates and during summer only the minerals remain and they form natural walkways in between and around the spots.
The Spotted Lake is also therapeutic and known to cure diseases. A lot of companies have tried to buy and commercialize it until First Nations closed the deal in October of 2001 for 720,000 dollars. The lake today is the property of the First Nations and the property is protected by fences preventing direct access.
Lake Hillier-Pink lake (Western Australia)
Lake Hillier is located on the Middle island which is the largest among the islands that comprise the Recherche archipelago in Western Australia. It is famous for its pink color. It’s not just a pinkish hue on the water but the water itself is really pink! It is really amazing in that its color is not derived from beta-carotene released by algae when light penetrates the water; which is actually the case for Lake Retba in Africa and the Pink Lake in Western Australia (the same region where Lake Hillier is). These two lakes derive their color from the red pigment being produced by Dunaliella Salina and Halobacteria that use sunlight to create more energy. Unlike these two, the pink water of Lake Hillier is permanent and even if the water is taken from the lake and transferred to a different container, the pink water is still pink! Scientists have tried to get samples and studied the water but until now they are still unable to find the cause for this amazing pink color. Instead, they found that the water contains a high concentration of salt and it’s hyper-saline. It’s only 600 meters in size but the pink water can be seen vividly while on-board the plane. And it never fails to amaze the onlookers.
aerial view of the Hillier Lake surrounded by lush island lined with white sandy shore…
Other colored lake…
Red Lake in Camargue France
Plitvice Lake (Croatia)
Plitvice Lake is inside the Plitvice National Park in Croatia which is the largest national park in the country and the oldest national park in southeast Europe. It is considered the most beautiful lake in the world because of its spectacular display of colors at different times of the day, at different angles of light, and in different seasons. It was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage in 1979 among the First Sites worldwide.
Every year, the lake is visited by more than 1.2 million tourists from all over the world. It is most famous for its 16 lakes arranged in cascades. These lakes are interconnected and are separated by natural dams of travertine which grow 1 cm per year.
The confluence of different colors is really spectacular ranging from azure to green, to grey to blue . . . these colors change constantly and are influenced by the number of minerals and organisms found in the water as well as the angle of sunlight.