Lonar lake is created due to the impact of a large 1.8 km diameter Meteor (shooting star); about 50000 years ago! It is a unique green coloured saline soda water lake ( Alkaline: pH ~ 13) with other salts and minerals which are different from local soil. Lonar is situated at central part of India, in district of Buldhana, Maharashtra State. Site is very special for Geologist/Astronomers to study rocks and surfaces on other planets or stars. Pune-India based Universe of Amateur Astronomers (Khagol Vishwa) also conducted various studies on Lonar Lake (For information and photos visit here ).This important site has also got attention recently after important discovery that this crater has similarity to the craters on the Mars surface (see full reports here and here).
Many local and international scientists, activists, students and socialists are campaigning to consider Lonar Crater Lake in the list of UNESCO World Heritage site.
Lonar is now a very famous tourist site. It is well connected by road. You can hire a taxi from nearest cities (close to Mumbai) such as Nagpur or Aurangabad in Maharashtra state.
See informative documentary on Lonar Lake below.
Lonar Lake Documentary (Devharsh Productions)
Lonar Lake among India’s 7 Wonders
Other informative articles on Lonar Lake:
- Geological Survey of India’s (GSI) full report on Lonar Crater can be accessed HERE
- Full study paper by team mentioned in the above Youtube clip at DRS-National Institute of Oceanology, Govt. of India: Geochemical identification of impactor for Lonar Crater, India
- Research paper at Wiley publication journal : Tektite-like bodies at Lonar Crater, India: Implications for the origin of tektites ( Know what is Taktite)
- TimesofIndia News: Water treatment plant has been set up to stop contamination in lake
- Full research paper at The Geological Society of America : Geology of Lonar Crater, India
- Rs. 10 Cr (~ $2m) sanctioned to stop pollution around Lonar Lake and to prevent from declining alkaline characteristics ( pH-13 in 1960 , pH – 10 now).
Image Credit: “en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LonarCrater.jpg”
Sources: Google search, YouTube, Devharsh Productions teaser, Wikipedia, and various news and other hyper-links mentioned in the post.
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