Here’s another small bunch of natural phenomena notable for their rare and bizarre beauty. (oh, and a belated merry christmas / premature happy new year to everybody who deserves them).
1. the spotted lake
the spotted lake (kliluk), situated in osoyoos, canada, contains one of the highest concentrations of minerals in the world (mainly epsom salts, calcium and sodium sulphates). the lake’s healing waters were used by native indians to alleviate aches and pains and during the first world war the salts were skimmed from the surface in huge amounts to be transported to eastern american munitions factories - sometimes as much as a ton per day.
the pattern you see below appears during hot sunny days as the water evaporates and the minerals crystallize to form hundreds of incredible yellow pools.
photo credit: liembo
2. red tide
red tide, the common name for ‘algal bloom’, is caused by high levels of phytoplankton accumulating to form dense, visible clouds near the surface of the water. due to the varying colouring of the phytoplankton’s pigments, these algae blooms range in colour too. although aesthetically stunning, this naturally occuring phenomena sometimes results in a high death rate amongst certain marine life due to an increase in karenia brevis algae.
3. penitentes
these amazing ice spikes (generally known as penitentes due to their resemblence to processions of white-hooded monks) can be found on mountain glaciers and vary in size dramatically: from a few centimetres to 5 metres in height.
‘initially, the sun’s rays cause random dimples on the surface of the snow. once such a dimple is formed, sunlight can be reflected within the dimple, increasing the localised sublimation. as this accelerates, deep troughs are formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them’ - new scientist
