TRANSFORMING WORLD: BEAUTIFUL PLACES

Hillier lake(pink lake), Western Australia

Hillier Lake can be found on the Middle Island, the largest island of the Rechercher Archipelagos of Western Australia. Scientists still don’t know why the lake is a bubble-gum pink color, but the color does not change when you put it in a vessel. Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water, the temperature is high enough and adequate light conditions are provided, the alga begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene.

However, the most probable explanation according to some scientists involves the low nutrient concentrations and different types of bacteria and algae that are responsible for the lake’s pink colour. But there is no traces of algae in the samples of water which is taken from Lake Hillier. The lake is one of the natural wonders of Australia.

Pink lakes tend to have a striking colour due to the presence of algae that produces carotenoids, such as Dunaliella Salina, a type of halophile green micro-algae especially found in sea salt fields.The Lake is saline, and surrounded by a belt of white salt beaches.The length of the lake is about six hundred m. A narrow strip of land composed of sand dunes covered by vegetation separates it from the ocean. The lake is surrounded by a rime of white salt and a dense woodland of Paperbark and Eucalypt trees with sand dunes separating the lake from the Southern Ocean to the north.

The island and lake are thought to have been first explored by the Flinders expedition in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have observed the pink lake after ascending the island’s peak. John Thistle, the ships master collected some of the lake’s water which he found to be saturated with salt .The reason for the lake’s colour is still under investigation, and so far no one has come up with a reasonable explanation.

Lake Hillier, is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Arelchipago, Western Australia.

The most notable feature of this lake is its pink colour. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it. The colour is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. The length of the lake is about six hundred metres (3/8 mile). The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees with a narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separating it to the north from the Southern Ocean.

The island and lake are thought to have been first charted by the Flinders expedition in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have observed the pink lake after ascending the island's peak. John Thistle, the ship's master, collected some of the lake's water, which he found to be saturated with salt. Although the source of the pink colour has not been definitively proven in the case of Lake Hillier, the pink colour of other salt lakes (e.g., Pink Lake) in the region arises from a dye created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another hypothesis is that the pink colour is due to red halophilic bacteria in the salt crust.

The lake, on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, spans only about 600 meters wide but its rose pink colour is unmistakable.

Canada's Dusty Rose Lake, in British Columbia is pink due to the particulate in the glacial melt waters feeding it. The surrounding rock is purple/pink in colour; the water feeding the lake is said to have a lavender hue.

Perhaps the most unusually located pink lakes are in south west Spain, where two large salt-water lakes sit adjacent to the city of Torrevieja.