The Live Nagpur
  • Nagpur City
  • Nagpur Education
  • Nagpur Sports
  • Business
  • Featured
  • Crime
  • Entertainment & Lifestyle
  • Health & Wellness
  • Nation
  • Politics
  • Trending
  • Vidarbha
  • Obituary

The Live Nagpur


  • Home
  • City
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Forest
  • Featured
  • Vidarbha
Vidarbha

Lonar lake turned pink due to ‘Haloarchaea’ microbes

by TLN Team July 22, 2020
written by TLN Team July 22, 2020
Lonar lake turned pink due to ‘Haloarchaea’ microbes

The colour of Lonar lake water in   Maharashtra’s Buldhana district turned pink due to a large presence of the salt-loving ‘Haloarchaea’ microbes, a probe carried out by a Pune-based institute has concluded.

Haloarchaea or halophilic archaea is a bacteria culture which produces pink pigment and is found in water saturated with salt, Agharkar Research Institute Director Dr Prashant Dhakephalkar said.

The oval-shaped Lonar lake, formed after a meteorite hit the earth some 50,000 years ago, is a popular tourist hub.
The colour of the lake water recently turned pink, which has not only surprised locals, but also nature enthusiasts and scientists.

The state forest department informed the Bombay High Court last month that it had already collected the lake water samples and sent them for probe to the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEER) and the Agharkar Research Institute in Pune.

“Initially, we thought it was because of the red- pigmented Dunaliella algae due to which the water might have turned pink. But during the investigation of the lake water samples, we found the water turned pink due to the large presence of Haloarchaea population in the lake,” Dhakephalkar said.

“And since it (Haloarchaea) produces a pink pigment, it formed a pink colour mat on the water surface,” he said.
Dhakephalkar and other researchers – Dr Monali Rahalkar, Dr Sumeet Dagar and Dr Karthik Balsubramaniam from the institute – have prepared a detailed report of their findings and sent it to to the forest department.

The forest department will submit it before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, which is hearing a petition raising concerns over the change in colour of the lake water.

Dhakephalkar said they assume that the absence of rain, less human interference and high temperature resulted in the evaporation of water which increased its salinity and pH.

The increased salinity and pH facilitated the growth of halophilic microbes, mainly Haloarchae, he said.
The other scope of the investigation was to find out whether the colour attributed to the water was permanent.
“So, we allowed the sample water to stand still for some time and we found out that the biomass settled at the bottom and the water became clear and transparent,” he said.

“So basically, it was the biomass of these microbes and because of that the surface of the water turned red or pink and as soon as the biomass subsided, the colour disappeared,” he explained.

The scientist said the colour of the lake is now returning to original as the rainy season has kicked in, allowing dilution of the water. Because of that, the salinity and pH/alkalinity levels have also come down and green algae have started growing in the water body.

Dhakephalkar said during the investigation, they also came across an interesting incidentalfinding related to flamingos that visit the lake.

The plumage of the bird is pink or reddish in colour because of ingestion of carotenoids-rich food, he said.
“This bacteria, which produces a pink pigment, is ingested by these birds and they get carotenoid-rich food, because of that their plumage is pink in colour. So before we noticed it, these flamingos might have noticed the red colour at the lake and landed there,” he said.

0 comment
FacebookTwitterLinkedin
TLN Team

previous post
COVID-19 update: 122 new cases in Nagpur, tally reaches 3293
next post
BOYCOTT CHINESE GOODS CAMPAIGN WILL CHANGE RAKHI FESTIVAL LOOK THIS YEAR

You may also like

Chanda hottest with 45.2, Nagpur records 43.2

May 6, 2022

IMD predicts heat wave in Vidarbha on May...

May 6, 2022

Police jawan injured in encounter in Bhamragad admitted...

May 3, 2022

Nagpur records 44.2°C, Bhrampuri hottest in Vidarbha

May 1, 2022

Orange alert issued in Vidarbha till May 4

April 29, 2022

Vidarbha likely to witness heat wave in coming...

April 27, 2022

Gadchiroli police arrest 4 dreaded Naxals

April 21, 2022

Bombay HC refuses closure of engineering institute in...

April 21, 2022

Chanda, Akola, Wardha sizzle at 44.8 degrees C

April 19, 2022

Chanda, Akola, Brahmapuri cross 44.2 degrees C

April 18, 2022

Trending News

  • Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul to be rested for T20 series

    May 15, 2022
  • Australian Cricket Star Andrew Symonds Dies In Car Crash

    May 15, 2022
  • Rainfall in 15 States till 18th May: IMD Alert

    May 14, 2022
  • Helicopter Crash At Airport In Raipur, 2 Pilots Dead

    May 13, 2022
  • Tibet plane catches fire at China airport, no casualty reported

    May 12, 2022

Important Links

  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Sports

Available on Playstore & Coming Soon on Appstore

Search

July 2020
M T W T F S S
« Jun   Aug »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Sign-Up Form

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

Footer Logo
  • Nagpur City
  • Nagpur Education
  • Nagpur Sports
  • Business
  • Featured
  • Crime
  • Entertainment & Lifestyle
  • Health & Wellness
  • Nation
  • Politics
  • Trending
  • Vidarbha
  • Obituary
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Advertise with Us
  • Work with us
  • Contact Us

© 2020 - The Live Nagpur . All Rights Reserved.