A crater lake is a body of water formed when a volcanic crater (depression at the top of a volcano), a caldera (a depression formed due to the collapse of the volcano's top), a maar (explosion crater) or an impact crater that appeared as a result of a cosmic body falling to the Earth's surface fills with water. .
The crater lake is mostly circular in shape, has high walls and is usually filled with rainwater. This is a selection of the most interesting crater lakes.
Elgygytgyn, Chukotka
Crater lake in Chukotka. The diameter of the lake is about 12 kilometers, and the maximum depth is 174 meters. This crater lake appeared about 3.6 million years ago. No one knows exactly the reason for the formation, but it is assumed that this is either an impact or a volcanic crater.
Katmai, Alaska
It is an active stratovolcano in the south of the Alaska Peninsula. The volcano reaches 10 km in diameter and has a caldera filled with a large lake, 4.5 × 3 km in size, which was formed during the volcanic eruption in 1912. The maximum height of Katmai, on which the crater lake is located, is 2047 meters above sea level.
Quilotoa, Ecuador
The caldera, whose radius is 2 km, was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption about 800 years ago. The crater lake has a depth of 250 meters and is colored greenish due to the dissolution of minerals. At the bottom of the lake there are cracks along which streams of gases rise.
Crater lake in the Rift Valley, Africa
A rift is a large linear depression in the earth's crust. The Rift Valley is located between the highest mountain systems Africa - Virunga, Mitumba and Rwenzori. There are lakes here, including Lake Tanganyika, which is the longest in the world. freshwater lake and one of the deepest (1470 meters).
Crater Lake, Oregon
Crater Lake is world famous for its deep blue color and clear water. It partially fills a 1,220-meter-deep caldera that appeared about 7,700 years ago after Mount Mazama collapsed.
Dimensions of the crater lake: 8 by 9.5 km. The average depth is 350 meters, and the maximum depth is 595 meters. Photo from space.
This deepest lake in the USA, the second deepest in North America.
Pinatubo, Philippines
The active volcano Pinatubo is located on the Philippine island of Luzon, 93 km northwest of the capital Manila.
In a huge crater with a diameter of 2.5 km, formed by the 1991 eruption, a rain-fed crater lake was formed.
Lake of five colors, Japan
Mount Zao is located on the border of Yamagata and Miyagi prefectures. In the 1720s, Okama Lake formed in the volcanic crater after an eruption. It is also called the “lake of five colors” because it changes color depending on the weather.
The crater lake is 360 meters in diameter and 60 meters deep.
Crater Lake at Taal Volcano, Philippines
The active volcano Taal is located in the Philippines, 50 km from Manila.
The crater lake fills a caldera with a diameter of 25-30 kilometers, which was formed after a strong eruption 100-500 thousand years ago.
Deriba, Sudan
The crater of the dormant Derib volcano, located at an altitude of 3042 meters, was formed as a result of an eruption 3,500 years ago. Its dimensions are 5-8 km in diameter.
View from space on the crater lake.
Crater Lake on Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand
The active stratovolcano Ruapehu in New Zealand is the most high point north island(2,797 meters).
At the top of the volcano is a crater lake.
Yak Lum, Cambodia
This beautiful lake located in a 4000-year-old volcano crater. It is almost perfectly round - 720 meters in diameter and has a depth of about 50 meters. Around the crater lake is a lush rainforest with many exotic birds.
Kuril lake, Russia
In the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula there is a large caldera, in which there is a crater lake. The area of the Kuril Lake is about 77 sq. km., average depth 195 meters, maximum depth 316 meters. (Photo by Roman Murushkin).
Kurile lake. View from space.
Kelimutu, Indonesia
Volcano Kelimutu with a height of 1,639 meters is located on the Indonesian island of Flores. There are 3 crater lakes here, each of which is painted in its own color.
Various minerals are dissolved in the Kelimutu lakes, and because of this, over the course of several years, they change their color from black to turquoise, red-brown or green.
Keriz Crater Lake, Iceland
Located in the south of Iceland. The caldera in which the crater lake is located is made up of red or black volcanic rock. The depth of the caldera is 55 meters, the width is 170 meters, and the age is 3,000 years. The crater lake itself is shallow - only 7-14 meters deep.
Crater lake in Licancabura, Chile
Licancabur is a stratovolcano with a height of 5,920 meters above sea level. The crater contains a lake covered with ice for most of the year. This is one of the highest mountain lakes in the world.
Geothermal crater lake Viti, Iceland
Askja is an active stratovolcano with a height of 1510 meters above sea level. During the volcanic eruption of 1875, in a caldera with an area of about 45 sq. km. formed two large lakes. One of them is the crater geothermal lake Viti with a diameter of about 100 m and a depth of about 7 meters. The water in the lake is milky blue. You can see people swimming in the photo.
Sky Lake, North Korea, China
Chongji or Tianchi Crater Lake is located on the border of North Korea and China. It is also called Heavenly Lake.
The crater was formed as a result of a strong eruption in 970. The shores of the crater lake are very steep. The river flowing out of the lake forms a deep gorge with steep ledges in the crater wall, where waterfalls form. The largest of them is located at the outer edge of the crater and has a height of about 50 meters.
Sky Lake is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest crater lake in the world - the height of the water surface is 2,189 m.
A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. Lakes range in size from very large ones, such as the Caspian Sea and the Great Lakes in North America, to tiny bodies of water a few hundred square meters or even smaller. The water in them can be fresh, as in the lake. Upper, or salty, as in the Dead Sea. Lakes are found at any height, from the lowest absolute mark on Earth on the land surface -408 m (Dead Sea) and almost to the highest (in the Himalayas). Some lakes don't freeze all year round, while others, such as Vanda in Antarctica, ice-bound for most of the year. Many lakes exist permanently, while others (for example, Lake Eyre in Australia) are only occasionally filled with water. Lakes are similar to oceans, but there are differences between them: lakes are smaller and more vulnerable to external influences, including natural climate change. Age is one of the significant differences between lakes and oceans. Only a few of the existing lakes, such as Tanganyika or Baikal, are several million years old. Most of the lakes are probably less than 12,000 years old, while man-made lakes - artificial reservoirs - are only a few decades old.
ORIGIN OF THE LAKE BELLS
The lakes fill hollows that have different origins. Since the formation processes of these basins are often dependent on local conditions, the lakes are concentrated in certain areas, such as the Lake District in northwest England, the lake district in Austria, and the vast belt of lakes that covers the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The formation of lake basins is influenced by tectonic activity, volcanism, landslides, glacial processes, coastal processes, accumulation of organogenic deposits, damming of streams by humans or beavers, and the fall of meteorites.
The oldest and deepest of the existing lakes arose under the influence of tectonic activity, however, most of the lakes were formed due to glacial processes. However, the role of other listed factors is also important.
Volcanic activity leads to the formation of a variety of lake basins - from small rounded craters with low sides to large deep calderas formed when magma erupts through a side crater located near the top of the volcano, which leads to the collapse of the volcanic cone. A good example of a caldera lake is Lake. Crater in Oregon, formed during the eruption of the Mazama volcano c. 6000 years ago. This picturesque lake of almost round shape has a depth of 608 m (seventh deepest in the world). In the middle of the lake is the island of Wizard, which arose as a result of a later eruption. Lakes of this type are found in Japan and the Philippines. In volcanic areas, lake basins can also form when hot lava flows from below a colder surface lava horizon, which contributes to the subsidence of the latter (this is how Yellowstone Lake was formed), or when rivers and streams are dammed by lava or mud lava flow during volcanic eruptions. This is how the basins of many lakes in Japan and New Zealand arose.
Kamchatka is a true "wonderland". A chain of formidable volcanoes stretched across the whole of Kamchatka. There are more than one hundred and forty of them here, including twenty-eight active ones. Lakes sometimes appear here and right in the craters of volcanoes, and then they amaze with the most unusual colors. For example, in the crater of the Bolshoy Semyachik volcano there is Black Lake, the surface of which is covered with a black film of iron sulfides. The crater looks like a deep funnel with a diameter of about 700 m, slightly oval, at the bottom of which lies a lake. Sheer walls, rising to 200 m, resemble a layer cake of lava and tuff. A wonderful addition to this very interesting crater is a lake of light green color. This coloration is caused by the smallest sulfur particles floating in the water column, taken out by underwater fumaroles. The temperature of the lake is 30-40 ° C, its average diameter is about 500 m, the depth is up to 140 m. The descent to the lake is possible only from the north side along live screes, interrupted by a rocky, stepped cliff about 20 m high. large boulders. The water tastes burning sour. When volcanologists examined the lake in a rubber boat, they returned with difficulty: the aluminum blades of the oars were eaten by acids dissolved in the water. The mineralization of water is very high, exceeds the content of salts in sea water. The beautiful emerald color of the lake from above is disappointing, turning into just muddy.
And the Gorely volcano, unique even for Kamchatka (it has as many as nine craters!), has two lakes at once: in the crater Blue Lake indeed there is a pond with pale blue water, and nearby, in the crater Bowl - the water in the lake is purple. The formation of such colored lakes is associated with the different acidity of the water in the craters and the different composition of the lava in them.
VOLCANO SMALL SEMYACHIK
Fig.1 Troitsky crater on Maly Semyachik volcano.
The small northern country of Iceland has a lot of attractions in its stock. True, most of them with hard-to-pronounce names. Such as, for example, the Seljalandsfoss waterfall or the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano. Against their background, the name of Lake Kerid is distinguished by its conciseness and clarity for us. In addition, this is an interesting and quite interesting place.
Lake Kerid is a small reservoir in the crater of the volcano of the same name. It is located in the southwestern part of the country, 200 meters from the Biskupstungnabraut road (or easier road No35) and 15 kilometers north of Selfoss. The lake is included in the list of attractions of the Golden Circle of Iceland.
Lake Kerid on the map
- Geographic coordinates 64.040921, -20.884809
- The distance from the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, is about 50 km.
- To the nearest International Airport Keflavik approximately 85 km
Kerid is located at an altitude of 214 meters above sea level, at the bottom of a crater about 55 meters deep. The caldera of the crater has the following dimensions of 270 by 170 meters, and the dimensions of the lake itself are approximately 100 by 62 meters, which is comparable to the size football field. The depth of the lake does not exceed 14 meters, and the average is about 10 meters. Coastline is an almost regular oval with smooth edges. This, of course, is due to the shape of the caldera.
Geology of Lake Kerid
Kerid Crater was formed about 6500 years ago and lies in the northern part of a series of craters known as Tjarnarholar (in the original Tjarnarholar). Traces of volcanic activity are not very noticeable here, since most of the eruptions are low-lying, and many of the craters are hidden by vegetation, but some of them are still visible and well known. In addition to Kerid, these are also craters in the Seydisholar region.
Volcanologists assumed that Kerid is an explosive crater. That is, a crater formed approximately at ground level as a result of an explosive eruption. However, deeper studies in the area did not reveal the presence of any ash deposits that could be attributed to an explosive eruption. It is now believed that Kerid was originally a large slag crater. In its current form, the crater was probably formed by a small magma chamber below the earth's surface, the top of which collapsed, thus creating such a formation. Gradually, the crater filled with groundwater, and a lake appeared.
A notable fact is that the water in Kerida does not run out, but rises and falls in accordance with changes in the water table. Thus, Lake Kerid is a kind of marker or indicator of the level of groundwater in the area.
If you want to see a real classic, albeit extinct, volcano, then you should pay attention to Fujiyama volcano in Japan. By the way Fujiyama is a private property.
The inner slopes of the crater are not made of traditional black, but of red volcanic rocks, which adds a rather interesting look to Lake Kerid. Vegetation on the slopes is sparse. On the southern side, the slopes to the lake are very steep, but on the northern side, they are so gentle that you can go down them directly to the shore of the reservoir.
Exploring Lake Kerid
German scientists measured the depth and explored Lake Kerid in 1932. Then they measured a depth of 8-9 meters, and also found crustaceans and plankton in the water.
The naturalist Geir Guilla conducted additional research on the water from 1941 to 1954. According to him, it turned out that the largest depth is 8.8 meters, and the smallest is 4.8 meters. The water temperature in winter is about 0 o C, and in summer from +12 to +16 o C. Nematodes, chironomid larvae, vatnabobba (a small snail with a shell) and vatnaskeljar (a kind of the smallest freshwater mollusks) were found in the lower layers of the water. In the upper layers, zooplankton of the species svifdyr, brunnklukkur and a small stickleback fish (gasterosteus aculeatus) were found.
Both the lake and the Kerid crater are of interest to scientists, tourists, and even musicians.
You won’t be able to get to Kerid Lake for free, you will have to pay 400 ISK per person for the entrance (this is about 225 rubles). As we already mentioned, the Kerid volcano is included in the tourist Golden Ring, so if you travel around the country, then most likely it will be included in the mandatory program of many excursion tours. Be sure to check out this place of interest.
The shape of Lake Kerid in the photographs is close to a perfect circle, but from space it is still oval Such a lake can form in several different ways: first of all, it can be a simple crater filled with water. Another form of formation is when a volcano erupts, releasing a large number of magma. After that, a void is formed, falling under the weight of the earth and forming a crater, which is eventually filled with water. All of these lakes have an explosive past, a beautiful and majestic present, and a potentially destructive future. Each of the volcanic lakes contains its own history.
Lake Ijen
Lake Ijen is a crater-type lake located in East Java, Indonesia. It is located in a group of stratovolcanoes, in the Ijen volcano. Acid lake 1 km wide, with beautiful turquoise water. It is a well-known sulfur mining hotspot, as there are active geysers on one side of the lake that are constantly bringing sulfur to the surface. There it is broken into pieces and carried out of the crater in baskets. Molten, hot-red sulfur passes through the channels, depositing on the bottom, where it cools to a bright yellow color.
Coatepeque caldera lake
Coatepeque Caldera is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador. It was formed after a series of huge eruptions 72,000 and 54,000 years ago. After these two great volcanic eras, cones and volcanic domes formed, as well as large areas from lava flows along western edge calderas. On the east side of the caldera is a volcanic lake called Coatepeque. This lake covers an area of 26 km. sq., which makes it one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. Many hot springs constantly fill Coatepeque with water. Notable is the island called Teopan, which was sacred place for the Maya Indians.
Lake Towada on the island of Honshu
Lake Towada is the largest volcanic lake in Japan and the 12th largest in Japan. It is located in the caldera active volcano with the last major eruption dating back about 13,000 years ago. Towada is actually located in a double caldera, since not big eruption destroyed another caldera under the lake about 5,400 years ago. The moments of volcanic eruptions are well recorded in history, and the last known eruption was approximately 1000 years ago. Devastating ash and pyroclastic flows destroyed crops and even caused temperatures to drop, followed by a cold winter and severe famine.
Lake Katmai Volcano
Katmai Volcano is a complex of stratovolcanoes found on the Alaskan Peninsula in southern Alaska. In the center is a filled lake caldera, approximately 4 km in diameter. The caldera was formed by the eruption of Novarupta in 1912, its rim now reaches a maximum of 2,047 meters. Virtually nothing was known about the volcano before the huge eruptions in 1912, due to the uninhabitable location, but some records have been left by neighboring villages since the 1800s that the Katmai volcano in the area is often active.
Lake Laach in Germany
Lake Laach, also known as the Laacher See, is located in the Rhineland Caldera, Germany. It is approximately 9 km in diameter, near the cities of Koblenz (24 km), Bonn (37 km), Andernach (8 km) and Mayen (11 km), at a distance of 8 km from the river Rhine. The caldera was formed after the massive eruption of the Laacher See volcano, which occurred approximately 12,900 years ago. Approximately 6 cubic kilometers of magma was erupted, almost 16 cubic kilometers. ash is released into the atmosphere. This eruption caused a global cooling and the ash can be found all over Europe, with many unique minerals found in the area.
Lake Taupo in New Zealand
Lake Taupo is located on the North Island and is the largest lake in New Zealand. The surface area is approximately equal to 616 km2. Taupo is believed to have formed around 26,500 years ago. The largest known eruption occurred 69,000 years ago, and scored 8 on the VEI scale (Volcanic Eruption Scale). Approximately 1170 km3 of magma and ash were ejected into the atmosphere, and a large caldera and lake formed. Taupo is believed to have erupted approximately 27 times since then, and the last major eruption can be dated to 180 AD, when 30 km3 of ash and lava was ejected from the volcano in 5 minutes. The ash column from the eruption was twice as high as that from the eruption of Mount St. Helena, chronological records from China and Rome claimed that the sky turned red. This volcano is currently considered dormant, but it is likely that it will wake up from its long dormancy in a few hundred years.
Lake Toba
Lake Toba is a huge lake in a caldera on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Over 100 km long and 30 km wide, Toba is the largest in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. It formed +/-70,000 years ago when a massive super volcano erupted in the largest volcanic explosion in at least 25 million years. The eruption, believed to have had a VEI of 8, caused a global winter in which most of the people living at the time died.
Lake Crater
Crater Lake is a beautiful caldera lake in South Central Oregon, USA. It has stunning dark blue water, perfectly clear. Crater is the main attraction in national park with the same name. The lake is one of the clearest bodies of water in the States with a depth of clarity of 43.3 meters. It was formed approximately 7,700 years ago when Mount Mazamu's volcano collapsed into the caldera below it. It is believed that the Klamath Indian tribe saw the fall of Mazama and the formation of Crater Lake. Their legends and stories speak of a great battle between the sky god Skell and Llao, the god of the underworld. The mountain was destroyed during the battle, and a lake of amazing beauty was created. The Klamath people used the lake to search for visions, and it still plays an important role in the spiritual life of the tribe. Crater is also famous for the "old man" - once a big tree, now a stump that has been growing right in the middle of the lake for over a century. It is well preserved due to the cold temperature of the water.
Heavenly Lake in China
The Lake of Heaven is located on the border between China and North Korea. It is located in a caldera and covers approximately 9.82 km. sq. This is a stunningly beautiful lake that is usually covered in ice from October to June. It is also the home of a legendary monster called the Tianchi Lake Monster. In 1903 he was noticed for the first time. The creature looked like a buffalo and attacked 3 people, then retreated back into the water after receiving 6 bullets before that. In 1962, a telescope viewer reported seeing two creatures chasing each other in the water, and hundreds of people confirmed the sighting the same day. The description of the monster has changed over the years, now it was a creature with a 1.5 meter neck, with a white ring around the base of its neck, and gray skin. In 2007, a reporter named Zhuo Yongsheng said he filmed 20 minutes of video showing six unidentified creatures swimming in a lake. He showed fragments of the film, in which six unidentified creatures swam and interacted with each other. He said that they swam around for almost 1 hour before disappearing underwater.
Lake Nyos in Cameroon
Lake Nyos, 2 km long, is located in the North-Western part of Cameroon. Beneath it is a chamber of magma, from which carbon dioxide constantly seeps out, turning water into carbonic acid. More than a thousand years of carbon dioxide seeping into the lake made it supersaturated, which had some devastating effects on August 2, 1986. A shift in the underground plate caused the lake to release 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, which rushed out at a speed of 100 km. The cloud suffocated over 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock within a 25 km radius. This is the first known mass suffocation due to a natural phenomenon, after which the Guinness Book of Records named Nyos the most dangerous lake in the world. Scientists are still working on cleaning up the lake to make it safer. Champagne Pool
Again, this is not quite a lake, but still a stunning aftermath of a volcanic eruption. The Champagne Pool is an outstanding geothermal phenomenon in Wai-O-Tapu, a geothermal area in the Bay of Plenty off the North Island of New Zealand. Hot spring located approximately 30 km southeast of Rotorua and 50 km northeast of Taupo. This name is derived from the high content of carbon dioxide (CO2), which makes it look like a pool of bubbling champagne. The hot spring was formed 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, making it a relatively young system geologically. Its crater is approximately 65 meters in diameter, with a maximum depth of approximately 62 m. The Champagne Basin is filled with an estimated volume of 50,000 m3 of geothermal fluid. The orange tint around the edges is due to arsenic deposits.
The Kelimutu volcano is mystical place located on the island of Flores, lost in the ocean, which is rarely visited by tourists due to its remoteness and underdeveloped tourism infrastructure. Even in the sky, flying over Flores, you can see a bright turquoise spot that stands out sharply against the dark green that covers the island. This is one of the three Kelimutu crater lakes, with which the legends and beliefs of local residents are closely intertwined.
The Kelimutu lakes are located in a volcano on the island of Flores (height 1639 m.), which belongs to the Indonesian Eastern Minor sunda islands. The volcano last erupted in 1968, after which it shows no signs of activity. After the eruption, depressions-calders were formed in the magma, in which water from atmospheric precipitation forms three lakes.
Why are Kelimutu lakes famous? Not even because they are multi-colored, but because the lakes are constantly changing color. For example, black lake after a few years it becomes turquoise, then red, and then green. This variability is explained by the presence of dissolved minerals of various nature in the water. Chemical reactions between them lead to the dynamic multicolored Kelimut. Green is sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, red is the result of the reaction of hydrogen sulfide with iron, although in recent years the water of the red lake has darkened, and now it has become almost black. As can be seen from the photographs, the two lakes are literally a few meters apart, and yet their depths contain different minerals, respectively, and they themselves are painted in different colors.
Representatives local tribe the lio tell the legend of Kelimutu. According to this legend, the souls of the dead go to the lakes. The souls of old people live in the red lake, the souls of those who died young live in the green lake, and the souls of children live in the white one. According to another version, sinners and murderers fall into the red lake, young people into the green one, old people and the righteous into the turquoise one. It is difficult for Europeans to understand the philosophy of the Lio tribe, although they themselves distribute souls without any problems and even claim that the color change indicates that the spirits living in the lakes are angry.
Official names lakes are as follows: in the west of the volcano (at a distance from others) - Tivu-Ata-Mbupu (lake of the elderly), the other two - Tivu-Nua-Muri-Kooh-Tai (lake of boys and girls) and Tivu-Ata-Polo (enchanted lake ).
The inhabitants of Flores believe that the souls of dead people end up in the lakes. The souls of the old people who have lived their lives with dignity go into the lake, which has a calm and deep dark green color, it is called the Lake of the Old People. The souls of innocent young people go into a lake of exciting bright turquoise color, which is called the Lake of Boys and Girls. And the souls of the villains go into the lake of dark brown color, which is called the Lake of Evil Souls. The Lake of Boys and Girls and the Lake of Evil Souls share a crater wall that symbolizes the fine line between innocence and evil. The Lake of the Old Men is somewhat aloof and symbolizes the wisdom that comes with age. Locals claim that if the living anger the souls of the dead, the lakes will change their color. Especially often the lake of Boys and Girls changes color, it is said that in the last twenty-five years the lake has changed its color twelve times.
Of course, scientists have their own explanation for the Kelimutu phenomenon, they argue that the lake is rich in special minerals that change their color depending on natural conditions and underground activity. But, the inhabitants of Flores still tend to stick to their point of view and most travelers who come here share the beliefs of the inhabitants. Here, indeed, there is a special mystical atmosphere and a feeling of absolute peace and silence, which makes you lower your voice, slow down and think about the eternal...
The best way to admire the magnificent views of the Kelimutu lakes is from the top of the Kelimutu volcano (1690 meters above sea level). The way to the top is not difficult and takes about 2 hours. The easiest way to get to the foot of Kelimutu is from the village of Moni, which is located just a few kilometers from the volcano. You can also go to Kelimut from Labuanbajo or Maumere. Such a trip will take the whole day and will cost at least $100, including transport, driver, guide and entrance fee to national park Kelimut.
