With temperatures of around 50 to 60 degrees Celsius (pushing 140 degrees Fahrenheit), the Frying Pan Lake is really living up to its name.
Situated in Waimangu, New Zealand, the lake is one of the largest hot pools in the world. Its acidic waters stay at about 50–60° centigrade all round the year, and its surface remains obscured by steam, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide gas bubbling to the surface.
The lake was born out of a large volcanic eruption in 1886, when Mount Tarawera erupted and formed several large craters in the area. It was the largest eruption in New Zealand since the arrival of Europeans.
Within 15 years of the eruption, hot springs permanently established themselves in the Waimangu Valley. The world’s largest geyser, the Waimangu Geyser, shot water nearly half-a-kilometer into the air for four years. Newly formed craters filled with rainwater and heated groundwater to form hot pools. The Frying Pan Lake is one of them, and it’s located in the Echo Crater. But it was not until another large eruption in Echo Crater in 1917 that the lake reached its final shape and size.
Amazingly, the lake supports a range of thermophiles – lifeforms, usually bacteria, that thrive in extremely hot environments.
1 comments:
commentsLet's have a sauna bath
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