Lonar lake turned pink due to 'Haloarchaea' microbes: Probe

The colour of Lonar lake water in Maharashtra's Buldhana district turned pink due to a large presence of the saltloving '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 told PTI.

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.