LakeHillier is a pink-colored lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and
islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. From above
the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink. It is such a significant
distinguishing feature of the island that air passengers often crane their
necks to take a glimpse of it.
The
lake is about 600 meters long, and is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense
woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees. A narrow strip of sand dunes
covered by vegetation separates it to the north from the Southern Ocean.
Unlike
other pink lakes in the world like the one in Retba and the saltponds at San Francisco Bay, the pink color of Lake Hillier has not been
decisively proved, although it is speculated that the color could arise from a
dye created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another
hypothesis is that the pink color is due to red halophilic bacteria in the salt
crusts. That the color is not a trick of light can be proved by taking water
from the lake in a container – the pink color can be found to be permanent.
One of
the first evidence of Middle Island's pink lake dates back to the journals of
Matthew Flinders, a British navigator and hydrographer in 1802. Flinders had
climbed Middle Island's highest peak (now known as Flinders Peak) to survey the
surrounding waters when he came across this remarkable pink lake. Except for a
few years when salt extraction was being carried out here, the island and its
pink lake has been almost untouched and has since then provide visitors with
one of the most amazing view of the world's natural wonder.
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