Lonar Lake in Maharashtra mysteriously turns red; Forest officials puzzled

Buldhana, June 10: The water of Maharashtra's famous Lonar crater lake in Buldhana has mysteriously changed its colour to red, sparking concerns and theories alike. On the normal days, the lake appears to be in greenish.

Meanwhile, the forest department has been asked to collect the sample of the water and dig out the reason behind the changing colour of the lake.

"Since the past two-three days, the colour of the lake's water seems to have changed colour. Forest department has been asked to collect a sample for analysis and find out the reason," Lonar tehsildar Saifan Nadaf told news agency ANI.

Maharashtra: Water of Lonar crater lake in Buldhana district has turned red. Saifan Nadaf, Lonar tehsildar says, "In the last 2-3 days we have noticed that the colour of lake's water has changed. Forest Dept has been asked to collect a sample for analysis & find out the reason". pic.twitter.com/c19zPRIZpS

— ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2020

However, the colour change could be due to growth of Halobacteria and fungus salina.

Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument, saline, soda lake, located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India. Lonar Lake was created by an asteroid collision with earth impact during the Pleistocene Epoch.