QUICK FACTS
Name: Kawah Ijen crater lake
Location: East Java, Indonesia
Coordinates: -8.05796494233988, 114.2415831801649
Why it is unimaginable: The volcano’s crater lake is as acidic as automotive battery acid, but it nonetheless hosts life.
Kawah Ijen is a big, energetic volcano on the island of Java with a crater that incorporates the world’s largest acidic lake. The water has a pH decrease than 0.3 in components of the lake the place hydrothermal fluids stand up from inside Earth’s crust, filling the water with minerals, in addition to sulfuric and hydrochloric acids.
A pH of 0.3 is much like that of battery acid, an answer that creates and shops electrical vitality in vehicles. For comparability, gastric acid has a pH between 1.5 and a couple of, and lemon juice scores between 2 and three. But regardless of situations that will dissolve human pores and skin immediately, Kawah Ijen’s acidic lake is residence to a small group of microbes, in accordance with a 2006 examine.
Related: ‘A problem and a possibility for evolution’ — The excessive, hidden life thriving in Earth’s most acidic and alkaline lakes
Kawah Ijen crater lake’s bluish-green shade is so brilliant, it is seen from area.The minerals and acids within the crater lake give the water its seemingly synthetic turquoise shade. They originate from a chamber of red-hot magma beneath the volcano, which final erupted in 1999. The volcano stands 9,085 ft (2,769 meters) tall and the crater measures 2,300 by 2,625 ft (700 by 800 m) extensive.
‘Bitter water’ river
Rain frequently replenishes Kawah Ijen’s acidic lake, however the brand new water instantly turns corrosive attributable to vents that launch gasoline repeatedly on the backside of the lake. When the crater is full, water overflows right into a stream on the volcano’s west aspect that feeds into the Banyupahit River basin — the identify of the river means “bitter water” within the Javanese language.
If the crater lake’s extraordinarily acidic waters weren’t eerie sufficient, Kawah Ijen additionally emits sulfurous gases that catch hearth after they come into contact with oxygen in Earth’s ambiance. When the gases ignite above the volcano, they produce electrical blue flames that largely go unnoticed through the day, however create an astonishing spectacle at evening.
Often, the sulfur in these gases condenses after catching mild, forming a liquid that flows a brief distance alongside the volcano earlier than solidifying into yellow deposits. Local folks mine these deposits, breaking off chunks of sulfur which they promote to a sugar refinery within the space that makes use of them to take away shade impurities from the sugar.
There is appreciable danger concerned in these mining operations, in accordance with the web site Geology.com, together with hurt from toxic sulfur gases, common gasoline explosions and harmful paths up and down the volcano.
Discover extra unimaginable locations, the place we spotlight the incredible historical past and science behind among the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.
