The World’s Most Amazing Lakes: Pink, Spotted and Frozen Bubbles

A lake can be pink, covered in spots or hold thousands of frozen bubbles in its ice. Nature creates these wonders with salts, minerals, microorganisms and unusual terrain. Here are some of the planet’s most amazing lakes and where their colours come from.

Fresh flowers delivered: spray roses and flowers in a box.

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Where the unusual colours come from

• Lake Hillier (Australia). This small salt lake on Middle Island off Western Australia is a lasting pink, linked to the micro-alga Dunaliella salina and salt-loving microorganisms.
• Spotted Lake (Canada). In British Columbia, summer evaporation leaves dozens of coloured pools rich in minerals. The lake is sacred to the Syilx Okanagan people, so it can only be viewed from the roadside.
• Abraham Lake (Canada). In winter, white bubbles are visible frozen in the clear ice of this Alberta reservoir — methane from decaying organic matter on the bottom.
• Five Flower Lake (China). In Jiuzhaigou National Park, crystal-clear water, deposits and algae on the bed create shades from turquoise to emerald.

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Two more wonders

In Austria’s Styria, Grüner See floods a park with benches and paths every spring, and in Texas, Caddo Lake is home to bald cypresses growing right in the water.

Ukraine’s legendary lake

The best-known mountain lake in the Ukrainian Carpathians is Synevyr, at about 989 metres. It is surrounded by spruce forest and tied to a legend of two lovers, Synia and Vyr. The lake is part of Synevyr National Nature Park.

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Read more about the flooded park in Grüner See, cypresses in water in bald cypress, and flowers by a mountain lake in Lake Tekapo lupins.

FAQ

Can you swim in Lake Hillier?

The lake lies on a protected island and is usually seen from the air or from the shore on organised tours.

Are Abraham Lake’s methane bubbles dangerous?

Not while frozen in the ice, but methane is flammable, so open flames near holes in the ice are unsafe.

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Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.