Why is Lake Natron called 'Styx'? Once an animal falls into it, it becomes a fossil

Compared with other planets we have found in the universe, the earth is definitely the most beautiful existence in terms of appearance, and in terms of the meaning of life, then the earth is undoubtedly a great existence in the universe. On the whole, the earth is full of life, and in any corner, it seems that the shadow of biological survival can be found.

Although there are many places that are forbidden places for most creatures, there will still be some very tenacious creatures, and the Natron Lake we are going to talk about today is such a place, and Natron Lake is also called "Styx" is mainly because as long as animals accidentally fall into this lake, they will become fossils. Of course, this is not a myth, but has a scientific basis.

Lake Natron is located in Kenya, Africa. Its location is very special, because near it is the famous East African Rift Valley, and there is also the highest mountain in Africa - Mount Kilimanjaro, in addition to , and some more active volcanoes. From here, we can know that the location of Natron Lake is actually at the junction of plates.

Moreover, it is different from the junction of other plates. The geological activities here are very active, which has created a very strange geographical environment, and Natron Lake is one of them. Natron Lake is a typical inland lake. The overall The liquidity is very weak. From the outside, Natron Lake is still very beautiful. In the shallow water area, the color of the water is mainly white and wine red, while the deep water area is dark blue, and the overall look is very beautiful.

Lake Natron is also a typical fault-type lake, mainly because of the subsidence of the fault caused by the geological movement, and a depression appeared, which was formed about 100,000 years ago, and a tributary of the Ewaso Ngiro River sinks the water source. Into it, and the overall area of ​​​​the lake is also relatively large, with an overall area of ​​110 square kilometers.

Of course, if it is just a general water source injection, even if it is an inland lake, it is just a saltwater lake. The color of the lake is impossible to be so rich, and the lake is also called "Styx", all of which are telling. The abnormality of Natron Lake is because in addition to the injection of water sources, a large number of hydrothermal hot springs are also injected into Natron Lake.

Not far from the southeast of Natron Lake, there is a very active volcano, the famous Gailai volcano. This volcano is also very special. Under normal circumstances, the substances ejected by active volcanoes are mainly carbon dioxide. Lava such as silicon, but the lava of the carbonate element ejected by the Garay volcano, and these carbonates will be injected into the Natron Lake along with the hydrothermal hot spring, which also caused the Natron Lake. particularity.

Because of this, the average temperature of the lake water in Natron Lake is around 60 degrees Celsius all year round, which has reached a temperature that can harm the human body. The substance of sodium carbonate is very rich, which is why the shallow water area appears white, because There are a lot of sodium carbonate crystals here, and these crystals are often very hard.

In addition, Natron Lake is very corrosive due to the influence of sodium carbonate, so there are basically no fish in Natron Lake, nor any plants nearby. It is precisely because of this strong corrosion The ability to cause animals to fall into it will be petrified, because after falling into Natron Lake, the high temperature and high corrosiveness of the water will hurt these animals for the first time.

In the process of breaking free, substances containing a large amount of sodium carbonate will stick to the animals, and because of the extremely high temperature and strong evaporation, the water will be quickly evaporated, but substances such as sodium carbonate will stay. On the animals, it begins to become very hard crystals, and the animals are trapped until they die, fall into the water, and eventually become fossils.

So now people can always find some fossilized animal corpses near Lake Natron, and their shapes often keep the best shape they were in their lifetime. Of course, Lake Natron does not have macroscopic organisms, but it is a microorganism. Heaven, that's why Lake Natron has a burgundy color, and that's why a large number of microorganisms gather together.

At the same time, because of the existence of these microorganisms, some blue-green algae also appeared in Natron Lake, and these algae and microorganisms are complementary to each other. Of course, for us humans, Natron Lake is definitely a forbidden place. First of all, the high temperature of the lake water can even directly scald people in the water, and secondly, the sodium carbonate here is also a substance that we must defend against!