Once a year, the water of Lake Burlinskoye in Siberia turns pink to pink. The spectacular natural spectacle attracts many visitors every year. Some of them also come because of another special feature: a train that runs over the very salty water.
Responsible for the spectacular coloring of the lake in Altai, a high mountain range in Central Asia, is a microscopic algae called Dunaliella salina, one of the few creatures that can survive in the salty Burlinskoye Lake. At high light and salt concentrations, it can accumulate large amounts of β-carotene (the main precursor of vitamin A, mind you), which can account for as much as 14 percent of the dry weight.
One of the saltiest bodies of water in the world
Lake Burlinskoye is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world; the density of the water is said to be even higher than that of the Dead Sea. Underneath the bottom layer of silt in the lake lies a layer of Glauber salt, said to be the largest deposit in Western Siberia.
Salt mining started here as early as the 18th century. Today, the salt is extracted from May to October using a special train that plows through the lake on rails laid beneath the water’s surface (see video above).
Tsar once called Lake ‘royal salt shaker’
With the train, the locomotive collects a mixture of mud and salt from the lake and transports it to the coupled wagons. About 65,000 tons of the ß-carotene salt are transported from the lake every year, which Tsar Peter the Great once called the “royal salt shaker.”
Some of it is mainly exported to the Asian region, where the algae is an important food ingredient and also used in nutritional supplements.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
