Lakes and streams

This category includes unusual lakes, sea bays and streams of the world. One though should remember the principle of Wondermondo: here the landmarks, in general, are smaller than 500 km³, thus here are not included large lakes or long rivers.

There are many factors that can make lakes, sea bays, or rivers unusual. Below are listed some kinds of these factors.

Crater lakes

Summits of volcanoes often have craters that have been shaped by eruptions. In these craters often are forming lakes and often the unusual chemistry and geothermal energy of volcanoes turn them into unique lakes.

Some lakes in volcanic craters consist of acid. It means – there is no acidic water but just – acid. The acidity of some crater lakes is almost 0 pH – thus in the central part of Kawah Ijen (Indonesia) the acidity is 0,13 pH but Laguna Caliente in Poás volcano (Costa Rica) sometimes is close to the nearly impossible 0 pH.

The unusual chemistry causes the weird color of many crater lakes. These lakes often are light blue, green, and white. Especially interesting are Kelimutu crater lakes (Indonesia) – three closely located lakes, each in its own color.

Under the sea there are even more unusual lakes (!) – such as Daikoku Sulfur Cauldron (Northern Mariana Islands) which is a pool of liquid sulfur.

Lava lakes

Some 7 – 12 volcanoes in the world contain lava lakes – basically lakes of molten stone. The largest and most impressive among them are lava lakes of Mount Nyiragongo (Congo DR) and Erta Ale“>Erta Ale (Ethiopia) as well as Halemaumau Crater in Kīlauea (Hawaiian Islands, United States).

Lakes in geothermal areas

There are numerous unusual lakes in the world’s geothermal areas. Similar to crater lakes these lakes have unusual chemistry and temperature but can be even more colorful – such as the gaudy lake of the Grand Prismatic Spring (United States) or Champagne Pool (New Zealand). These lakes can have high water temperatures or could be even constantly boiling as Boiling Lake (Dominica).

Lakes in sinkholes

Sinkholes themselves are unusual and impressive landmarks but many sinkholes have lakes in them and these lakes almost always are unusual. Such unusual lakes are El Zacatón (Mexico) with floating limestone islands or Poza Seca (Mexico) which has covered itself with a limestone lid. Very weird are black holes in the Bahamas, such as Black Hole of Andros which contains a heated, acidic layer of bacteria.

Many lakes in sinkholes are just gorgeous – the water here often is lucid and occasional rays of Sunlight the lakes in blue color. Such beautiful lakes are some cenotes in Mexico, such as X’kekén Cenote.

Lakes with unusual ecosystems

Almost every unusual lake has an unusual ecosystem as well. But some are truly weird, such as Jellyfish Lake (Palau) – a small, unique lake with millions of jellyfish in it or Satonda Crater Lake (Indonesia) which in some aspects resembles Precambrian environments.

Arid lakes

In the arid areas of the world lakes also have unusual chemistry and ecology thanks to the high rate of evaporation and lack of rain. Some such lakes have unusual colors such as the green Laguna Verde (Bolivia) or Lake Natron (Tanzania) which in some areas is bright red.

Sometimes such lakes are covered with a crust of salt, such as Lake Afrera (Ethiopia).

Lakes in Antarctica

Some very weird lakes are located in Antarctica. The extreme weather and often – long isolation under the sheet of ice – have created unique lakes, such as Lake Untersee which is supersaturated with oxygen or Lake Bonney which is saturated with nitrous oxide – "laughing gas".

Legendary lakes

Nearly all lakes have legends about them but some are just very unusual. Thus, there are many lakes with purported monsters living in them such as the famous Loch Ness (United Kingdom) or Lake Tele (Republic of the Congo).

Unusual streams

Some rivers are very special. Thus, in Antarctica, there is only one proper river – the Onyx River which flows over extremely dry, lifeless plains.

Indecision Creek (United States, Alaska) is a very acidic stream with a pH of 1.2 and smell of sulfur. There are some more hot rivers around the world in geothermal areas, some with acidic water.

Some rivers have unusual ecosystems such as the beautiful Caño Cristales (Colombia) which at certain times of the year are colored in bright red and yellow colors by specific water plants.

Unusual bays

Some sea bays also are very unusual. There are sea bays with surreal, turquoise color caused by limestone dust – such as Milky Way (Palau) or Chalk Sound (Turks and Caicos).

There are some bays where the bioluminescence is observed more frequently – such as Rockbay in Jamaica or Bioluminescent Bay in Puerto Rico.

Wondermondo has the following articles about the lakes and streams: