The Pink Lake, near Esperance, WA (from the plane)
The Pink Lake, near Esperance in W.A., has a sort of "stop light" ecology.
It is died variable shades of pink chiefly by complex interactions between a salt-loving green alga (Dunaliella salina) that grows in the water and a pink-colored halobacterium that, despite it's name, is not a bacterium at all but an ancient species of archaea, that lives in the salt crust at the bottom of the lake. Brine prawns that feed on the alga also affect the Lake's palate.
Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water, if the temperature is high enough and depending on the amount of sunlight, the green alga also begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene, further affecting the hue of the lake, sometime dramatically.
WA Salt Supply (last image below) produces a variety of salts from the Lake including: water softening salt, coarse salt and salt for preserving sheepskin. The salt is kiln dried, crushed and bagged at the site before being distributed.
Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water, if the temperature is high enough and depending on the amount of sunlight, the green alga also begins to accumulate the red pigment beta carotene, further affecting the hue of the lake, sometime dramatically.
WA Salt Supply (last image below) produces a variety of salts from the Lake including: water softening salt, coarse salt and salt for preserving sheepskin. The salt is kiln dried, crushed and bagged at the site before being distributed.
The images in the collages were made with an OM-1 camera and a 12-40mm f/2.8 lens through the open side of a small Cessna plane. Most are of the lake and its shores, but the first is of the salt-bush plateau just north of the lake.
Salt processing plant
