5 “Lost and Hidden” lakes in the world

1) Vostok: Located under 13,000 ft. (4km) of ice, Antarctica’s lake Vostok has been cut off from the outside world for 20M years. The freshwater lake temperature averages 27 F (-3 C), but the water remains liquid due to the weight of the ice above. Pressure from the cap compresses the lake at 5,000 psi, supersaturating oxygen and nitrogen at concentrations 50X above normal. Scientists believe the lake could harbor life in an environment similar to the ice covered oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa. In 2013, after 2 decades of drilling, a Russian team finally pierced the lake and discovered “an unclassified and unidentified” form of bacterial life. There is also speculation that Vostok may be hiding much more complex alien life due to a “huge magnetic anomaly” that was detected under the ice in 2001. 2) Conibas: A rare and enigmatic 1597 map by Belgian cartographer Cornelius van Wytfliet was one of the first to detail Northern Canada including a strikingly massive and bizarre inland lake and island, both identified as “Conibas”. Found in other contemporary maps as well, the mysterious lake connects to the Arctic and on the island sits a lost city. Knowledge of Conibas is believed to have passed from explorer Jacques Cartier who travelled the region for the French in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Cartier described a Native American tradition of “cornibotz”, a highly coveted shell used as currency, similar to wampum. “Cornibotz” were obtained by slashing the flesh of captives by sinking them into the lake for the wounds to collect the shells giving rise to Conibas, believed to have been the location of the resulting riches. 3) Ink Lake: An odd note in the news and humour section of an 1876 Chicago Tribune begins: “a river of ink has been discovered in Algeria”. The exact location of the river is never revealed, yet the 1930 American Journal of Pharmacy describes similar waters where two rivers containing iron and tannin, come together to form a natural pool of black ferric tannate ink. A few modern accounts of the black water’s existence claim that it is a lake called “Devil’s Eye” near Sidi Bel Abbes, but reliable details are scant and supposed photos of the ghost lake are entirely unrelated to the earlier reports. The existence and location of Algeria’s Ink Lake remains a puzzling geographic mystery to this day. 4) Yellow Stone: For centuries, mysteriously unexplained “music” has been heard emanating from Yellow Stone Lake in Wyoming. It was first documented by geologist Frank H. Bradley during the 1871 Hayden Expedition where he described a “curious sound” occurring every few minutes resembling “a whistle or a horse whine”. Often occurring in the early morning, the brief music will be accompanied by gusts of winds that fail to disturb nearby trees. Theories as to the music origin range from the scientific, including mild earthquakes and temperature inversions to the paranormal, including Native American tales of ancient dinosaur creatures causing the lake’s volcanic activity. 5) Desert: The Badain Jaran desert occupies parts of China and Inner Mongolia with sand dunes 1640 ft (500m) high. Yet, despite having an extremely arid climate that receives less than 2 inches (50mm) of rain annually, the desert’s name in Mongolian translates to “Mysterious Lakes”. Nearly 140 permanent lakes dot the landscape between monster sand dunes, with their source not entirely understood. It is believed the water may be mountain snowmelt from hundreds of miles away that travels through deep gravel deposit. Or that the springs feeding the lakes may be drawing on paleowater sources from a previous wet climate era. Due to evaporation, the lakes have high salinity and recent research suggests that they may soon shrink to the mirages.

Murtaza Rangwala

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