Lonar Lake: Difference between revisions

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Although the crater's age was previously estimated to be 52,000 ± 6,000 years,<ref>{{Cite Earth Impact DB | name = Lonar | access-date = 30 December 2008 }}</ref> newer studies suggest an age of 576,000 ± 47,000 years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jourdan |first1=Fred |last2=Moynier |first2=Frederic |last3=Koeberl |first3=Christian |author3-link=Christian Koeberl|last4=Eroglu |first4=Sümeyya |year=2011 |title=40Ar/39Ar age of the Lonar crater and consequence for the geochronology of planetary impacts |journal=Geology |volume=39 |issue=7 |pages=671–674 |doi=10.1130/G31888.1 |bibcode=2011Geo....39..671J }}</ref><ref name="Schmieder & Kring 2020">Schmieder M, Kring DA. (2020). Earth’s impact events through geologic time: A List of Recommended Ages for Terrestrial Impact Structures and Deposits. Astrobiology 20: 91-141.</ref>

A 2019 study, conducted by [[IIT Bombay]] found that the minerals in the lake soil are very similar to the minerals found in [[Moon rocks]] brought back during the [[Apollo Program]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://m.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/mineral-contents-of-buldhana-s-lonar-lake-similar-to-moon-rocks-iit-bombay-study/story-sl9v4p3gBvp2oIorYDY77H_amp.html|title=Mineral contents of Buldhana's Lonar lake similar to moon rocks: IIT-Bombay study|newspaper=Hindustan Times|access-date=25 March 2019}}</ref> The lake was declared a protected [[Ramsar site]] in November 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indianexpress.com/article/india/lonars-meteor-lake-declared-ramsar-site-7050926/|title=Lonar's meteor lake declared Ramsar site|newspaper=The Indian Express|author=Vivek Deshpande|date=13 November 2020}}</ref>

 

[[File:Lonar Meteorite Crater edit 1.JPG|thumb|right|240px|View of the crater from the edge. A temple is visible in the forest underneath.]]

 

 

{{Infobox terrestrial impact site

| name = Lonar crater

# The crater lake

 

The lake was first mentioned in ancient scriptures such as the [[Skanda Purana]] and the [[Padma Purana]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

 

[[Buldhana district]] in Maharashtra, where the lake is located, was once part of the [[Maurya Empire]] and then part of the [[Satavahana dynasty|Satavahana Empire]]. The [[Chalukyas]] and [[Rashtrakutas]] also ruled this area. During the period of the [[Mughals]], [[Seuna|Yadavas]], [[Nizam]], and the British, trade prospered in this area. Several temples found on the periphery of the Lake are known as [[Yadavas of Devagiri|Yadava]] temples and also as Hemadpanti temples (named after Hemadri Ramgaya).

 

 

== Ambar Lake ==

 

== By-products of the lake ==

Commercial exploitation of the salts from the lake is recorded from 1842, including the period of Government of Nizam, and until 1903. Presently, there is only a very small local demand for these Lonar Lake products.<ref name="Maha"/>

 

[[Gaylussite]] is the mineral has been recently reported from drill core in Lonar lake.<ref>Anoop et al., ''Palaeoenvironmental implications of evaporative gaylussite crystals from Lonar Lake, central India,'' Journal of Quaternary Science, V., Issue 4, pp. 349–359, May 2013</ref> Gaylussite is a [[carbonate mineral]], a hydrated sodium calcium carbonate, formula Na₂Ca(CO₃)₂·5H₂O. It occurs as translucent, vitreous white to grey to yellow [[monoclinic]] prismatic crystals. It is an unstable mineral which dehydrates in dry air and decomposes in water.<ref name=Handbook>{{Cite web|url=http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/gaylussite.pdf|title=Handbook of Mineralogy}}</ref>

 

''[[Streptomyces alkalithermotolerans]]'' is an [[alkaliphilic]] and [[Thermophile|thermotolerant]] bacterium species from the genus of ''[[Streptomyces]]'' which has been isolated from the Lonar soda lake in [[India]].<ref name=Streptomyces-alkalithermotolerans>{{cite web|url=http://www.bacterio.net/streptomycesa.html|title=Streptomyces file 1|website=www.bacterio.net|access-date=27 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923224528/http://www.bacterio.net/streptomycesa.html|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=AC3>{{cite journal|pmid=25391353|year=2015|last1=Sultanpuram|first1=V. R.|title=''Streptomyces alkalithermotolerans'' sp. nov., a novel alkaliphilic and thermotolerant actinomycete isolated from a soda lake|journal=Antonie van Leeuwenhoek|volume=107|issue=2|pages=337–344|last2=Mothe|first2=T|last3=Mohammed|first3=F|doi=10.1007/s10482-014-0332-z|s2cid=6220162}}</ref>

 

The chemical characteristics of the lake shows two distinct regions that do not mix – an outer neutral ([[pH]] 7) and an inner [[alkaline]] (pH 11) each with its own flora and fauna.The lake is a haven for a wide range of plant and animal life.<ref name=rama1/>

 

Among reptiles, the [[monitor lizard]] is reported to be prominent. The lake is also home to thousands of [[peafowl]]s, [[chinkara]] and [[gazelle]]s.<ref name=rama1>{{cite web|url=http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19991103/ige03039.html|title=Plea to declare Lonar lake a protected wetland|date=3 November 1999|author=Indian Express Newspapers|website=Express India|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926081338/http://http/|archive-date=26 September 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=7 July 2017}}</ref> The area of {{cvt|3.83|km²||}} was declared as Lonar Wildlife Sanctuary by the government on 20&nbsp;November 2015.<ref>[http://www.moef.gov.in/sites/default/files/%20Lonar%20Wildlife%20Sanctuary%2C%20Maharashtra.pdf]{{dead link|date=January 2020}}</ref>

 

 

While the Lonar Lake appears green for most of the year due to the presence of dense blooms of cyanobacteria such as ''Arthrospira'' spp.,<ref name="Surakasi VP 2010">Surakasi VP, Antony CP, Sharma S, Patole MS, Shouche YS. (2010). Temporal bacterial diversity and detection of putative methanotrophs in surface mats of Lonar crater lake. J Basic Microbiol 50: 465–474.</ref> bacteria and archaea belonging to diverse functional groups such as methanogens, methanotrophs, phototrophs, denitrifiers, sulfur oxidizers, sulfate reducers, heterotrophs and syntrophs have been reported.<ref name="ReferenceA">Antony CP, Kumaresan D, Hunger S, Drake HL, Murrell JC, Shouche YS. Microbiology of Lonar Lake and other soda lakes. ISME Journal. 2013;7(3): 468–476.</ref><ref>Surakasi VP, Wani AA, Shouche YS, Ranade DR. (2007). Phylogenetic analysis of methanogenic enrichment cultures obtained from Lonar Lake in India: isolation of ''Methanocalculus'' sp. and ''Methanoculleus'' sp. Microb Ecol 54: 697–704.</ref><ref name="Surakasi VP 2010"/><ref>Wani AA, Surakasi VP, Siddharth J, Raghavan RG, Patole MS, Ranade D, Shouche YS. (2006). Molecular analyses of microbial diversity associated with the Lonar soda lake in India: an impact crater in a basalt area. Res Microbiol 157: 928–937.</ref><ref name="Antony CP 2014">Antony CP, Shimpi GG, Cockell CS, Patole MS, Shouche YS. (2014). Molecular Characterization of Prokaryotic Communities Associated with Lonar Crater Basalts. Geomicrobiology J 31(6): 519–528.</ref><ref>Joshi AA, Kanekar PP, Kelkar AS, Shouche YS, Vani AA, Borgave SB, Sarnaik SS. (2008). Cultivable bacterial diversity of alkaline Lonar Lake, India. Microb Ecol 55: 163–172.</ref><ref>Paul, D., Kumbhare, S. V., Mhatre, S. S., Chowdhury, S. P., Shetty, S. A., Marathe, N. P., et al. (2016). Exploration of microbial diversity and community structure of Lonar Lake: the only hypersaline meteorite crater lake within basalt rock. Front. Microbiol. 6:1553.</ref><ref>Kumar PA, Srinivas TNR, Kumar PP, Madhu S, Shivaji S. (2010). ''Nitritalea halalkaliphila'' gen. nov., sp. nov., an alkaliphilic bacterium of the family ‘Cyclobacteriaceae’, phylum ''Bacteroidetes''. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 60: 2320–2325.</ref><ref>Kumar PA, Srinivas TNR, Madhu S, Manorama R, Shivaji S. (2010). ''Indibacter alkaliphilus'' gen. nov., sp. nov., an alkaliphilic bacterium isolated from a haloalkaline lake. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 60: 721–726.</ref><ref>Kumar PA, Srinivas TNR, Madhu S, Sravan R, Singh S, Naqvi SWA et al. (2012). ''Cecembia lonarensis'' gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel haloalkalitolerant bacterium of the family ‘''Cyclobacteriaceae''’, isolated from a haloalkaline lake and emended descriptions of the genera ''Indibacter'', ''Nitritalea'' and ''Belliella''. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 62: 2252–2258.</ref><ref>Srinivas A, Rahul K, Sasikala Ch, Subhash Y, Ramaprasad EV, Ramana ChV. (2012). Georgenia satyanarayanai sp. nov., an alkaliphilic and thermotolerant amylase producing actinobacterium isolated from a soda lake. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 62: 2405–2409.</ref><ref>Sultanpuram VR, Lodha TD, Chintalapati VR, Chintalapati S. (2013). Cohaesibacter haloalkalitolerans sp. nov., isolated from a soda lake, and emended description of the genus Cohaesibacter. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 63: 4271-4276</ref><ref>Sultanpuram VR, Mothe T, Chintalapati S, Chintalapati VR. (2017). Nesterenkonia cremea sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from a soda lake. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 67: 1861–1866.</ref> Diverse alveolates, fungi, stramenopiles, choanoflagellates, amoebozoans and cercozoans, and many novel lineages of putative micro-eukaryotes were detected in molecular surveys of Lonar Lake sediments. Gene sequences of ciliated protozoans such as ''Oxytricha longa'' and fungi belonging to ''Candida'' spp. were also recovered from lake sediment microcosms containing enriched populations of methylotrophic bacteria.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> A new species of fungus ''Curvularia lonarensis'' has been described from the lake.<ref>Sharma R, Prakash O, Sonawane MS, Nimonkar Y, Golellu PB et al. (2016) Diversity and distribution of phenol oxidase producing fungi from soda lake and description of ''Curvularia lonarensis'' sp. nov. Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 1847.</ref>

Nonsymbiotic [[Nitrogen fixation|nitrogen-fixing microorganism]]s such as ''Halomonas'' sp., ''[[Paracoccus (bacterium)|Paracoccus]]'' sp., ''[[Klebsiella]]'' sp., ''[[Slackia]]'' sp., and ''[[Actinopolyspora]]'' sp. have been reported from this lake. All the nitrogen fixers are [[haloalkaliphilic]] in nature as they can grow only at pH-11. Some of the [[bacteria]] and [[actinomycetes]] isolated from this lake are able to grow on some components of inorganic medium containing ''martian soil simulant components''.<ref>Avinash Anand Raut and Shyam S. Bajekal; Growth of Microaerophilic Nonsymbiotic nitrogen Fixing Microorganisms from Lonar Lake on Inorganic Medium containing Martian soil simulant components; in Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology; to be published on October 2010.</ref>

 

{{Multiple image

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Numerous temples surround the lake, most of which stand in ruins today, except for the temple of Daityasudana at the centre of the Lonar town, which was built in honour of Vishnu killing the asura Lonasura. It is a fine example of early Hindu architecture.<ref name="auto">[http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/pdf/gazeetter_reprint/Buldhana/home.html] Central Provinces Buldana district Gazetteer</ref> [[Vishnu]], [[Shiva]], [[Brahma]], [[Lakshmi]], [[Parvati]], [[Saraswati|Sarasvati]] are deities present in other temples found inside the crater.

 

There are numerous ridges onto the temple with different decoration, images having iconic as well as artistic significance. Many of the images depict deities and incidents on Hindu Puranas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lonar.org/2012/12/26/daityasudan-temple/|title=Daityasudan Temple|author=mrsachindixit|date=26 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131223123937/http://lonar.org/2012/12/26/daityasudan-temple/|archive-date=23 December 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=7 July 2017}}</ref>

 

* Kamalaja Devi Temple is located beside the lake<ref name=ng/> and also features carved images. Although the water level rises during the rainy season and falls in summer, the temple is located above the water level.

* Gomukha Temple is located along the rim of the crater. A perennial stream emerges from here and pilgrims visiting the temple bathe in the stream.<ref name="auto"/> It is also called Sita Nahani temple and Dhara.<ref name=ng/>

* Motha Maruti temple is near the Ambar crater lake, with a statue made of a rock which ia a fragment of a asteroid that created the crater.

 

Lonar lake faces anthropological and environmental problems as listed below:

* Use of fertilizers, pesticides and toxic materials in the agriculture field around the lake results in pollution of lake water.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Lonar-crater-now-included-in-its-wildlife-sanctuary-move-lauded/articleshow/55714294.cms|title=Lonar Crater: Lonar crater now included in its wildlife sanctuary, move lauded &#124; Nagpur News |website=The Times of India|date=December 2016 }}</ref>