Lake Natron

About Lake Natron: 

• It is a salt lake located on the border between Tanzania and Kenya, part of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley.
• It is a Ramsar site and has a unique composition of warm waters and salt, caustic soda, and magnesite deposits that provide ideal conditions for flamingos to thrive.
• Primarily, the lake is fed by the Ewaso Ng’iro River, which originates from the central region of Kenya.
• One of the most striking features of this Lake is its striking red coloration. The primary reason for its hue lies in its extreme alkalinity.
• Threats: Several factors, including agriculture, pollution, and climate change, are threatening the beauty of this unique ecosystem.

Key facts about Great Rift Valley

• It is one of the most extensive rifts on Earth’s surface that runs along part of East Africa. It is part of a larger feature called the East African Rift System (EARS).
• It runs from Jordan in southwestern Asia to the coast of the Indian Ocean in central Mozambique.
• It runs across many countries: Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique.

Q1: What is salinity?

Salinity is the dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a strong contributor to conductivity and helps determine many aspects of the chemistry of natural waters and the biological processes within them.

Source: Flamingos under threat: Climate impact jeopardising delicate balance of Tanzania’s Lake Natron