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Lonar Lake in Maharashtra's Buldhana to get a facelift

Already designated as a national geo-heritage site, last year it got the tag of Ramsar Site
Last Updated 05 February 2021, 09:46 IST

In a bid to boost tourism in the geological and biodiversity site of Lonar Lake in Buldhana district of Maharashtra, the government is planning to ramp up facilities in the area.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has sanctioned a development plan to create facilities near Lonar Lake.

Already designated as a national geo-heritage site, last year it got the tag of Ramsar Site, which would go a long way in the conservation of Lonar Lake or the Lonar Crater.

The crater-lake was formed nearly 52,000 years ago when a meteorite slammed Deccan Plateau. The meteorite weighed two million tonnes and was travelling at an estimated speed of 90,000 kmph. It created a hole which was 150 m deep and 1.8 km wide!

Scientists believe that the energy released during this event was equivalent to a six-megaton atom bomb explosion.

The collision led to the formation of one of the largest, most unique basalt impact craters in the world. It has a mean diameter of 1.2 km and is about 137 metres below the crater rim. The meteor crater rim is about 1.8 km in diameter.

The Lonar site includes the lake as well as escarpment, which forms the crater walls, and forested zones. The lake is high in salinity and alkalinity because of the lack of an outflow which leads to a concentration of minerals as the lake water evaporates. Specialised micro-organisms such as anaerobes, cyanobacteria and phytoplankton survive in this harsh chemical environment.

Outside the lake, there is considerable diversity of plant and animal life. Inhabiting the site are 160 species of birds including the vulnerable Asian woollyneck (Ciconia episcopus) and common pochard (Aythya ferina), 46 species of reptiles, and 12 species of mammals including the iconic grey wolf (Canis lupus).

Both these sites are both threatened by household sewage and urban wastewater and by unsustainable tourism.

The Smithsonian Institution, the United States Geological Survey, Geological Survey of India, the University of Sagar and the Physical Research Laboratory have conducted extensive studies of the Lonar site. Biological nitrogen fixation was discovered in this lake in 2007. A 2019 study, conducted by IIT Bombay found that the minerals, in the lake soil, were very similar to the minerals found in moon rocks brought back during the Apollo programme.

Numerous temples surround the lake, around the rim of the crater and further down around the lake, most of which stand in ruins today, except for the temple of Daitya Sudan at the centre of the Lonar town, which was built in honour of Vishnu's victory over the giant Lonasur. It is a fine example of early Hindu architecture.

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(Published 05 February 2021, 09:46 IST)

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