It contains magmatic limestone that has been created deep inside the Earth, poured out in runny lava flows, and blasted into the air to form ash clouds 10 miles high. Other volcanoes typically erupt silicates, but the Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only one on the earth to erupt “natrocarbonatites” in the form of chilly, flowing, dark washes. According to Hannes Mattsson, a researcher at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, it’s a favourite among petrologists because it’s the only one of its sort. Ol Doinyo Lengai, a million-year-old volcano just south of Lake Natron, is to blame. The lake is additionally nourished by mineral-rich springs that rise up on the lake’s periphery, bringing soluble salts to the surface. “You’d literally get, say, a hundred finches washed ashore in a 50-yard stretch.The Ewaso Ngiro River, which has its catchment in the central Kenyan highlands, is the main source of water for Lake Natron.
I saw entire flocks of dead birds all washed ashore together, lemming-like,” he says. During dry season, Brandt discovered, when the water recedes, the birds’ desiccated, chemically-preserved carcasses wash up along the coastline. Brandt theorizes that the highly-reflective, chemical dense waters act like a glass door, fooling birds into thinking they’re flying through empty space (not long ago, a helicopter pilot tragically fell victim to the same illusion, and his crashed aircraft was rapidly corroded by the lake’s waters). A swallow © Nick Brandt 2013, Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, NYĪs you might expect, few creatures live in the harsh waters, which can reach 140 degrees Fahreinheit-they’re home to just a single fish species ( Alcolapia latilabris), some algae and a colony of flamingos that feeds on the algae and breeds on the shore.įrequently, though, migrating birds crash into the lake’s surface.
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