Not all lakes are made fresh and clear—there is a deadly lake in Tanzania, East Africa, with water that kills any animal that has been immersed in it, turning it into stone.
With the temperature rising to as much as 60 degrees Celsius at times, Lake Natron has a high alkalinity due to the accumulation of volcanic ash from the Great Rift valley.
Photographer Nick Brandt came across the calcified, perfectly preserved carcasses of birds and small animals that have fallen victim to the lake—he documented these strange, petrified mummies with his camera, publishing the pictures in his new book.
“I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death.”
The resulting images are disturbing and fascinating at the same time—Brandt’s book, Across the Ravaged Land, is now available on Amazon.
[via New Scientist, Gizmodo]