Calcified Animals at the Lake of Death

Lake Natron in northern Tanzania is a frightening place:

Unless you are an alkaline tilapia (Alcolapia alcalica) – an extremophile fish adapted to the harsh conditions – it is not the best place to live. Temperatures in the lake can reach 60 °C (140 F), and its alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.5 (like pure ammonia). The lake takes its name from natron, a naturally occurring compound made mainly of sodium carbonate, with a bit of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) thrown in. Here, this has come from volcanic ash, accumulated from the Great Rift valley. Animals that become immersed in the water die and are calcified.

That is, turned to rock.

Photographer Nick Brandt, whose photographs of Africa I featured here, happened by and discovered the petrified birds and beasts along the shore. He says,

I could not help but photograph them. No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake's surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake.

More at New Scientist.