The Pink Lake, West Australia
Colors and textures of a WA salt lake near Esperance
The Pink Lake, near Esperance in Western Australia, has a sort of "stop-light" ecology.
It is dyed variable shades of pink chiefly by complex interactions between a salt-loving green alga (Dunaliella salina) that grows in the water, and a pink-coloured halobacterium that — despite its name — is not a bacterium at all but an ancient species of archaea that lives in the salt crust at the bottom of the lake. Brine prawns that feed on the alga also affect the lake's palette.
Once the lake water reaches a salinity level greater than that of sea water, if the temperature is high enough and depending on the amount of sunlight, the green alga also begins to accumulate the red pigment beta-carotene, further affecting the hue of the lake — sometimes dramatically.
WA Salt Supply produces a variety of salts from the lake including water-softening salt, coarse salt, and salt for preserving sheepskin. The salt is kiln-dried, crushed and bagged on site before distribution.
The images were made with an OM-1 camera and a 12–40mm f/2.8 lens through the open door of a small Cessna. Most show the lake and its shores; the first is of the salt-bush plateau just north of the lake.
