page_title: Lake Natron
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Natron
caption_attribution_description: English: Lake Natron and surroundings in northern Arusha Region, Tanzania. It is located in the East African Rift. The lake is mostly inhospitable to life, except for a few species adapted to its warm, salty, and alkaline water. You can see the deepest water along the perimeter of the lake bed, the location of lower-elevation lagoons. The extinct Gelai Volcano, standing at 2942 m tall, is partly visible southeast of the lake. Natural-colors mages was captured on 3 March 2017, very early in the rainy season, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA's Landsat 8 satellite. Deutsch: Der Natronsee und seine Umgebung im Norden der Region Arusha in Tansania. Er ist Teil des Ostafrikanischen Grabens. Der See ist sehr lebensunwirtlich, außer für wenige Arten, welche sich an sein warmes, salziges und basisches Wasser angepasst haben. Der höchste Wasserstand ist im Süden und Südosten sichbar. Der erloschene, 2942 m hohe Vulkan Gelai ist südöstlich (unten rechts) des Sees zu sehen. Das Echtfarbenbild wurde am 3. März 2017, in der sehr frühen Regenzeit, durch den Operational Land Imager (OLI) des NASA-Satelliten Landsat 8 aufgenommen.
context_page_description: Lake Natron is a salt or soda lake in Arusha Region in Tanzania. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance.
  The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River, which rises in central Kenya, and by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three metres deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The lake is a maximum of 57 kilometres long and 22 kilometres wide. The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totalling 800 millimetres per year. Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 40 °C.
  High levels of evaporation have left behind natron and trona. The alkalinity of the lake can reach a pH of greater than 12. The surrounding bedrock is composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachyte lavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period. The lavas have significant amounts of carbonate but very low calcium and magnesium levels. This has allowed the lake to concentrate into a caustic alkaline brine.
context_section_description: Lake Natron is a salt or soda lake in Arusha Region in Tanzania. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance.
  The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River, which rises in central Kenya, and by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three metres (9.8 ft) deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The lake is a maximum of 57 kilometres (35 mi) long and 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide. The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totalling 800 millimetres (31 in) per year. Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 40 °C (104 °F).
  High levels of evaporation have left behind natron (sodium carbonate decahydrate) and trona (sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate). The alkalinity of the lake can reach a pH of greater than 12. The surrounding bedrock is composed of alkaline, sodium-dominated trachyte lavas that were laid down during the Pleistocene period. The lavas have significant amounts of carbonate but very low calcium and magnesium levels. This has allowed the lake to concentrate into a caustic alkaline brine.
caption: The lake on 6 March 2017 (satellite image)
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