Scientists uncover ‘God’s bathtub’

This story is old but I didn’t know about this place and thought if you didn’t that you might want to add it to your bucket list: There’s a lake on this earth, aptly named Blue Lake, that’s not been affected by climate change or any other man-made influences. This remote, Australian lake’s crystal-clear water seem to be in the same chemical state as they were about 7,500 years ago. ¹

In fact, it’s so lovely that scientists have taken to calling it ‘God’s bathtub’. A researcher, Dr. Cameron Barr, told the Associated Press in Australia, “It is beautiful. It is absolutely beautiful.” Barr published his findings in Freshwater Biology and said Blue Lake is the only such lake of its kind known to be in Australia.

“Barr and his team of researchers from the University of Adelaide say the lake—one of the largest on North Stradbroke Island off the south Queensland coast, according to the AAP—is so pure that you can see more than 30 feet below the surface to its bottom.
To reach its conclusion, the team studied the lake’s water quality, fossil pollen, and algae, which team members then compared with photos taken of nearby areas on the island over the past 117 years.” ²

The team actually found Blue Lake accidentally because they were in North Stradbroke to study several former lakes that are nearby (lakes that have dried up over the past 40 years due to climate change).

Barr says that the lake’s water has remained unchanged because its waters drain into a nearby swamp and are replaced by an aquifer every 35 days or so. Because it’s constantly being updated it doesn’t evaporate and become more saline, or fill up and become fresher, “It just remains constant,” he noted.

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However, because of its pristine condition, something as small as sunscreen from tourists could alter the lake’s chemistry. ³

It’s official. I’ve added visiting Blue Lake to my bucket list. What about you?