Boiling Lake
Sakhalin region, Kunashir Island, Pacific Ocean, Russia.
Description:
On the island of Kunashir, in the east of the caldera of the volcano Golovnina, there is a Boiling Lake. The area of the lake is 0.7 square kilometers, the depth is 23 meters, the diameter is 230 meters, and the height is 130 meters above sea level.
The lake is located on the territory of the explosion crater. At its bottom formed a deposit of sulfur. The name “boiling” lake was due to the fact that its water is heated by volcanic gases. Sometimes there are volleys of boiling water, and from under the ground begin to beat jets of sulfurous and hydrogen sulfide gases, together with hot streams of water.
The average water temperature here is +34-36 degrees, but despite this, there are boiling mud boilers on the northern shore, the temperature of which reaches +80-100 degrees. Sulfur combines with metals, so sulfur foam floats on the surface of the water. There is yellow-black sand on the shore.
In the XX century, Boiling Lake was a source of sulfur. It is impossible to swim in it, since the concentration of heavy metal salts and arsenic in the lake is too high. In the caldera with the Boiling is the Hot Lake, communicating with him by an artificial canal, which was built by the Japanese.