Maharashtra&rsquos Lonar Lake has turned pink overnight, leaving scientists and locals baffled about the reasons behind this change. Located in the Buldana district about 500 km from Mumbai, the Lonar crater had formed due to a meteorite, which hit the earth about 50,000 years ago. This is the world&rsquos third-largest crater formed due to a meteorite strike. People in the area were considerably surprised when the lake&rsquos normal bluish-green water turned a pinkish red.

While scientists and geologists are still looking into the matter, they are all of the opinion that this occurred because of a change in the alkalinity and a growth in algae formation. Owing to the lockdown, the lake&rsquos water has not been disturbed for quite some time now and that added to the water levels going down during the summer might have contributed to this new colour. Forest department officials who shall try to establish the reason behind such a change have collected a sample of the water. A team of scientists is supposed to visit the lake some time this week in order to collect samples to gauge what happened.

The lake is about 1.2km in diameter and is located inside the Lonar sanctuary. It is a National Geo-Heritage site and attracts a large number of tourists every year. Locals in the area have said that while the water turns reddish almost every year, this year the colour is much deeper than the usual shade.