人間冥河！坦尚尼亞石化湖「生物一碰變乾屍」 火紅湖面絕美卻致命

▲非洲坦尚尼亞納特龍湖（Lake Natron）。（圖／CFP）

國際中心／綜合報導

東非大裂谷（Great Rift valley）東部與肯亞邊界處一個鹹水湖號稱是「化石之湖」，因為強鹼性及高溫，幾乎沒有生物能靠近，只要生物碰到湖水，很快就會鈣化變成「雕像」，甚至宛如乾屍。

綜合外媒報導，坦尚尼亞北部的這個鹼水湖名為「納特龍湖」（Lake Natron），湖水來自埃瓦索恩吉羅河（Ewaso Ng'iro），雖然水深少於3公尺，但因為周遭火山運動影響，水溫高達50度；不只如此，大裂谷火山灰會在湖中形成天然化合物「泡鹼(natron)」，讓湖水酸鹼值介於ph9至ph0.5間，擁有直逼強鹼的標準及高溫。

「納特龍湖」的環境極度不適合生物生存，但因為湖面平靜，許多動物會被反射所混淆，一頭栽進湖中，長期下來，碳酸鈉結晶會讓動物身體被鈣化，以原本的姿態死亡，並風乾成雕像，也宛如乾屍一般。

 

 

 

 

在 Instagram 查看這則貼文

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. PETRIFIED SONGBIRD, LAKE NATRON, 2012 . To take a portrait of an animal alive again in death, in the place where it lived and died. The portrait of an animal that I would never have been able to get close enough to otherwise. This was part of what obsessed me when I first unexpectedly found petrified birds and bats washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Tanzania. . No-one knows for certain exactly how the animals die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, just like a plate glass window, causing them to crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to petrify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. . I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death. . In the instance of the bird, we placed it on a branch pushed into the shallow water of Lake Natron - photographing its portrait far closer than I ever could if it was alive. . Shot as on medium format black and white film, the photograph is published in “Across The Ravaged Land”, available on Amazon. . #nickbrandt #nickbrandtphotography #lakenatron #songbird #petrified #acrosstheravagedland

Nick Brandt（@nickbrandtphotography）分享的貼文 於 PDT 2018 年 10月 月 29 日 上午 7:15 張貼

能在「納特龍湖」生存的，只有少數的藻類、軟體動物及魚類，另外就是紅鶴。紅鶴會趁湖水較乾涸時，在湖中的小鹽礁築巢繁殖，數量多達300多萬隻，也意外成為當地的特色景點之一。

 

 

 

 

在 Instagram 查看這則貼文

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. PETRIFIED DOVE, LAKE NATRON, 2012 . To take a portrait of an animal alive again in death, in the place where it lived and died. The portrait of an animal that I would never have been able to get close enough to otherwise. This was part of what obsessed me when I first unexpectedly found petrified birds and bats washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Tanzania. . No-one knows for certain exactly how the animals die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, just like a plate glass window, causing them to crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to petrify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. . I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death. . In the instance of the dove, we placed him on a branch - photographing his portrait far closer than I ever could if he were living. . Shot as on medium format black and white film, the photograph is published in “Across The Ravaged Land”, available on Amazon. . #nickbrandt #nickbrandtphotography #lakenatron #dove #petrified #acrosstheravagedland #animalportrait #portraitindeath

Nick Brandt（@nickbrandtphotography）分享的貼文 於 PDT 2018 年 10月 月 15 日 上午 7:00 張貼

▼影片取自YouTube，如遭刪除請見諒。