This glowing satellite tv for pc picture from NASA’s Landsat, taken on December 21, 2024, exhibits the golden tendrils surrounding Bosumtu Lake, Ghana’s sacred Lake of the Souls, which is alleged to have been carved out by a devastating asteroid affect about 1,000,000 years in the past.
Lake Bosumuthu is a bowl-shaped physique of water (partially seen within the prime left of the picture above) situated southeast of the quickly rising metropolis of Kumasi and covers an space of ​​49 sq. kilometers (19 sq. miles).
The roughly round physique of water, as much as 70 meters (240 ft) deep, is Ghana’s solely pure lake. It’s situated within the Bosmutwe District of the Ashanti Area.
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The place is it? Lake Bosumtu, Ghana (6.498727489, -1.4087398896)
What’s within the picture? Ghana’s solely pure lake surrounded by uncovered gold veins
Which satellite tv for pc took the picture? NASA’s Landsat 8
When was the picture taken? December twenty first 2024
Second picture taken: December 29, 2015
Oral story about how the lake was found
Anybody who has ever visited Lake Bosumtu, particularly the Abono city facet, might have heard the well-known oral story of how the lake was found, referring to a hunter known as “Bompe”, his canine “Daakie”, and his looking of antelope (Otuwe).
It’s fascinating to hearken to the tales the youngsters clarify, particularly on the Abono facet of the lake. One night time, Bonpe, a hunter, was looking along with his canine Dakie when he got here throughout an antelope (Otuwe). He fired on the antelope and thought he was hit, however the injured antelope reportedly fled the scene. Hunters are mentioned to have adopted the blood droplets, guessing at what angle they might hit the antelope in order that it could fall close by and die.
The story goes {that a} hunter adopted the antelope and noticed it resting close to a small physique of water, however when he tried to method it, the antelope jumped into the water and was by no means seen once more. Believing the pond was too small for the antelope to drown, hunters reportedly jumped into the water however had been unable to seek out it.
Since he couldn’t discover it, he reported it to the individuals of the village and villa and concluded that the pond was a sacred place the place the gods had been believed to dwell (Bosum). The story goes {that a} magical little physique of water rapidly swelled into the lake we see right now. mixture of phrases bosom It’s named after the sacred place of God (Bosom) and the antelope (Otwe). they’re thirsty (Antelope God – Otwe Bosom, also referred to as Bosomtwe)
In accordance with NASA’s Earth Observatory, the Lake Bosumtu space can be thought of a “place the place souls say goodbye to Earth earlier than getting into the afterlife.”
The scientific story of a meteorite colliding with Earth
The truth is, fashionable geologists have a extra intense and explosive rationalization for the origin of the lake. An asteroid about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) vast crashed into an African rainforest greater than 1,000,000 years in the past, abandoning one of many youngest and best-preserved advanced affect craters on Earth, in response to scientific evaluation.
So the lake was truly fashioned about 1,000,000 years in the past, when a meteorite about 1 km vast hit the Earth, forming “most likely the best-preserved advanced younger affect construction identified on Earth,” the Worldwide Geological Heritage Committee mentioned.
Marian Sellom Thapar, a senior lecturer on the College of Ghana’s Faculty of Geosciences, instructed the Earth Observatory that the catastrophic affect probably prompted “a blinding flash of sunshine and an enormous fireball that might have consumed life over tens of kilometers.” She added that if the identical occasion occurred right now, the town of Kumasi would most likely disappear.
Geologists say the power launched would have created an enormous shock wave that might have flattened the forest and thrown tons of evaporated rock and particles across the crater.
Which means the same affect in the identical location right now would fully destroy every thing inside a radius of a number of hundred kilometers, together with main cities like Kumasi, Sapa mentioned. Additionally, giant quantities of mud and aerosols injected into the higher ambiance might block sufficient daylight to trigger an “affect winter” with long-term impacts on agriculture.
in Article printed by Harry Beik on Yahoo Information On Might 26, 2026, it was said that distant sensing evaluation revealed that materials blown away by the affect was deposited in a raised lobed sample often known as a “fort” crater. In accordance with the Earth Observatory, this means that the world was coated by a layer of groundwater when the affect occurred.
Though Rampart craters are uncommon on Earth, they’re widespread all through the photo voltaic system, together with Mars, and on smaller our bodies equivalent to Ganymede, Dione, Tethys, and Charon. In consequence, finding out Lake Bosmutwe might present perception into how these extraterrestrial craters fashioned, Sapa mentioned.
This affect additionally shattered the Earth’s crust, inflicting mineral-rich magma to rise to the floor and type shallow veins of gold and different priceless parts which were mined for generations. This exercise produced the golden spots and features seen on this satellite tv for pc picture.
Lately, advances in expertise have accelerated the speed of gold mining. One other satellite tv for pc picture taken in 2024 (see beneath) exhibits extra gold uncovered as a result of this elevated exercise. (Within the new picture, the lake additionally seems inexperienced because of the excessive focus of phytoplankton within the water.)
“The clear visible proof of anthropogenic (anthropogenic) modifications juxtaposed with geological landmarks from 1,000,000 years in the past is astonishing,” Sapa mentioned.
A science.nasa.gov report on the origin of Lake Bosumtu’s explosion says the unique geology additionally attracts consideration to the crater for financial causes. When the asteroid struck, shock waves ruptured the crust across the crater, creating an intensive community of faults and cracks that allowed scorching fluids to flow into. This occasion helped focus gold and different minerals from near-surface gold-bearing rock formations known as the Birimian Supergroup, and ready the world across the crater for small-scale gold mining, regionally often known as galamsey.
Landsat 8’s OLI (Operational Land Imager) captured the picture of Bosmutwe on December 21, 2024. One other picture taken on December 29, 2015 exhibits the identical space in December 2015. These photographs, together with separate evaluation by distant sensing specialists, present vital growth of mining, notably to the southwest of the lake, and speedy growth of farmland and villages across the lake in latest a long time.
The greener water in 2024 is probably going as a result of greater concentrations of sure sorts of phytoplankton within the lake. As a result of altering environmental circumstances, phytoplankton in lakes change seasonally. Some research recommend that modifications in land use close to lakes might contribute to elevated nutrient masses, making sure sorts of phytoplankton extra considerable.
A group of NASA-funded scientists has developed an app that makes use of Landsat imagery to trace the growth of gold mining within the area and helps distinguish between man-made and industrial-scale mines. Industrial-scale mining sometimes happens in large-scale open pits, whereas artisanal mining is usually extra superficial. Nonetheless, giant areas of deforested land and mercury-contaminated waterways usually stay. Many of the new mining recognized across the lake was categorised as guide.
“The clear visible proof of anthropogenic modifications juxtaposed with geological landmarks from 1,000,000 years in the past is astonishing,” Sapa mentioned. “The clear encroachment of settlements, agriculture, and mining exercise all the best way to the lake’s rugged crater rim is a testomony to each the decision of the photographs and the size of change.”
easy info
The place is it? Lake Bosumtu, Ghana (6.498727489, -1.4087398896)
What’s within the picture? Ghana’s solely pure lake surrounded by uncovered gold veins
Which satellite tv for pc took the picture? Landsat 8
When was the picture taken? December 29, 2015
Credit score: Harry Bake/LiveScience
credit score: Explosive starting of Lake Bosumtu. NASA Earth Observatory picture by Michala Garrison utilizing Landsat knowledge from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.
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