Why does the Spotted Lake of Canada have polka dots?
Who doesn’t love polka dots? You see them all around, starting from your fancy clothes to home curtains, cushions, wrapping sheets and even in your plates and bowls. But, can you imagine them in a lake? Well, there is one lake made up of big polka dots, located northwest of Osoyoos in the Okanagan Valley region of British Columbia, Canada. Known as Spotted Lake, it looks totally extra-terrestrial with hundreds of separate pools that it is made up of. Yes, you have to see it to believe it! In fact, if you happen to pass by the region in the summers, you would not even take it as a lake. It would appear to be a region with hundreds of big puddles in green, yellow and blue hues. So, what is it really? Let us unravel the mystery of these polka dots for you.
The colourful polka spots
The kidney-shaped Spotted Lake would seem to be like any other normal lake during the winter and the spring. During summer, most of its water evaporates and it appears to don a seasonal leopard print not made of fur, but of minerals, which accumulate in around 400 large colourful and spotted pools.
But why are these spots differently coloured? The colour changes according to the mineral composition in each pool. Magnesium sulphate, which is in abundance in this lake, crystallises in summer and is a major contributor to spot colour. The other minerals in the lake harden to form natural paths or “walkways” around and between the spots.
A salty endorheic lake
Spotted Lake of British Columbia is endorheic, that is, its water remains within a closed basin and no stream flows out from it. But how does it get its water? During the fall, groundwater, snowmelt and rainfall fill this lake. Because of the super salty nature of its waters, not much life survives in the lake. Some small forms of life exist such as the salt-loving algae.
Is the lake therapeutic?
This lake was regarded as a sacred medicinal lake for centuries by the indigenous people. Each of the different circles was believed to have different healing and medicinal properties.
But what is the science here? Is the lake really therapeutic? The high concentrations of different minerals such as Epsom salts, calcium, sodium sulphates, and other minerals in the various pools are supposed to have healing powers and can help in treating skin diseases, wounds and warts.
Infact, during World War I, minerals from the lake were used to manufacture war ammunition too. The minerals were harvested by labourers, who mined as much as one tonne of salt from the lake each day.
Who owns the Spotted Lake?
The land that surrounds the water was privately owned by the Ernest Smith Family for a term of about 40 years, but it was acquired by the First Nations in 2001 to ensure that the land remained a cultural site protected from any development. For the unversed, the First Nations consists of the aboriginal people of Canada.
Even now, if you want to visit this privately owned lake, you not only need to get permission from the Okanagan Nation Alliance, but also from the lake itself. Yes, there is a prescribed way to experience the lake. You have to show your respect with an offering and if you have nothing, simply take a stroll around it and who knows the lake may treat all your ailments!