人间冥河！坦尚尼亚石化湖「生物一碰变干尸」 火红湖面绝美却致命
▲非洲坦尚尼亚纳特龙湖（Lake Natron）。（图／CFP）
东非大裂谷（Great Rift valley）东部与肯亚边界处一个咸水湖号称是「化石之湖」，因为强碱性及高温，几乎没有生物能靠近，只要生物碰到湖水，很快就会钙化变成「雕像」，甚至宛如干尸。
综合外媒报导，坦尚尼亚北部的这个碱水湖名为「纳特龙湖」（Lake Natron），湖水来自埃瓦索恩吉罗河（Ewaso Ng'iro），虽然水深少于3公尺，但因为周遭火山运动影响，水温高达50度；不只如此，大裂谷火山灰会在湖中形成天然化合物「泡碱(natron)」，让湖水酸碱值介于ph9至ph0.5间，拥有直逼强碱的标准及高温。
「纳特龙湖」的环境极度不适合生物生存，但因为湖面平静，许多动物会被反射所混淆，一头栽进湖中，长期下来，碳酸钠结晶会让动物身体被钙化，以原本的姿态死亡，并风干成雕像，也宛如干尸一般。
. 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）分享的贴文 于 PDT 2018 年 10月 月 29 日 上午 7:15 张贴
能在「纳特龙湖」生存的，只有少数的藻类、软体动物及鱼类，另外就是红鹤。红鹤会趁湖水较干涸时，在湖中的小盐礁筑巢繁殖，数量多达300多万只，也意外成为当地的特色景点之一。
. 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）分享的贴文 于 PDT 2018 年 10月 月 15 日 上午 7:00 张贴
▼影片取自YouTube，如遭删除请见谅。