More turquoise water

Back in 2014 I was fascinated by the bright turquoise water that emerged from a base excavation at the Aruwakkalu limestone mine in Sri Lanka. I was doing my undergraduate internship at the time and was so intrigued that I researched into the phenomenon and wrote a blog post explaining how the turquoise colour emerges due to selective scattering of light caused by calcium carbonate crystals. A picture that I took was also featured in the Mining magazine. Four years later I came across the striking turquoise water again.

I am currently a visiting research student at the University of British Columbia, Canada and recently visited some glacial lakes in British Columbia. I got to see once again, the bright turquoise colour that intrigued me 4 years ago. The reason behind the turquoise colour is the same selective scattering of light. This is caused however, not by calcium carbonate crystals but by glacial flour/rock flour, which is the name given to very fine rock particles generated by glacial erosion, and remain suspended in the water. The lakes I visited were the three Jofrre lakes and Garibaldi lake, where I even went for a relaxing swim. Some pictures that I took at the lakes are below.

Upper Joffre Lake

Middle Joffre Lake

Garibaldi Lake

Garibaldi Lake