NATURE’S MARVELS Lake Abraham Frozen Explosives in Tranquil Waters Sonam Choudhary Image Credit: By WikiGGSB (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 54 | Science Reporter | January 2018 HE stunning pictures of frozen Abraham Lake, crust and from the ancient oceans remains also contributes adorned with crumbly, bluish-white, cotton ball- to the methane output in the lake. like formations, have been quite popular among T During the winter season, this methane gas fails to internetinin users and photographers. In a perfectly serene and escape into the atmosphere when it comes in contact with the picturesquepipi framework, these bubbly formations appear iced water of the lake and turns to white fl oating blobs. The asas winter jewels, hiding something more jeopardizing and methane bubbles stack up into columns below the surface, inincendiaryn beneath the surface. Often referred to as ice as the weather gets colder and colder. As winters set off bubbubblesu or frozen bubbles, these are the pockets having fl aammable methane gas trapped within them and can be and the lake defrosts, the bubbles break free and rise to the exexplosive if popped! top, releasing the methane into the air. Home to this spectacular phenomenon, Abraham Lake is However, this phenomenon is not restricted to just an artifi cial lake created in 1972, on North Saskatchewan Abraham Lake; methane forms in millions of water bodies RiRRiveri in Western Alberta, Canada. The icy man-made lake around the Arctic region as well. But due to decreasing wawwas made during the construction of Bighorn Dam and owes permafrost more and more of this methane is being released ititsts name to Silas Abraham, an inhabitant of the Saskatchewan into the atmosphere. This is a cause of concern for climate RiRRiveri valley in the nineteenth century. scientists who note that methane is a potent greenhouse gas. It possesses 20 times the effect on climate change than The organic matter generated after the death of the same amount of carbon dioxide over a 100-year span. ororganisms,r including plants, leaves and animals, falls into ththeh water body and sinks to the bottom. The micro-organisms The experts have found ways to extract this natural ata the lake-bed munch on this dead organic matter and frozen gas from deposits of icy methane hydrate buried mmethane is released in the process. The white rock substance in the ocean fl oor and thus it can prove to be a newfound knkknown as methane hydrate from deep beneath the Earth’s energy reserve for the countries with scant energy resources. January 2018 | Science Reporter | 55.