Blue Lake / Warwar (The Blue Lake) is a large, monomictic, crater lake located in a dormant volcanic maar associated with the Mount Gambier maar complex. The lake is situated near in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, and is one of four volcanic crater lakes originally on Mount Gambier maar. Of the four lakes, only two remain, the other one being Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi; the other two, Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo and Brownes Lake / Kroweratwari, dried up as the water table dropped.

History

Conflicting dates have been estimated for the last eruption of the volcano: of 4,300 years ago, of 28,000 years ago, and a little before 6,000 years ago. If the youngest date is correct, this could be the most recent volcanic eruption on the Australian mainland.

The Boandik (or Bungandidj) people occupied the area before the colonisation of South Australia.

Description

Blue Lake / Warwar (also Waawar) is one of four lakes in the Dormant volcano complex. Sites of cultural significance to the Boandik people were assigned dual names by the City of Mount Gambier in February 2022, and the renaming included the four lakes in the Bungandidj language. These are as follows:

There is a road and walking track around the circumference of Blue Lake / Warwar, with an underpass between it and Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo.

Annual colour change

The Blue Lake in early March|thumb

thumb|alt=Blue Lake|Blue Lake / Warwar in June

Each November, the lake turns to a deep turquoise colour, gradually returning to a duller blue colour in late February to March. Major diving exploration of the lake first occurred in 1985, when a dive team led by cave diver Peter Horne conducted temperature and visibility studies and made discoveries of a freshwater sponge species and other invertebrates.

<blockquote>This obelisk was erected as a memorial to the famous Australian poet. From near this spot in July, 1865, Gordon made his famed leap on horseback over an old post and rail guard fence onto a narrow ledge overlooking the Blue Lake and jumped back again onto the roadway. The foundation stone of the Gordon Memorial Obelisk was laid on 8th July 1887</blockquote>

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Image:Mount Gambier Blue Lake closeup.jpg|About above the lake's surface

Image:Mount Gambier Blue Lake2.jpg|The lake in early March with the original pumping station in the foreground

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See also

References

Further reading

  • Emeny, J., Turner, G., Turoczy, N.J. and Stagnitti, F. (2006) The influence of weather and solar elevation on perceived colour of Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 130(1) 101–108.
  • Horne, P. (1985) Report on an exploratory study of the underwater environment and biology of the Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia 21–25 January 1985 () and subsequent study reports July 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2008
  • Sheard, M.J. (1978) Geological History of the Mount Gambier Volcanic Complex, Southeast South Australia. Transcript from Royal Society of South Australia 102(5), Aug. 1978.
  • Telfer, A. (2000) Identification of processes regulating the colour and colour change in an oligotrophic, hardwater, groundwater-fed lake, Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia. Lakes and Reservoirs: Research and Management. 5 161–176.
  • Turoczy, N.J. (2002) Calcium chemistry of Blue Lake, Mt Gambier, Australia, and relevance to remarkable seasonal colour changes. Archiv für Hydrobiologia. 156 (1) 1–9.

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