Lake of Acid If you look down into the crater, you see fluffy, yellow clouds. T ey are made of poisonous sulfur gas that hisses from cracks in the ground. You also see a beautiful, blue-green lake. T e lake looks cool and refreshing. But no one goes swimming here, Pallister tells you. Fish can’t live in this lake. You’re looking at the largest acid lake in the world. Sulfur gas from the volcano leaks into the
lake through vents below. T e gas mixes with the water and makes an acid that is stronger than the acid in a car battery. T e acid will hurt your skin if you touch it. From the top of the crater, you see something
else, too. You see what looks like tiny blue flashlights flickering on the ground near the lake. Is that the blue lava? Not exactly, Pallister tells you. Kawah Ijen
does not have blue lava. Its lava is fiery red, like other volcanoes. T e blue that you are seeing comes from sulfur gas. When the sulfur seeps out from underground, it mixes with oxygen in the air and catches fire. T e chemical reaction that is created produces a bright blue flame. What you see looks like a bright blue river of lava. You want to get closer to see it better. You promise Pallister you’ll stay on the trail.
Workers rely on muscle power to mine sulfur at Kawah Ijen.
Into the Crater As you begin to climb down toward the lake, you run into someone else. Corentin Caudron studies the volcano and its acid lake. He looks for changes in the lake and in the ground. He’s looking for signs that the volcano might erupt. “Every day, the ground moves and rumbles a little bit around the volcano. I’m always discovering new things about Kawah Ijen,” Caudron says. Caudron has spent the day on the lake in a
boat. He was measuring the chemicals in the water and recording its color. It’s dangerous work. “I always have to be careful when I’m out in my boat,” he tells you. “If the water touches my hands or face, it will burn and scar me.” If he were to notice big changes in the
amount of chemicals or in the color of the lake, it may be a sign that an eruption might happen soon. He would warn people living nearby to leave the area. T e trip to the bottom of the crater takes
another 30 minutes of careful hiking. Once there, you can see the rivers of blue shimmering in the darkness. Even in the dim light, you can make out the billowing clouds of steam and sulfur coming out of the volcano’s fumaroles. And that’s not all you see.
14 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
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