Modern society technology is developing rapidly, but with it comes the extreme damage to the environment. At present, there are many environmental problems in the world, such as global warming, the reduction of lake area, and the shortage of freshwater resources. These problems occur, in addition to climate change in nature, but also due to human factors.
On May 6, local time, someone took aerial photographs in Santiago, Chile, and found that there was a situation in Lake Laguna Akulio, 60 kilometers south of the area. The lake is one of the largest natural lagoons in Chile, but now it's gone and the lake has dried up completely. According to local researchers, in addition to environmental factors, the drying up of this lake is more man-made reasons, what is the difference between a lagoon and a general lake? So why did this lagoon dry up?
Introduction to the lagoon
The lagoon was originally called "Lagoon", and many people thought it was a traditional character so they changed it to "Lagoon", but it is not.
A lagoon is a special kind of lake, and it differs from ordinary lakes in that it is filled with water. Strictly speaking, these waters cannot be called lake water, it is essentially seawater. Because the formation of the lagoon is from the seawater, next to some seas, some seawater will slowly form some small lakes on the seashore because of sediment accumulation or periodic isolation, and the water inside is essentially seawater, which is different from the river water, groundwater and glacier water of the general lake.
After geological movement, these lakes formed by the sea began to slowly develop inland, eventually forming some of the inland lagoons we see now. The biggest feature of the lagoon is its water salt content, under normal circumstances, it is much higher than the general lake, the salt content will be much higher, after all, people come from the sea, more or less will be more salty. However, compared with the "hometown" seawater, its salt content is lower, because after the formation of the lake, the flow of these seawaters begins to decrease, and the salt content inside begins to gradually evaporate.
However, the change in the salt content of the lake water is not fixed, and it may become lighter or saltier. When the lagoon is in a dry environment, the water evaporates severely, so the salt content in the lake water increases. Conversely, in a humid climate, the moisture of the lake increases, and the proportion of salt decreases accordingly. This can be divided into two subphasics of desalinated lagoons and salty lagoons! When the salinity > 3.5%, it is a saline lagoon, and < 3.5% is a desalinate lagoon, and they are significantly different in sediment composition and biometrics.
Therefore, the salt content inside the lagoon depends on the changes in the surrounding environment, and once the climate is too dry, the lagoon is likely to become a "salt pan", and the surrounding residents may be able to collect a lot of coarse salt. However, compared to the role of the lagoon, the value of coarse salt is not very high.
The drying up of Lake Laguna Akulio in Chile has aroused people's attention to the protection of the lagoon, and many people do not understand why such a largest lagoon in the country will suddenly disappear in such a short period of time. So much water, even if it can't be sucked so fast, is the power of nature really so powerful?
The cause of the lagoon drying up
In fact, the drying up of Lake Laguna Akulio is definitely not only caused by environmental changes, but also caused by human factors.
As a gift from the sea to the land, the lagoon has great commercial value for human beings. Taking the Warring States period of the mainland as an example, among the seven warring states, the richest country, the State of Qi, ranked second, and no one can rank first. Not because the State of Qi is very brave and good at war, but because it is located in Shandong.
Shandong has many lagoons, which bring huge salt resources to the local area, and the people around the lake mainly live on salt industry. Those who understand human biology know that salt is an extremely important element in the human body, and we have to supplement salt every day to maintain normal activities of the body. The lagoon in Shandong is equivalent to a natural "big gold mine", and it is precisely by relying on this golden mountain that the country of Qi has made the whole country rich, which shows the importance of the lagoon.
A more intuitive example is official salt, which has been strictly controlled by the authorities since ancient times, and all merchants who make salt privately will be punished as felonies. The salt industry has always been an important source of income for the feudal dynasty, so that after the invasion of the mainland by the great powers, in the unequal treaties signed, once the indemnity is not paid, the salt tax will be used to pay the debt, which shows the huge commercial value of salt.
Therefore, the drying up of Lake Laguna Akulio in Chile is naturally inseparable from the increasingly frequent human activities. Such a huge commercial value has triggered countless people to develop the lagoon. There are pros and cons to everything, and once the exploitation of the lagoon is too frequent, it will destroy the ecological balance of the lake. In the long run, this will lead to a massive reduction in the area of the lagoon, which will eventually lead to the drying up of the lake.
Of course, natural factors are also a very important influencing factor, not only Laguna Akulio Lake, many lakes in the world are facing the threat of drying up. Many of the lakes we saw in the countryside when we were children have gradually shrunk, and the area has slowly decreased.
Due to the warming of the global climate, the evaporation of water in many places has increased, and the water level of lakes has decreased to varying degrees. Changes in geological conditions also reduce the depth of groundwater burial, so the connection between groundwater and surface water is a big problem. Problems with evaporation and groundwater have led to an ecosystem of chaos throughout the lake. As a result, the circulation of the atmosphere will also be problematic, so that the rainfall in the sky will be reduced, and the rainwater transported to the lake will also be reduced.
Since the lagoon is at the junction of land and sea, it is easily affected by the environment, and once there is a slight change, it will cause great damage to the lake. Moreover, the changes in the lagoon also reflect the changes in the surrounding environment, as an important weather vane of the offshore environment, after the lagoon is damaged, it will bring about problems such as lake surface siltation, natural wetland reduction, and biodiversity reduction.
Hangzhou's West Lake, Hongze Lake and Pinqing in the mainland are all famous lagoons, of which the West Lake is a well-known tourist attraction in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the ecological environment of the lagoon.
The value of the lagoon
The deteriorating global natural environment is particularly important for the protection of lagoons. Because as a special kind of lake, the value of the lagoon to human beings is far more than the commercial role mentioned above.
First of all, as a lake, it has the most basic flood control function. Since the lagoons are mostly located offshore areas, many of these places are the outlets of rivers, and once the flood season comes, it is easy to cause large-scale floods. Among them, the lagoon can play a good role in drainage and reduce the impact of disasters caused by large waters.
From the perspective of the formation of the lagoon, the general lagoon will have a lot of sandbars on the periphery, and it is precisely because of the barrier of the sandbars that the lagoon will gradually move inland. These sandbars not only block the flow of lagoon water into the sea, but also block the seawater brought by the typhoon surge, reducing the corrosion of the sea to the coast.
It is also because of the protection of the sandbar around the lagoon that it is a natural protective embankment for the internal waters. Therefore, some areas will build some artificial ports in this area, and the famous Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan is how it comes from, and these artificial ports also have a great role in promoting the local maritime industry.
Because the salt content inside the lagoon is relatively high, its water quality is also very close to that of seawater. As a result, the lagoon has also become a hotbed for the reproduction of many marine organisms, and in some lagoons, we can see a lot of saltwater fish, shrimp, scallops, crabs and other marine life. Therefore, the lagoon is a natural farm that is very popular with fishermen nearby, which provides great support for the development of local fisheries.
Of course, many lagoons have gradually developed into many tourist attractions due to the beautiful surrounding environment. The famous West Lake of Hangzhou is one of them, and countless tourists from all over the country come to visit every year, and the lagoon also has an irreplaceable and important role for the local tourism industry.
To say that the number of mainland lagoons is distributed in large areas, there is no more than the Shandong Peninsula, and the lagoons have also brought a lot of natural value to the local area. So why are there so many lagoons here? Is there such a magical geological formation here?
On this beautiful peninsula, many rivers have entered the ocean, and the abundant water brings a lot of nutrients, and the sediment it brings has accumulated into numerous delta plains here. At the same time, the sea is also contributing to the construction of the lagoon. The waves are constantly lapping at the shore, transporting much of the sea to the peninsula. The smooth coastline also creates good geographical conditions for the birth of the lagoon, whether it is the transmission of rivers or the lapping of the waves, which gives the lagoon here a natural formation condition.
In the coastal provinces of the mainland, there are many similar lagoons, which are all gifts from nature to the locals, bringing huge lake resources to the local area, so we should take good care of these friends from the sea.
Resources:
[1] Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: "The Past and Present Life of Lakes You Must Know"
[2] CCTV: "Chile's Largest Natural Lagoon Has Completely Dried Up"