# @seed on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmWx6vDykL
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34248020-seed-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cc56a00393.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-03-21T20:51:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Seed (@seed) — https://gondola.cc/seed

## Caption

These #multicolored salt #lakes, #ponds, and #playas in the San Francisco #bay are one of nature's most #breathtaking natural #phenomenons.⠀
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The intense #coloration is caused by #astronomical numbers of #microscopic, single-celled #organisms living in the water. As rain falls on distant #mountains, floods rush down hills, eroding #minerals along the way, and gather in basins, eventually drying up in warmer weather, leaving just salt and #minerals behind.⠀
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The #microorganisms that inhabit each pool or pond react to the various levels of salt content, triggering reactions in the form of almost #surreal coloration. In a coral pink or deep red pond, you'll find rod-shaped, salt-loving #Halobacterium and Dunaliella alga. The red pigment they produce protects their delicate cells from the intense #desert sunlight, and is similar to carotenoids found in #tomatoes 🍅, red peppers, and even pink #flamingos 💕. A low salt content pond, on the other hand, is dominated by green #algae, and presents as almost #neon.⠀
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The beauty of the unseen #world is not so hard to see after all. Sometimes, we just need to know to look. 👀⠀
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#saltflats #pinklake #microbiology #ourplanetdailey #splendid_earth #discoverearth⠀
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Source | Photo: Chris Benton. Salt Ponds A23 and E6C, South Bay, California

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 70
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- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

coloration, ponds, world, algae, microorganisms, tomatoes, organisms, microbiology, discoverearth, flamingos, bay, astronomical, splendid_earth, multicolored, neon, minerals, halobacterium, ourplanetdailey, mountains, playas, phenomenons, desert, breathtaking, saltflats, surreal, pinklake, lakes, microscopic

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