Sep 6, 2019
Pothole lakes in northern Siberia (Russia).
As the glaciers retreated during the last Ice Age, some large chunks of ice broke off and became surrounded or buried by soil and rock debris. When one of these pieces of ice melted, it left behind a depression in the ground called a kettle, and when the kettle filled with water, it became a kettle lake or pothole lake.
This photo was taken next to the Gulf of Ob. The bluer-coloured lakes are deeper and clearer than the more green-coloured ones. Rivers (top right and bottom left) cut shallowly into the permafrost. The landscape is mostly spongy peat bog, covered in shallow-growing vegetation such as moss that can survive the winters.
