Lonar

Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a saline, soda lake, located near Lonar, 79 km from Buldhana city in Buldhana district, Maharashtra state, India. It has been designated as a National Geological Monument, and is the only crater lake of meteoritic origin in the country. It has a mean diameter of 1.2 kilometres (3,900 ft), and sits about 137 metres (449 ft) below the crater rim, which is about 1.8 kilometres (5,900 ft) in diameter. Located inside the Deccan Plateau —a massive plain of volcanic basaltic rock created by eruptions some 65 million years ago— it was first supposed to be of volcanic origin. However, further studies concluded that the lake formed inside an impact crater of meteoritic origin from the Pleistocene. Previously believed to be 52,000 ± 6,000 years old, newer studies suggest an age of 576,000 ± 47,000 years.