River waters turning to blood might be something out of an apocalyptic nightmare, but, fear not: A river in France is not red with blood, but rather with salt.
A lake in the Camargue in southern France -- a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea -- has turned blood red, and scientists believe that the change in hue is due to a natural phenomenon, the New York Daily News reports.
The high concentration of salt in the form of salt flats turn the normally blue water a deep crimson shade.
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Russian photographer Sam Dobson captured images of the the blood-red waters and detailed his sightings.
"Every small branch is covered with crystals. with the red water as a background it looks like something extra-terrestrial," he said, according to the Sun. “I was just overwhelmed with emotions the whole time I was there. Despite my numerous travels, I have never seen anything like this before.”
This is not the only lake to take on an unexpected hue.
The Daily Mail recently published photographs of Lake Retba in Senegal, which turned the color of a strawberry milkshake due to the high concentrations of salt in its waters.
"The strawberry [color] is produced by salt-loving organism Dunaliella salina. They produce a red pigment that absorbs and uses the energy of sunlight to create more energy, turning the water pink," Michael Danson, an expert in extremophile bacteria from Bath University, told the Daily Mail. "Lakes like Retba and the Dead Sea, which have high salt concentrations, were once thought to be incompatible with life - hence the names. But they are very much alive."
LOOK: Lake turns blood red in Camargue, southern France.
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