Sea Eye, Looking Up at the Sky from Earth (5 photos)

A Unique Lake in Mari El





Near the border of the Mari El Republic with Tatarstan, between Kazan and Yoshkar-Ola, lies the incredibly beautiful and deeply mysterious Lake Morskoy Glaz. This unique local landmark, shrouded in legends and myths, is not widely known. Nevertheless, it is regularly visited by tourists.

Everything about this emerald-azure lake, which, like a giant eye, looks up from our Earth to the sky, is mysterious – from the story of its origin to its strange behavior. But scientists have managed to solve some of these mysteries.

What's so special about the Eye Lake?

This part of Mari El is home to dozens of lakes, and thanks to its picturesque natural landscapes, these areas are even called a second Switzerland. But Morskoy Glaz stands out from the crowd.

Firstly, it has emerald waters that (if you ignore the typically landscaped shores) make you think you're at a sea or ocean in an expensive overseas resort. Secondly, if you look at the lake from a bird's eye view, it really does resemble an eye – deep, bottomless, oblong in shape, framed by trees like eyelashes. Thirdly, the water here is so clean that some locals even use it for drinking.

A Reservoir Instead of a Village

Despite the abundance of bodies of water in the area, this lake is particularly associated with many local legends. For example, there's a beautiful explanation for the adjective "marine." Supposedly, the water at the very bottom of this lake is salty, like the sea. Rumor has it that in ancient times, local residents discovered a sea vessel in the lake. Mysterious and intriguing, isn't it?

Adding even more mystery to the lake is its very deepness. In some places, the depth reaches 40-50 meters. This also allows for an analogy with the sea, as not every lake can boast such depth, especially with a relatively small diameter.

The water here is, incidentally, cold, but some brave souls dare to swim in it in the summer.

A "Pit" of Incredible Depth

The indigenous people call this lake "Mushyl," which means "deep pit" in the Mari language.

There's also an interesting legend about the formation of Morskoye Glaze. According to an ancient Mari belief, an ordinary village once stood on this site. A young man and woman living there fell in love and set a wedding date. However, tragedy struck: on the eve of the wedding, a fortune teller, whom the couple visited to learn their fate, told them they were siblings. The bride and groom were shocked, but they loved each other so much that they decided to go ahead with the wedding. This angered the gods. On the day of the ceremony, a thunderstorm arose, the earth opened up, and swallowed the village along with the newlyweds and the rest of the villagers. A lake in the shape of a sad eye appeared on this spot.

By the way, there are many caves underwater, which is also very unusual for a lake of this size.

However, scientists have a completely different opinion regarding the formation of this body of water. The scientific explanation is quite prosaic: Morskoye Glaz formed as a result of a large karst collapse. According to the leading hypothesis, this occurred 20,000 years ago. An alternative hypothesis suggests it occurred in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The lake nearly disappeared from the face of the Earth.

The lake is fed by three underground springs and is also replenished by rain and melted snow. However, this is not always sufficient. Morskoye Glaz has another mysterious characteristic: periodically, it becomes critically shallow, but then recovers.

In 2014, local and even national media sounded the alarm: the water level in the lake had dropped by 16 meters in just one year. Experts even ruefully predicted that the lake would disappear entirely within the next couple of years. However, by 2016, Morskoy Glaz had filled up again: its level had almost returned to its previous level.

Students and teachers from the local university, the Volga Region State Technological University, discovered why the lake was shrinking. Concerned about the fate of this unique landmark, they studied the lake for a long time (even diving) and discovered voids on the sides of the lake bed. Presumably, this is where the water is escaping. A hole or rift formed somewhere in the rock, and after a couple of years, it apparently closed naturally.

But mystical enthusiasts offer their own explanation. Some locals believe that when the lake gets shallow, it's a way for it to show its displeasure. Supposedly, it's upset with the local villagers for telling outsiders about its existence. After all, not even all residents of Mari El knew about this miraculous body of water before, but in recent years, tourists from far and wide have been coming here more and more often. The lake, they say, doesn't want much publicity because this place has long been sacred. It was treated with respect, and ancient rites and rituals were even held on its shores.

The lake in 2014 year