Lake Matano, also known as Matana, is a tropical lake in East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, that is noteworthy for the unique environment in its deeper layers. With a depth of 590 m, it is the deepest lake in Indonesia, the 11th deepest lake in the world and the deepest lake on an island by maximum depth. The surface elevation …Lake Matano, also known as Matana, is a tropical lake in East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, that is noteworthy for the unique environment in its deeper layers. With a depth of 590 m, it is the deepest lake in Indonesia, the 11th deepest lake in the world and the deepest lake on an island by maximum depth. The surface elevation from mean sea level is only 382 m, which means that the deepest portion of the lake is below sea level. It is one of the two major lakes in the Malili Lake system. Lake Matano is considered an ancient lake, and it formed in a tectonic graben around 1 to 2 million years ago. Lake Matano and its catchment area have a large amount of endemic flora and fauna. The catchment area's soils and rocks make it have a relatively high amount of iron. Because the temperature on Sulawesi Island does not change much during the year, the epilimnion never gets cold enough to mix with the hypolimnion. The environment in the hypolimnion is noteworthy for its possible similarity to oceans in the Archean and Paleoproterozoic Eons, before the Great Oxidation Event. The biogeochemical activity in the hypolimnion has been studied as a model for these oceans. The catchment of Lake Matano is around 436 square kilometers, or around 2.7 times the surface area of the lake. The catchment consists of soils with an iron oxide/hydroxide content that can exceed 20%, explaining the high iron content of Lake Matano. A noteworthy amount of carbonate rocks are present south of the lake. Every decade, around 2% of the catchment area of Lake Matano is deforested to generate new farmland. Farmland in the catchment could serve as a source of nutrients, possibly causing eutrophication. This could eventually disturb the unique environment of the lake and diminish endemic species. Lake Matano is already prone to receiving anthropogenic nitrogen from the atmosphere because of its geographic location. Lake Matano is located in a tropical climate zone, and experiences two seasons, a wet and a dry season, with an approximately constant temperature year-round. Because of the constant …
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