{"id":887128,"date":"2026-10-19T00:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887128\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T00:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:06:27","slug":"biggest-ever-lake-contained-10-times-more-water-than-all-others-on-earth-combined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887128\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest-ever lake contained 10 times more water than all others on Earth combined"},"content":{"rendered":"

From dinosaurs<\/a> to continents<\/a> (or, rather, continent<\/a>), things seem to have been so much bigger back in prehistoric times.<\/p>\n

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the largest lake<\/a> ever to have graced the Earth\u2019s surface existed some 11 million years ago.<\/p>\n

Still, it took until December 2023 for Megalake Paratethys (as it\u2019s now known), to enter the Guinness Book of World Records<\/a>. And that\u2019s all down to the hard work of a team at the Netherlands\u2019 Utrecht University.<\/p>\n

Earth scientist Dr Dan Palcu and his colleagues used a technique called magnetostratigraphy (which involves measuring reversals of the earth’s magnetic field to date ancient sediment layers) to determine the exact dimensions of the monster lake.<\/p>\n

They found that it stretched from the eastern edge of the modern-day Alps to Kazakhstan in central Asia, covering an area of 2.8 million square kilometres (1.08 million square miles).<\/p>\n

At its peak, it contained more than 1.77 million cubic kilometres (424,645 cubic miles) of water, which is more than ten times the volume of all current salt- and freshwater lakes combined. <\/p>\n

And its mildly salty waters were home to a unique fauna, including giant ancient elephants and Cetotherium riabinini \u2013 the smallest whale ever found in fossil records.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ A page in the Guinness Book of World Records paying tribute to the megalake(Utrecht University)<\/p>\n

The researchers believe that Paratethys was formed by the rising of central Europe\u2019s mountain ranges, a process which separated the ancient Paratethys Sea from the ocean, thereby creating the megalake.<\/p>\n

Still, it wasn\u2019t smooth sailing for this record-breaking behemoth.<\/p>\n

Over the millennia, it suffered multiple periods of crisis, the most severe of which saw it lose more than two-thirds of its surface and one-third of its volume, with water levels plummeting by as much as 250 metres.<\/p>\n

This wreaked havoc on its endemic fauna, leaving many species extinct, as Utrecht University pointed out in a news release<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Eventually, the lake refilled again, connecting it with the Mediterranean Sea and ending its reign as the largest lake ever.<\/p>\n

In a paper<\/a> on his findings, Dr Palcu explained that the impact of his Paratethys work \u201cgoes beyond mere curiosity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy exploring the cataclysms that this ancient megalake endured as a result of climate shifts, we gain invaluable insights that can elucidate the path to addressing current and future crises in toxic seas, such as the Black Sea,” he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the modern Black Sea mirrors the hazardous conditions of its ancient counterpart, being (like Paratethys) largely devoid of life-sustaining oxygen.<\/p>\n

Its depths house hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas harmful to both humans and most animal species, while its sediments house \u201cfrozen\u201d methane, an exceptionally potent greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ Paratethy was the size of the Mediterranean, stretching between the Eastern Alps and modern-day Kazakhstan(Palcu, D., et al Scientific Reports)<\/p>\n

The fear is that as the Earth warms up, these methane stores could melt and be released into the atmosphere, thereby triggering environmental catastrophes.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s not all bad.<\/p>\n

Dr Palcu emphasised that understanding the Paratethys could offer a beacon of hope for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modern Black Sea has the potential to become one of the Earth\u2019s largest natural carbon storage regions,\u201d he stressed. <\/p>\n

\u201cIts stability is of paramount importance in unlocking its capacity as a frontrunner site for future carbon storage initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

So whatever happened to the vast expanse of water that made up the megalake?<\/p>\n

Well, between 6.7 and 6.89 million years ago, it was drained thanks to erosion on its southwest edge. <\/p>\n

As the water tumbled from the resulting outlet, it likely carved “an impressive waterfall,” Dr Palcu said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That would have undoubtedly been a sight to behold, but we’d rather not witness such events again.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on 27 December 2023<\/p>\n

Elsewhere from Indy100, A newly found ancient language in Turkey is yielding new discoveries<\/a>, and The unsolved mystery of Japan’s ancient underwater ‘pyramid’<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up<\/a> for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter<\/p>\n

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From dinosaurs to continents (or, rather, continent), things seem to have been so much bigger back in prehistoric…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2300,20431,371967,371968,93148,79],"class_list":["post-887128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-earth","tag-lake","tag-megalake","tag-paratethys","tag-prehistoric","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}