Lake Linow is a

volcanic lake A volcanogenic lake is a lake formed as a result of volcanic activity. They are generally a body of water inside an inactive volcanic crater (Volcanic crater lake, crater lakes) but can also be large volumes of molten lava within an active volcan ...

located outside

Tomohon Tomohon is a landlocked City status in Indonesia, city in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It covers an area of 147.21 km2, and had a population of 91,553 at the 2010 Census,Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. rising to 100,587 at the 2020 Census ...

, near

Manado Manado (, ) is the capital City status in Indonesia, city of the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 census giving a population of 451,916,Badan ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Several

hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...

s spew hot gas from the edges and depths of the lake. The changing chemical composition of the lake means that it changes colors often, ranging from red, dark green, and even to dark blue. The lake is abutted on its sides by

Mount Lokon Mount Lokon (), also known as Gunung Lokon, together with Mount Empung, is a twin volcano ( apart) in the Tomohon, Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, roughly south of Manado. Both rise above the Tondano plain and are among active volcan ...

and

Mount Mahawu Mount Mahawu is a stratovolcano located immediately east from Lokon- Empung volcano in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The volcano is capped with 180 m wide and 140 m deep crater with two pyroclastic cones in the northern flanks. A small e ...

. The lake carries a fairly strong miasma of rotten eggs, due to the

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

that is often in great quantities in the lake. The word "Linow" derives from the

Minahasa The Minahasans or Minahassa are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, formerly known as North Celebes. The Minahasa people sometimes refer to themselves as Manado people. Although the M ...

word for "water gathering place". Belerang Linow

Located 30 km from

, Lake Linow can be reached by traveling 3 km west of

, which takes about an hour. The still-active Mount Lokon is also visible and adds to the beauty of the surrounding panorama. Visitors can take a walk around the lake’s edge, but swimming is not recommended due to the high sulfur content. Exposure to sulfur can cause serious injuries and have fatal consequences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linow Tomohon Lakes of Sulawesi Nimanga basin