Blooming Algae

This picture shows a bloom of algae that occurred in Utah Lake, Utah last summer. The lake covers an area of 385km², and nearly all of it was covered by the bloom. The proliferation of algae was probably caused by warm weather, low water levels and run-off of pollutants from the neighbouring land. Some samples taken from the lake and surrounding waterways contained high levels of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, which can be toxic.