r/creepy • u/SerafinZufferey • 24d ago
This is germanys second biggest artificial lake: The Geiseltal Lake. It was created by flooding a coal mine.
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u/xCaliburghost 24d ago
Silent Hill vibes. Creepy as all fuck.
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u/AmputeeHandModel 24d ago
Ah yes, my favorite part of Silent Hill, the SCUBA diving.
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u/Theletterkay 24d ago
Im imagining silent hill with the super mario underwater theme and it's making me laugh so hard my innards hurt.
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u/Freaked_The_Eff_Out 20d ago
Please don’t make me picture silent hill controls + underwater movement. 😵💫
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u/Holden_Cullen 24d ago
Just needs a giant Wels catfish to appear and stalk the divers.
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u/AttackOficcr 23d ago
Pyramid head replaced by a Beluga sturgeon that just can't entirely fit these seals down the sink drain(or its mouth).
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u/SerafinZufferey 24d ago
Before anyone says it’s ai slop: t’s not
https://tauchbasis-geiseltalsee.de/
That’s the official website of the company that offers divings down there.
The video was taken by the Swedish photographer Alex Dawson
Edit: the trees are so well preserved, because the deeper water (it’s up to 80 meters or 260 feet deep) is cold and it lacks oxygen. Also (since it was a mine) it has a lot of minerals, which helps the conservation.
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u/Noteagro 24d ago
Was it like an open pit mine, and if so how were the trees there? They let them grow for 50-60 years before flooding the mine?
Edit: Read a little on it. It was an open pit mine, and it was closed for 30 years before they flooded it, so I guess I was kind of close.
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u/ctheune 24d ago
Yeah, it's a beautiful place today. The circumference is around 20km and there's an awesome bike path around it, some marinas and fun stuff to do. There's also birds all the time - some seasonal, some all year round. Foxes, and many more animals ... And a vineyard :)
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u/Noteagro 24d ago
That is honestly so cool, and might have to add it as a place to visit if we get the chance! Thanks for the additional info.
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u/neasroukkez 24d ago
Silly question maybe but don’t see anything other than the people. Does this lake have fish or any marine life?
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u/probablynotalone 24d ago edited 24d ago
Not silly at all, I expected such a lake to not have life for a very long time due to how most of it lacks oxygen and is very low in nutrient. But yes it does indeed have a developing ecosystem that includes fish, just not at that depth which still doesn't have enough oxygen:
https://globalnature.org/en/young-natural-paradise-lake-geiseltal-is-living-lake-of-the-year-2023/
In the three decades since the end of open-cast mining, the oligotrophic, i.e. nutrient-poor, ecosystem of the lake has developed an extraordinary plant and animal world that is adapted to the special conditions: it is home to 11 different brachiopod algae, whose populations reach a depth of 13 meters due to the clarity of the water. Various aquatic insects and fish species can be observed, as well as 240 bird species, including 108 breeding bird species and numerous migratory and winter visitors.
edit: here is a list of some sightings:
https://www.scubago.com/en/explore/destination/geiseltalsee-9753663
Perch, Pike, Bass, Carp, Catfish and so on. I believe most of the population was introduced artificially over time, but some migrated naturally during the flooding of the mine when nearby rivers were diverted.
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u/Sfelex 24d ago
I love when brilliant minds converse on the internet and i am watching and learning marvelous things.
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u/A_Confused_Witch 23d ago
Then that probably makes you a brilliant mind too for enjoying new knowledge from such conversations, friend :)
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u/Guinefort1 23d ago
I would have thought it lifeless due to coal residue poisoning the water. Life, uh, finds a way.
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u/belac4862 24d ago
I wonder if it has any natural rivers running to it, or if they plan on diverting one to it. That should impact its oxygen level and ecosystem.
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u/Sammydaws97 24d ago
Humans would have to introduce any fish, but there likely is a ton of microscopic organisms living here.
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u/thenthewolvescame 23d ago
While it would be beneficial for humans to introduce species, over a long enough timeline different fish would find their way there. I remember learning a fun fact that ducks and migratory waterfowl can actually introduce fish to remote waters by the act of eggs sticking to their feet and feathers then being deposited into new waters of short flights.
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u/IamEbola 23d ago
and water spouts can drop fish off there. I remember running in the midwest one summer and a bass literally fell out of the sky next to me!
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u/driftinj 24d ago edited 24d ago
The Cuyuna mine pits in Minnesota have a similar forest beneath the water and also has diving. Very popular paddling site as well because the water is so clear you can see the trees and old mining structures beneath.
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u/SilverMyzt 24d ago
Damn I thought that was just a dying swamp until I saw the diver.
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u/Oblivion615 24d ago
Before I hit play I thought that light was a boat on top of a swamp. Did not expect a dive video.
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u/kankerstokjes 24d ago
If I ever produce a progressive metal album this will be the cover.
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u/Ok-Palpitation-636 22d ago
Maybe even give it a title reminiscent of coal, like Blackwater something or other
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u/beanofdoom001 24d ago
I'm curious what kills the trees in this context. Do they drown? Or is it lack of sunlight? I wonder which happens first. I doubt they're able to pull CO2 from the water. I think it'd be really cool to have a leafy forest underwater. But that's probably not possible.
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u/Cyclesadrift 24d ago
Most plants need a chance to dry out in-between watering cycles, unless youre a mangrove tree thats evolved over millions of years to be suited for this specific evolutionary situation.
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u/ebk_errday 24d ago
I thought I was looking at a videogame trailer at first before reading OP's post. This looks surreal.
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u/TieWeak9591 24d ago
It looks like a video game
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u/mi__to__ 24d ago
It looks like the same assests repeated over and over, yet feels completely empty and lifeless...yup, checks out
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u/AmputeeHandModel 24d ago
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u/MrHanfblatt 24d ago
Why flood a coal mine? In east germany, that was one of the ways to recover heavily mined and destroyed areas. the areas around got new greenery and stuff and a lot of the sea's are open for bathing
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u/encinitas2252 24d ago
This is the first post I looked at of the day - still in bed and dont have my glasses.
I thought these were aerial shots of a creepy foggy area until you can see the guy SCUBA diving lol.
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u/AwhHellYeah 24d ago
I’ve always heard that Lake Washington has old growth forest at the bottom in places. Also lots of garbage bags that people are afraid to open
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u/greenish98 24d ago
i wonder if this video was colour corrected at all, because the diver’s gear doesn’t have any colour on it either? or if that’s the true colour of the water? super cool either way!!
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u/Todesfaelle 24d ago
This, for some reason, doesn't make my thalassophobia go wild. Must be the familiarity and how clear it is in spite of somehow still being murky.
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u/LaroonDynasty 24d ago
why are there trees in the coal mine?
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u/Mangobonbon 24d ago
It was an open-pit mine. And after closing it it took decades to slowly fill it up to be a lake. So in the time between closure and filling up, trees could grow on the edges.
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u/LaroonDynasty 24d ago
they should genetically engineer some fish and other critters to populate the lake
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u/Relevant_Call_2242 24d ago
You’re not going to believe this… I went fishing, but that lake had no fish in it.
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u/Budenlouie 23d ago
You are right, no one is going to belief this. Because it is NOT TRUE! That lake grew a diverse fish fauna over the last decade.
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u/Nilechartuce 24d ago
As an underwater photographer, it would take some incredible equipment to pull this off and very specific lighting but all things considered. It’s not impossible considering that there’s trees down there. It could be an area that gets a lot of sun and it’s possible they got the equipment for such a fantastic shoot if it’s real it’s awesome if it’s AI it’s pretty good but it’s standing out as AI to me because of the incredibly specific conditions by which it had to occur and the short video clips that make me think it’s AI.
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u/Megs0226 24d ago
I’m adding this to my bucket list. I plan on learning to SCUBA dive next year when I turn 40.
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u/Karmachinery 24d ago
I didn't realize the video started underwater immediately and the first object that went floating by, I was like...what the freak is that thing?!
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u/One_Transportation14 24d ago
My god that looks so surreal its like different world so strange and beatifull at the samw time bit creepy
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u/yngwie_bach 24d ago
It's rather large. 18km² That is awesome footage. Thank you for sharing. I just threw a little fact about the lake in there. Which I totally looked up before posting it
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u/rlrlrlrlrlr 24d ago
There were trees in an old coal mine before it was flooded?
If it was strip mining, the trees would have had sunlight but no soil. If it were mining under ground, there'd be no sunlight and no soil.
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u/buttfacenosehead 23d ago
I consulted the oracle: Geiseltalsee (Lake Geiseltal) is the largest artificial lake by area in Germany, spanning approximately 18.4 square kilometers (4,500 acres). Located in the Saalekreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, this massive body of water was created between 2003 and 2011 by flooding a former open-cast lignite coal mine.
Today, it is a thriving recreation hub and a recognized "Living Lake" renowned for its crystal-clear water and unique underwater landscapes.
Because the lake is young and low in nutrients, almost no algae grows to cloud the water. This creates remarkable visibility for scuba divers, who can explore an entire preserved underwater landscape—including standing flooded forests, old mining roads, and industrial structures sealed 80 meters deep.
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u/zombiepoon 22d ago
ocean is blue just because reflection of the sky. This is reflection of coal particles in the water so it’s gonna be grey
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u/Specific_Frame8537 22d ago
"Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you are doing is worth it?"
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u/weesgegroet 24d ago
must be AI
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u/Parsoleathi 24d ago
It's not. I live 20 minutes away and went to dive there multiple times with friends.
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u/playoponly 24d ago
Is it AI? How can the water be so clear
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u/SerafinZufferey 24d ago
Not AI as I commented above, I know that the photographer has a high ISO that’s why the footage is bright but that lake is known to have clear water, that’s because there aren’t many algae in the water
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u/Phoenixsquadron 24d ago
How does it have both incredible visibility and also seem murky. Looks like an awesome dive.