Realm IV of VIII
The Sapphire Lagoon
Sails on turquoise water
Below the frozen heights the land opens into a lagoon of brilliant turquoise. Rivers braid between rocky islands, and small boats with blue and golden sails drift past a village of spires lit by lanterns.
All around its edges the water slips over the brink of the world in countless falls and vanishes into the clouds.
Look closer
- The island village glowing at its heart
- A boat under a golden sail and another under blue
- Falls spilling from the lagoon edge
- A fairy hovering above the river cliffs
One fairy hides in this realm.
In our world
Why shallow water turns turquoise
Water absorbs the red part of sunlight and leaves the blue, which is why deep water looks blue. Where clear water runs shallow over pale sand, light reaches the bottom and bounces back up, and the water turns a bright turquoise; the very shallowest edges keep a little green.
Sources
Lakes that build their own dams
At Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, sixteen lakes step down a valley, joined by waterfalls. The dams between them are barriers of travertine, a limestone laid down from the calcium carbonate in the water, with mosses, algae and bacteria helping it settle. UNESCO listed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1979.
Sources