Photographer Sergey Anashkevych was travelling across Crimea by train when he spotted a remarkable sight.
Sparkling red water contrasts with the clear blue sky at a derelict salt field in Crimea, where the wooden structures of an old mine remain. Photographer Sergey Anashkevych, 36, decided to explore the multi-coloured landscape after seeing it from a train
Salt is one of the biggest export products from Crimea, while chemical industry accounts for 20.6% of industrial output in the region.
When the island was part of the Soviet Union, this particular region was mined for brine, which forms when ground water reacts with rock salt.
Now the salt flats are abandoned, but what is left are an incredible series of lakes brimming with the remnants of a once-extensive industry.
The Rotten Sea is so-called because of the smell produced there. The lake of Sivash is very shallow, with an average depth of 1.6 to 3.2 feet (0.5 to one metres).
At the base of the lake, though, is a layering of silt up to 16.4 feet (five metres) thick, giving the waters a salinity of up to 87 per cent. In the summer the waters heat up and evaporate, producing the smell.
It is estimated that there are 200 million tonnes of salts at the location.
The entire area is 990 square miles (2,560 square kilometres), although this particular mine makes up only a small section of that.
In the absence of humans the water continues to produce salt mushrooms and flowers around old wooden pillars as it evaporates in the heat
Lake Sivash is found in Crimea and is also known as the Rotten Sea due to the foul smell produced by the layers of silt under the water
The wooden structures were once used as walkways to traverse the various salt flats but now they lie derelict and unused
The unique natural phenomenon of the red water is thanks to Dunaliella algae which multiplies rapidly when it has access to extremely salty water
In the images sparking red water at the derelict salt ponds contrasts with the clear blue sky. The phenomenon is thanks to the rose-tinted Halobacteria algae, which multiples rapidly when it has access to extremely salty water.
The salt field was mined for brine when it was part of the USSR for use in industry, but now huge salt crystals have formed on the abandoned lake.
It is well known to locals but hardly ever frequented by tourists.
‘It’s just a stunning place,’ says 36-year-old Anashkevych from Sevastopol. It is hard to explain the feelings and to describe and to describe the emotions.
‘The air is very humid there and very salty, and because of the salt in the air you get the feeling that the air is sticky. And everything gets covered by this sticky thin film – skin, clothes, equipment – everything.
‘The only other problem is the smell – you can’t call it pleasant.’
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