The 'Lonar Lake' in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, recognized as a Ramsar wetland site, was formed by which geological process?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Lonar Lake is a saline, alkaline lake formed by a hypervelocity meteorite impact into the Deccan basalt bedrock during the Pleistocene epoch. It is one of the very few hyper-velocity impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth. Volcanic crater lakes occupy calderas, whereas Lonar sits directly within flood basalt formations that are not volcanic vents. Its unique saline and alkaline environment supports specialized microbial life studied by astrobiologists.