# What the hell is this "Alien Lake" in Google Earth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844 "2005-09-22T06:05:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844/1 "2005-09-22T06:05:00Z")

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Anyone who has Google Earth, please enter in these coordinates: 39°27’43.93"N, 94°31’50.86"W . What it appears to show is this weird lake made up of purple and pink and black colors and lines, and it looks like either a circuit board or some kind of alien technology. It is really striking. What causes this image to appear? I’m assuming that the lake is just a regular lake whose appearance has somehow been rendered in this odd way in Google Earth.

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844/2 "2005-09-22T06:25:08Z")

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No idea what’s going on there. But i also have NASA Worldwind, and Trimble Lake shows no such colors on that program, so it’s obviously something to do with Google Earth’s images and/or rendering.

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**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844/3 "2005-09-22T06:34:32Z")

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Looks like a tear in the fabric of space-time to me. I’ve screenshotted it for those who are curious (it’s just north of Kansas City)

[Lake](http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/9068/lake0il.jpg)

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**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844/4 "2005-09-22T06:39:11Z")

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Cited from a post on another message board:

> [@](#):
>
> This has been inserted to protect the copyrights of the map owners.
> 
> Several pieces of false information is inserted into the global map, and this one is a fractal image with the contents being a processor diagram.
> 
> If someone were to use Google Earth to programmatically extract the maps to build their own application, Google could prove authenticity of ownership by pointing to several points of false data… of which this is just one example.
> 
> Many reference sources do this. There are a few music encyclopaedias that include fictional bands, so that were the books copied the fictional bands could be held up as proof that it was stolen.

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**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-this-alien-lake-in-google-earth/322844/5 "2005-09-22T06:40:20Z")

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Oops. I should have included a link:

[http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/101972/page/vc/vc/1](http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/101972/page/vc/vc/1)