Lake Salda, a popular destination for excursions in southwestern Turkey, has long been under the microscope of scientists. Turkey now plans to set up a multi-disciplinary scientific research center in the area to gain further insight into the body of water whose characteristics were discovered to be strikingly similar to a crater on Mars.

It was NASA that pointed out the biological similarities between the pristine lake and Jezero crater on Mars, based on data from its Perseverance rover. Turkish scientists had recently wrapped up a study on a comprehensive microbiological map of Lake Salda in order to provide a data bank for NASA. The study, conducted with the cooperation of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, Climate Change, Boğaziçi and Istanbul Technical universities, helped in the discovery of microbial species and the spots they are concentrated in, which are now designated preservation areas.

Professor Bahar Ince of Boğaziçi University, one of the scientists who took part in the study, says the lake is rich in microbiological potential and holds clues to the evolution of bacteria. "It has a large concentration of bacteria and we obtained first gene sequences of microorganisms in the lake with our study," she told Demirören News Agency (DHA) Tuesday.

Ince highlighted the need to expand the preservation area of the lake, which is already designated as a protected site, with access limited to visitors. "The ministry decided to set up a research center at the basin where the lake is located and it will be opened soon. It will host scientists from different branches and will likely host international scientific research projects, plus a platform for our country's young researchers," she said.

The ministry said in a statement that the findings of the study revealed a concentration of alphaproteobacteria, a family of bacteria that sheds light on microbial evolution, as well as microorganisms from other "families" such as firmicutes, actinobacteria and verrumicrobiae.