The main reason for the vibrant blue color of lakes as Lake Louise and Moraine Lake in the Banff National Park is the presence of rock flour or glacial silt in the water.
Glacial Silt/ Rock Flour: The lakes are supplied with water (glaciers) during their movement; glaciers grind rocks into very small size particles known as rock flour or glacial silt. The rock flour is very minute and maintains its suspension on water leading to a milky look.
Sunlight Reflection: Finer particles of water especially silt scatter sunlight. The shorter blue wavelengths scatter better than the longer red wavelengths when sunlight enters into the lake. The phenomenon referred to as Rayleigh scattering results in the light reflected back to our eyes being of this shade of turquoise or blue which makes the lakes appear like this.
Glacial Melting: These lakes get their water from glacial meltwater, contributing to the blue color. Mineral-rich glacial meltwater is coloured by the suspended rock flour, providing the lakes with their characteristic and bewitching tones.
Depth of the Lakes: Additionally, the intensity of the blue color depends on the depth that the lake is in. Lakes that are deeper such as lake louise and moraine lake allow much more light penetration hence exposing more of this blue tones.
A marvelous interaction of light with ice, rock flour and glaciations giving rise to the vivid azure of the lakes at Banff. The turquoise in color Blue lakes are considered as the most captivating and representative symbol of Banff national parks by those who visit it.
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