<p>Overland oil spills are fairly common, so Earth arguably has some transient hydrocarbon lakes. <a href="https://www.capjournal.com/news/years-later-cleanup-nears-end-for-big-north-dakota-spill/article_a8b20366-9e81-11e7-aeee-6f09e39894d3.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">One incident</a> in 2013 dumped nearly 1 million gallons of oil over North Dakota, covering 13 acres of land. A very different type of hydrocarbon lake is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes_of_Titan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">found on Titan</a>, the only Solar System moon with surface oceans.</p>

<p>Does Earth have any stable bodies of liquid, that are not liquid water? Let's limit this to the surface, and exclude anything that is more than >50% H2O by mass.</p>

<p>The only example I can think of, besides petroleum spills, is lava lakes. However, I'm not sure if these are truly stable, or if it's even appropriate to call lava a liquid instead of a plastic. Maybe in the past, for example during Snowball Earth, climate conditions were more appropriate for non-water lakes forming from atmospheric volatiles.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-13T13:34:32.727Z
Does tar count as a liquid? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_pit
Semidiurnal Simon
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-13T15:58:37.670Z
Nice, I didn't know about those. The article says "lighter components vaporize, leaving only the thick asphalt", so they may not be liquid lakes. You can still add it as an answer if you want -- it seems relevant.
StarlightDown
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-13T22:21:44.687Z
Tar is a liquid just a very viscous one. see the pitch drop experiment.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-14T13:26:28.493Z
How long does something have to exist to be considered "Stable"? Lava lakes in [some volcanoes](http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/oldroot/volcanoes/volc_images/img_erta_ale.html) sometimes last for decades.....
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-14T18:46:29.393Z
That counts, I suppose. By "stable", I more so meant a lake that doesn't disappear with daily weather patterns or seasonal changes. I guess it's unlikely a lava or tar lake would vanish with the seasons.
StarlightDown
<petroleum><lakes>
Does Earth have any stable bodies of liquid, that are not liquid water?
StarlightDown
# Does Earth have any stable bodies of liquid, that are not liquid water?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-12-13)

Overland oil spills are fairly common, so Earth arguably has some transient hydrocarbon lakes. [One incident](https://www.capjournal.com/news/years-later-cleanup-nears-end-for-big-north-dakota-spill/article_a8b20366-9e81-11e7-aeee-6f09e39894d3.html) in 2013 dumped nearly 1 million gallons of oil over North Dakota, covering 13 acres of land. A very different type of hydrocarbon lake is [found on Titan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes_of_Titan), the only Solar System moon with surface oceans.

Does Earth have any stable bodies of liquid, that are not liquid water? Let's limit this to the surface, and exclude anything that is more than >50% H2O by mass.

The only example I can think of, besides petroleum spills, is lava lakes. However, I'm not sure if these are truly stable, or if it's even appropriate to call lava a liquid instead of a plastic. Maybe in the past, for example during Snowball Earth, climate conditions were more appropriate for non-water lakes forming from atmospheric volatiles.

**Tags:** petroleum, lakes

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does tar count as a liquid? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_pit  
> **username_0**: Nice, I didn't know about those. The article says "lighter components vaporize, leaving only the thick asphalt", so they may not be liquid lakes. You can still add it as an answer if you want -- it seems relevant.  
> **username_2**: Tar is a liquid just a very viscous one. see the pitch drop experiment.  
> **username_3**: How long does something have to exist to be considered "Stable"? Lava lakes in [some volcanoes](http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/oldroot/volcanoes/volc_images/img_erta_ale.html) sometimes last for decades.....  
> **username_0**: That counts, I suppose. By "stable", I more so meant a lake that doesn't disappear with daily weather patterns or seasonal changes. I guess it's unlikely a lava or tar lake would vanish with the seasons.  

---

## 0 answers

