Taal Lake was Salt Water prior to 1754.
The huge 1754 eruption that lasted for 6 months from May to December 1754 changed the salinity of the water from salt to fresh water.
It sank 5 Batangas towns formerly located along the shores like Tanauan, Taal, Lipa, Bauan and a lost town that was never revived named Sala.
The Batangueños started moving backward and established their Poblacions away from Taal Lake
Tanauan is on its 3rd Site Taal on its 3rd Site Bauan on its 3rd Site Lipa on its 5th Site Sala was never revived and joined Tanauan
The Pansipit River narrowed down where once upon a time Galleons can enter from Balayan Bay to Taal Lake.
It gave way and formed a new land blocking the mouth of the Pansipit River and that land, later on, became Lemery, Batangas in 1861.
New islands sprouted up from underneath like Napayong Island located in Tanauan
This gave way to new forms of species like the Maliputo and Tawilis.
Maliputo was actually a Trevally or Talakitok but since it turned freshwater, it became the Maliputo
Tawilis was actually a sardine that turned into a freshwater sardine trapped inside the lake when the salinity changed.
There are fossils of old coral reefs in Taal Lake proving that once upon a time it was saltwater. The last shark sighting in Taal was in 1935.
The Capital was moved from Taal to Batangan now called Batangas City and from 1755, they started calling it Batangas province coming from Taal province and prior to that as Balayan province, the first capital.
All of these are recorded. Read the book of Thomas Hargrove called the Mysteries of Taal.
The map of Batangas drastically changed so you have to respect and adjust with nature and learn from its violent history.
“But human memory is short. Taal has behaved herself since 1965, so men now plan to exploit her. They’ll build housing developments along her shores, put golf courses and Disneyland-type tourist facilities on Tagaytay Ridge, pump water from her fragile ecosystem for irrigation and the sprawling urban centers. Taal will surely strike back, again, with anger and vengeance.” - Thomas R. Hargrove, The Mysteries of Taal, 1991
(c) Marra Zambrano
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