The secret of the mysterious circles formed on the ice of Baikal has been revealed. Nature of Baikal. Dark rings on the lake

Scientists at satellite images Lake Baikal found dark rings five to seven kilometers in diameter on the ice. The reason for the appearance of the rings is still unknown, according to a message on the website of the ScanEx company, which specializes in working with satellite photographs of the Earth.

“Rings on the ice for Baikal are probably not a new phenomenon. But due to their significant size, it is almost impossible to see them from the ice and even from the mountain ranges surrounding the lake basin,” the report says. Therefore, ring formations began to be discovered when, on orders from the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, daily space monitoring of the Baikal natural area.

According to observations, ring structures on the Baikal ice do not form every year: after the first discovery in 1999, similar forms were detected in April 2003 and 2005. However, in 2004, 2006 and 2007 such phenomena were not recorded. In 2008, the rings appeared in two areas of the lake's water area: in the area of ​​​​Cape Krestovsky (with some shift to the southwest from the location of the ring in 1999, 2003 and 2005) and for the first time - in the area of ​​​​the village of Turka. In April 2009, mysterious forms were discovered to the west of Cape Nizhneye Izgolovye of the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula and at the southern tip of Lake Baikal.

The causes and mechanism of the formation of ring ice phenomena are not currently studied in detail. Experts suggest that the formation of rings is associated with natural gas emissions from the sedimentary strata of the bottom of Lake Baikal.

In geological terms, Lake Baikal is a graben lake, a section of the earth's crust bounded by steeply inclined faults, confined to the rift zone. Rifts are characterized by increased heat flow and seismic activity. Elevated temperature leads to intense gas formation. Outflows of natural gas from the bottom of the lake in summer are observed due to bubbles rising to the surface and the formation of "proparins" from half a meter to hundreds of meters in diameter in winter.

"But the giant dark rings on the ice of Lake Baikal are anomalously large sizes. It is likely that such emissions are associated with seismic activity and tectonic movements in the Baikal rift system," the specialists of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosgeolfond believe, whose words are quoted in the message.

There is an opinion that to explain mysterious phenomenon it is necessary to consider the system of a point source of heat at the bottom of the lake. In this case, the "emissions" of the heat source, rising up, are able to take an annular shape. According to other versions, in order to identify the causes, it is important to consider the influence of atmospheric and biogenic processes and phenomena.

Every spring, dark rings appear on the ice of Lake Baikal. Strange rings with a diameter of several kilometers have appeared before - were recorded in the spring in 2003, 2005, 2008. The most incredible assumptions were made- from shamanic signs to the actions of space aliens.

Study of ring ice phenomena on Baikal

Presidium Russian Academy Sciences allocated money for an integration project to study the Baikal rings. It was found that the formation of rings occurs due to the rise of deep waters.

“The vertical stratification of the water column of the lake is changing and an annular current is generated, which contributes to a decrease in the thickness of the ice cover,- explained in the press service of the INC SB RAS. - In the center of the circle deepening of the surfaces is formed and an increase in the temperature of the under-ice water is noted. And on the periphery of the circle, 2 km from the center, the ice becomes thinner, and this is not due to an increase in temperature. This year, scientists want to find an answer to the question of why a circular current forms, reducing the thickness of the ice. His point of view was expressed by "Mir" Doctor of Biological Sciences. E.A. Petrov, who observed this phenomenon more than once during expeditions to Baikal. It is believed that the culprit for the formation of mysterious "rings" may be emissions of natural combustible gas (methane). Methane is formed in any swamp, and many kilometers of sediment accumulated over millions of years at the bottom, this is not a swamp for you!

And it (this thickness) is quite capable of producing abnormally large volumes of natural gas. Rising from the bottom of Lake Baikal, natural gas creates an ascending water flow. This flow in the process of ascent is twisted by Coriolis forces (due to the rotation of the Earth - cyclones and anticyclones are also formed in the atmosphere). As a result, a circular current forms in the water layer directly under the ice, and since it is also relatively warm, it gradually destroys the ice from below. Then you know: the melted ice is saturated with water, the water rises between the needles of ice, and a dark ring appears on the surface of the ice. Later, within the formed “ring”, the ice melts faster than in nearby areas of the water area. This is the proposed mechanism for the formation of "rings".

Fishermen saw how Baikal burned

Baikal gas has been studied somewhat more than oil, and there is undoubtedly much more of it in the lake. But no one has seen gas flares burning over Baikal over the past 200 years, although there are suggestions that they did take place.

In 1959, when one of the strongest earthquakes occurred, scientists conducted a survey of local residents, and fishermen, pointing to the Baikal horizon, said: “Baikal burned there.” They did not know that the epicenter of the earthquake was located there.

According to Viktor Isaev, seismologists have previously observed sky glows during earthquakes, considering this an effect northern lights. However, Viktor Petrovich himself believes that the earthquake provokes gas eruptions. It comes to the surface along the weakened zones and ignites. Therefore, these two catastrophic phenomena coincide in time.

In July 2003, a fish died as a result of a methane release near the village of Barguzin. A young man went fishing with a girl and saw how the fish was thrown ashore, and gas bubbled out from under the water. The shore was strewn with several tons of dead fish, as well as seagulls and crows that swooped down on their prey. According to Viktor Isaev, such outbursts occur when gas, having accumulated in large quantities, creates abnormally high pressure and breaks through the overlying weakly cemented sediments.

On Baikal there are permanent places gas release, they are best observed in the spring, when the so-called steam is formed in the ice. Fish cannot breathe methane, and therefore it is not suitable for proparins. Fishermen know about this and do not fish in natural "holes". In places where steam has not yet formed, the pressure of the gas lifts the ice and the gas accumulates. By punching a small hole in the ice, you can light a fire simply by bringing a match. In this case, the sound of burning gas will create a loud noise.

The gas that regularly rises to the surface of the lake does not harm Baikal organisms in any way. They adapted to it so that methane became the beginning of the food chain. Methane-oxidizing bacteria form bacterial mats that feed on plankton, which in turn feed on fish. Since there are most gas outlets on Baikal in the Posolsk area, there is also the largest and fattest one.

Leaks of natural gas from the bottom of the lake have been known for a long time, and this is a common occurrence. In the work of N. and L. Granins there is detailed overview literature on this subject, starting with the first description made back in the 18th century by J. Georgi and P.S. Pallas. There, by the way, are geographical coordinates and characteristics of most proparins according to V.M. Sokolnikov, a Baikal ice researcher in the middle of the 20th century.

In summer, it is rather difficult to notice this phenomenon (gas bubbles rise to the surface and burst), but in winter, so-called “steams” form in places where gas rises - places where ice is very thin or completely absent. The sizes of "proparin" can be very different - up to hundreds of meters in diameter. It may be that the intensity of gas emissions is somehow related to seismic activity and tectonic movements in the Baikal rift system. Most likely, anomalously large emissions capable of creating such “rings” on ice have always occurred on Baikal, which means that “rings” have periodically appeared. But because of them big size it is difficult to see these formations. So they began to notice them when space monitoring began ice conditions on the lake.

The study of ring ice phenomena at Baikal is probably interesting and important for academic science. And, of course, these rings at the final stage of their existence can pose a danger to vehicles moving on ice, for fishermen and residents of nearby villages. However, a declaration on the need to organize monitoring and mapping of dangerous ice phenomena of Lake Baikal and inform the local population, fishermen, tourists about the danger , in my opinion, looks more like an attempt to beg for money for this very monitoring. To be honest, at the end of April, people have nothing to do on the ice of Lake Baikal, not in the sense that there is nothing to do, but in another sense. It’s easier, more efficient and much cheaper than the Ministry of Emergency Situations to ban all idlers from going on the ice, for example, from April 20, and that’s it! It is much more important to find out the causes of the "rings".

Although the authors speak about the mechanism of formation of "rings" almost confidently, it is known that gas emissions from the bottom of the lake always occur in the same places, and most often and intensely mainly in deltas and fore-deltas. major rivers flowing into the lake: Selenga, Barguzin, Upper, Kichera, Buguldeyka, Goloustnoy. Meanwhile, the "rings" for some reason ignored these areas. Scientists at Irkutsk State University believe that « catastrophic eruptions combustible gas, took place ... in the recent past and are preserved in the memory of the people who lived on its shores. One of the variants of the name of Lake Baikal is the translation from the Buryat language as "Bai Gal" - "standing fire". Evidence of this are also volcanic structures, best preserved at the bottom of the lake. .

Meanwhile, one of the articles states that since the solubility of methane in water is still quite large, then " at a depth of several hundred meters, the probability of a methane bubble reaching the surface of the water column is negligible.. Well, if this happens, then in addition to methane, the bubble will contain a lot of nitrogen and oxygen. But it is possible that methane reaches the surface of the water (above great depths) in the form of floating gas hydrate crystals.

Gas hydrate: what is it

In nature, in the seas and oceans, subject to a number of conditions (in particular, there must be high pressure, low temperature and, of course, a lot of the source material itself) gas hydrates are formed from methane. Outwardly, gas hydrates look like ordinary dirty pieces of ice (however, few ordinary mortals have seen them - gas hydrates disintegrate when rising to the surface). In fact, this is a solid mixture of gas and water, in which gas molecules are “soldered” into a frame of water molecules (moreover, there are almost 200 times more gas molecules than water molecules). But the "mixture" is very unstable: it exists in a state of thermodynamic stability (hydrate stability zone, HSG), and in the event of a change in conditions, it immediately collapses with the release of methane. Scientists believe that the stability of hydrates is broken near faults and that it is there that methane breaks out to the surface of the lake bottom in large volumes. But why are the Baikal gas hydrates so unstable, while in the seas and oceans - where there is a colossal amount of them! - Is the gas hydrate layer generally stable? The bottom of Lake Baikal is covered with volcanoes.

When water, gas and silt are pushed out of the inner layers bottom sediments on the bottom surface (we will leave the reasons for this alone), then bottom structures, the so-called mud volcanoes, arise. These are a kind of "valves" that allow you to release excess gas pressure. They actually look like ordinary volcanoes, and during eruptions and even during periods of calm they throw out large quantities liquids and gases. Erupting jets have a height of about 25 m.

How methane spoils Baikal water

Until now, numerous outlets of combustible gas can be observed in the coastal strip of the lake, which in winter form non-freezing polynyas called proparins. The very name of the lake - Baikal - is translated from the Buryat language as "standing fire". During the eruption, the gas ignites spontaneously and rises with a bright flame "to the sky." The eruption is accompanied by the ejection of huge masses of water, sand, clay, and as a result, “mud” volcanoes are formed, of which there can be about a hundred on Baikal, and there are more than 900 all over the world. and along the shores of Lake Baikal, are the result of gas volcanism, not all scientists share. Nobody conducted detailed studies, but Viktor Isaev, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of Russia, Professor of the Department of Geology of Oil and Gas of the Geological Faculty of ISU, suggests that these are “mud” volcanoes.

Scientists have suggested that near-surface gas hydrates can be found inside mud volcanoes. Chemical analysis of water showed an increased content of methane in volcanic jets, but only a slight increase in methane content was found at the bottom near the gas sources. The highest concentrations were found in the upper 25-50 m of water, but in general, methane does not have a noticeable effect on the chemical composition of water. However, it has been known for many years that an anomalous layer of deep water exists in the South Baikal Basin, in which the temperature does not decrease, but increases with depth, sometimes elevated methane concentrations are found and, less often, slightly reduced oxygen concentrations. It is believed that methane is also to blame here: under the influence of unloading gas from bottom sources, they say, the water is mixed with such a result. By the way, the gas content of those bubbles that reach the surface of Baikal and sometimes cause steam to “boil” has long been known. These bubbles are filled with different gases, but the content of methane in them is high (the contents of the bubbles burn perfectly), often up to 90-99%. So it turns out that a significant part of the methane goes into the atmosphere.

Why do gas hydrates constantly decompose?

There are presumably several reasons.

Rapid accumulation of sedimentary strata.

Tectonic uplift of the earth's crust.

Fluid migration (these are liquid and gaseous components of magma and/or gas-saturated solutions circulating in the earth's depths).

Local stretching of the earth's crust.

Landslides in the basin.

Or any combination of all five.

Against the background of such reasons, the recommendation (or wish) of Irkutsk scientists (from ISU) looks somehow ridiculous and strange "... to study the degree ... of the stability of the gas-hydrate layer at the bottom of Lake Baikal in the conditions of exceptionally high dynamics of the manifestation of modern geological processes and to take measures to preserve gas hydrates in an undisturbed state" .

Meanwhile, the area of ​​the Selenga delta is the site of the most significant solid runoff in Baikal and, accordingly, the fastest accumulation of precipitation. However, "rings" in that area have not been noticed over the past 10 years, and it is even believed that in recent decades the activity of gas outlets has fallen. Interestingly, in order to prove the possibility of methane release into the pelagial of the lake (above great depths), the same Granins recalled cases of mass death of golomyankas. It seems to me that this is a well-known attempt to “hold on to the straw”, if only because there have been no such cases for 50-60 years, and the action of methane was for some reason very selective - it killed only large golomyanka, without touching the small golomyanka and other inhabitants pelagials, the same omul.

To clarify, the reason for the mass death of golomyankas in the past has still not been clarified and has not been properly explained.

In conclusion, we note that Baikal is full of mysteries and will never cease to amaze us, mere mortals, and will not leave scientists without work. The presence of "rings", and most importantly, an unusual sequence of processes in which methane accumulates in the form of hydrates, and if their stability is violated, it is released through mud volcanoes, as well as the very fact of the existence of "freshwater" gas hydrate only in the conditions of Baikal, is another evidence of the uniqueness of Baikal.

Notes

Links

1. Baikal may burn because of gas hydrates // CM Number One: newspaper. - August 6, 2009.
2. Another mystery of Baikal // Number one: newspaper. - Ulan-Ude. - June 10, 2009.
3. Before the earthquake, Baikal gives signs // CM Number One: newspaper. - December 4, 2008.

Last week, Russian scientist Alexei Kuraev made a presentation at an international scientific and practical conference on environmental safety. During his report, Kuraev put forward a hypothesis about the origin of the mysterious circles on the surface of Lake Baikal, which were first seen on satellite images at the end of the last century and whose origin is still unknown to scientists.

Alexey Kuraev works at the University of Toulouse in France, and within the framework of the international research program ERA.Net RUS plus, this year he and his colleagues are completing a study on Baikal's "well-being" in the face of abrupt climate change. “We use satellite data, radar satellite antimetry is a rather complex technology, very sensitive,” says the scientist in an interview with the Siberian Power Engineer magazine. “In addition to satellite data, we used data obtained directly on the lake in the field.”

What is this phenomenon that causes so much talk and controversy? Mysterious rings on the ice of Lake Baikal began to be noticed relatively recently - the first was discovered by satellite in 1999. They are too big to see them standing on the ice, so they can only be seen from the height of a satellite or aircraft. Most often, rings can be seen on spring ice. They look like dark circles with a diameter of 5-7 km and a width of about 1 km. The ice in the center and outside the ring is thicker and whiter, while in the most perfectly even circle it is darker and thinner. Rings appear quite unpredictably in different places and in different years.

Possible explanations for the origin of ice rings include a large number of hypotheses - from atmospheric action and biological activity in the upper layer of water to UFOs and hoaxes. locals most often they talk about the intervention of an “extraterrestrial civilization”, while recalling the strange circles in wheat fields in the UK and other similar mysteries that ufologists love, referring to the landing of alien vehicles.

Nevertheless, among the scientific explanations, the hydrothermal activity of Lake Baikal is most often mentioned, in other words, the extremely high intensity of the release of methane gases from bottom sediments. Rising from the bottom of the lake, natural gas provokes an upward flow of water, which twists as it rises. A circular thermal current destroys the ice cover from below. The melted ice is saturated with water, and a dark ring appears on the surface of the ice.

However, the question remains: why do the circles appear randomly, and not constantly, because methane gases are formed at the bottom of the lake all year round? Scientists admit that methane emissions would not have provided the phenomenon with such strange time frames.

To answer these and other questions, scientists processed the archives satellite imagery and photographs in order to obtain as much as possible complete list ice rings and their parameters, as well as conducted field hydrological studies in the areas of their formation.

“We analyzed the archives of satellite stations, examined the visible thermal microwave range, looked at images from the space station. As a result, red circles were found where rings were found in different years, - says Alexey Kaurov. - In total, 45 rings were discovered on Baikal (previously 13 were known), and, what is most interesting, we found four rings on Khubsugul in Mongolia. Which no one knew about.

The results of studies under the ice in the region of the rings on Baikal and Khubsugul show that before and during the appearance of ice rings, warm vortices in the form of biconvex lenses form exactly under them. These eddies are the reason for the formation of ice rings in lakes, Kuraev said.

The eddies under the ice rings are characterized by a weak or moderate current in the central part and a strong current in the area of ​​the ring, oriented to the left relative to the tangent to the eddy boundary. An increase in heat exchange between ice and water at the vortex boundary leads to a noticeable decrease in the thickness of ice compared to the center of the ring or areas outside it. Areas of thin and, as a result, darker ice are identified on satellite images as giant ice rings.

Thus, those same ice rings are a manifestation of the effect of lenticular vortices on the ice surface.

However, this raises new questions for scientists about the origin of these very vortices. It is not yet clear whether these eddies occur before the appearance of ice or during a stable freeze-up. Scientists continue to search for answers to these questions.

In 2008, the rings were already found in two places: again near Krestovsky, but with some shift to the south-west from the place of the previous location, and in the area of ​​the village of Turka. But scientists paid attention to the phenomenon only in 2009, when, by order of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, daily space monitoring of the Baikal natural environment began to be carried out. Then two new rings were found: one to the west of Cape Nizhneye Izgolovye of the Svyatoi Nos peninsula, the other in the southern tip of Lake Baikal...

The mystery of the "Baikal circles" was vigorously discussed in the media, the most incredible versions were put forward to explain the appearance of the rings: from the activities of aliens to the magical rituals of shamans ... A surge of interest in the phenomenon prompted researchers to study it closely. The Academy of Sciences allocated money for an integration project, to which specialists of various profiles were involved: physicists, mathematicians, limnologists ...

Over time, scientists managed to find out why the rings appear. It turned out that the rise of deep waters is to blame. In this case, an annular flow occurs, which contributes to a decrease in the thickness of the ice cover. The circulation of water masses occurs clockwise. In the center of the circle, the temperature of the under-ice water rises, and on the periphery, the ice thins, hence the circular formations.

However, for what reason the water begins to circulate, has not yet been clarified. Presumably, this is due to the release of natural combustible gas (methane) from the bottom of the lake. Methane releases constantly occur in certain areas of the water area. In summer, such places can be identified by bubbles rising to the surface, and in winter - by "parisons", where the ice becomes very thin or holes form at all. But, according to experts, in order for such giant rings to form, the volume of gas release must be very large.

This may occur as a result of seismic activity and tectonic movements in the Baikal rift system. The process, as suggested by scientists, is carried out as follows. Rising from the bottom of the reservoir, the gas activates the ascending water flow, which, during the rise, twists due to the natural rotation of the Earth, just as cyclones and anticyclones form in the earth's atmosphere. As a result, a warm circular current appears under the ice, gradually destroying the ice cover. The rings are visible because the cracks in the melted ice are filled with water.

Probably, methane emissions occurred at Baikal before, experts say. But due to the huge size of the rings, it is simply impossible to see them from the surface of the Earth.

The researchers argue that if such processes really take place, this can pose a serious danger to vehicles passing through Lake Baikal, for fishermen and local population. In this regard, it is recommended, if possible, to avoid movement and stay in those areas where ring phenomena are recorded.

At the same time, some researchers doubt this hypothesis of the origin of the rings. The fact is that, oddly enough, the bottom of Baikal has been studied quite well during underwater work on this lake. And although at its bottom there are indeed several areas for the release of combustible gas from the earth's crust (scientists call them "underwater torches"), however, in those places where rings are formed, they are just not there (at least in the eastern part of the lake , which is very shallow, so the bottom there is better studied than, for example, the bottom of the western and central parts). However, this issue requires further research.

However, the "ice rings" are not the only "circular" riddle of Baikal. So, mysterious circles are found here and on land.

Once, in the early 1990s, Viktor Stepanenko, head of the environmental education department of the Baikal-Lena Reserve, and his colleagues went by helicopter to Cape Bolshoi Solontsovy. On approaching Cape Stepanenko noticed below, in the steppe, strange rings of the correct form, distinguished by a bright green color. They had a different diameter - from two to fifty meters. I must say that the vegetation in this place is very sparse and there is no bright greenery at all.

There was nothing special up close. But after a few days, clear circles could already be seen from the ground. But the grass inside them completely disappeared, the circles turned black.

Viktor Stepanenko decided to conduct an experiment - he drove a peg into the ground from the outside of the ring. The following year, he again visited Cape Bolshoi Solontsovy - the peg was inside the circle, although its diameter did not change in appearance. Therefore, the ring "roams"?

The botanist of the reserve Nadezhda Stepantsova suggested that we are talking about "witch rings" - mycelium, which sometimes grow in circles ...

Baikal is a unique natural and geological object, fraught with many mysteries. In the process of studying it, researchers are likely to expect many more amazing discoveries.

Baikal is unique. The water reserve in the lake is enough to provide for all mankind for five years fresh water. Scientists are constantly exploring Baikal, but it still keeps its secrets.

What is "Baikal"?

Until the 17th century, the Russians did not call Baikal Baikal, but called it Lamu, which is translated from the Evenki language as "sea", then they called the lake in the Buryat manner "Baigal". "G" later turned into the more familiar "K" for the Russian ear.

To this day, there are many versions about why Baikal is called that. According to one - the name is formed from the Buryat words "bay" and "gal" (to stand, fire), since according to the Buryat legend, Baikal was formed on the site fiery mountain. There are several more versions of the Buryat origin, however, some philologists raise the name to the Yakut language (baai - "rich" and kyul "lake") or baykhal (lake). There is even a version that "Baikal" comes from the Arabic Bahr-al-Baq, which means "the sea that gives birth to many tears", or "the sea of ​​horror".

Lake age

Baikal is truly mysterious. Even in such an important issue as age, scientists still cannot decide. According to the main version, Baikal is very ancient lake, and its age ranges from 25 to 30 million years. If so, then Baikal is truly unique, since most of the ancient glacial lakes They "live" no longer than 10-14 thousand years, after which they are filled with silty residues and swampy.

IN last years when research began to be carried out on Baikal with the help of deep-sea vehicles"Mir", other hypotheses began to appear. Thus, the hypothesis of Alexander Tatarinov, an employee of the Geological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has become widely discussed. He was surprised that no changes were observed at the bottom of Lake Baikal rocks, they have not changed for millions of years, while long time leads to their oxidation and decomposition in water. He suggested that Baikal, on the contrary, is a young lake, and its age is no more than 8-10 thousand years. The scientist suggested that the deposits that had previously been used to explain the antiquity of the lake could have been formed quite quickly (in geological terms of time) under the influence of mud volcanoes, which are abundantly present at the bottom of the lake and were first discovered in 1966.

Ice circles

For the first time, giant rings on the ice of Lake Baikal were discovered in 1999, but this does not mean that they did not appear there before. It's just that the size of these rings is so large that it is impossible to see them from the surface of the lake and even from the high Baikal mountains. After the first discovery of the rings by Russian scientists, daily space monitoring of the lake's surface was agreed. Since then, it has been established that such rings do not appear on Baikal every year. They were seen in different places of the lake in 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2009.

As soon as information about the presence of rings on ice became available to people, the most fantastic versions of their origin began to appear. Of course, there was also a version about aliens. Scientists, of course, are more skeptical. According to the presumed version, the rings are formed from methane emissions from the sedimentary rocks of the lake. Baikal is located in the Baikal rift zone, which is characterized by increased seismic and thermal activity. This can cause intense gas formation. In summer it can be seen by bubbles on the surface, in winter - by thawed patches on the ice.
However, no matter how attractive and reasoned the methane version of the origin of the rings may be, it does not explain the titanic size of these formations. Presumably, such dimensions are caused by circular currents formed from methane emissions, but this is only a version. So far, the rings on the Baikal ice remain another unsolved mystery of the sacred lake.

glowing water

glow Baikal water was discovered by Viktor Dobrynin, a leading researcher at the Institute of Physics and Technology at ISTU, back in 1982. then he was just beginning his scientific career at the Research Institute of Applied Physics of ISU. Since that time, many years have passed and now scientists have returned to their research. Measurements of water samples at different depths and in different places of the lake showed that the intensity of the glow of Baikal water decreases with depth, and the range of change from the surface to the bottom reaches 100 or more times. The level of glow in the same place may vary. At the deepest station near Olkhon Island, the researchers recorded the minimum level of luminescence - 100 photons per square centimeter per second.
Interestingly, monitoring shows a decrease in the glow from November to mid-January, after which the water begins to "gain" the glow again. According to Viktor Bogdanov - from January 19, from Epiphany. For scientists, the analysis of these processes is very important, since it can be used to predict changes in the ecological situation.
However, observations-observations, but scientists still do not know the reason for the glow of Baikal water. While they are only at the very beginning of solving this mystery.

Walls

People still like to build walls today, but the fanaticism with which the natives of Baikal erected the walls, inexplicable to this day, is truly surprising. Along the entire perimeter of Lake Baikal, tourists and scientific expeditions still find many walls, the purpose of which is unclear. There are quite understandable fortifications on the capes of the lake, there are also walls that were built to protect sacred territories, but it is not easy to explain the purpose of many stone walls deep in the taiga. For their construction, people carried stones for tens of kilometers. The question remains open - why?

Obviously, not all discovered walls can be classified as defensive. The walls near Baikal differ not only in purpose, but also in age. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for archaeologists to determine the exact dates of the erection of these structures, since the dry stonework does not contain organic components suitable for radiocarbon or thermoluminescent analysis.
In historical science, it is customary to attribute the construction of these walls to the Kurumchi culture of the 5th–10th centuries. But these walls can be both younger and much older.