Seiche oscillations in Lake Baikal

The variations in the free surface of Lake Baikal at three stations (Bol’shie Koty, Listvyanka, and Baikal’sk) are measured. A modern recording method and an advanced technique of record processing are used. Based on 1-year-long observation data, the amplitudes of seiche oscillations and their seasonal changes are analyzed. It is found, in particular, that 67-min seiches are manifested in different seasons. Numerical calculations of seiches in Lake Baikal are made with the use of up-to-date bathymetric data on one-dimensional, plan, and spherical models. Spatial structures of oscillations with periods of 277, 152, 84, 67, and 59 min, corresponding to the well-expressed peaks of power spectral density, are studied. It is shown that the first four periods correspond to uninodal, binodal, trinodal, and quadrinodal longitudinal seiche modes of Lake Baikal. The periods of three solutions can correspond to the value of 59 min. The first of them is the seiche of the lake’s South Basin, and two others are characterized by significant amplitude growth in the Small Sea and Chivyrkui Bay.     

Optical characteristics of Lake Baikal waters and their cross-correlations

Correlations between the optical characteristics of Lake Baikal waters and relations of optical characteristics with the content of suspended matter and chlorophyll in waters of the lake have been found. The formulas obtained for Lake Baikal waters have been compared with similar formulas of relations in other water basins.     

Estimation of methane fluxes from bottom sediments of Lake Baikal

Methane bubble fluxes in gas flares from bottom sediments in Lake Baikal were estimated for the first time using hydroacoustic methods. Earlier work has demonstrated the occurrence of gas seeps both inside and outside of areas where bottom simulating reflectors were identified in seismic profiles. Fluxes ranged from 14 to 216 tons per year, with the flux for the entire area of the central and southern basins ranging from 1,400 to 2,800 tons per year. Comparison with other water bodies showed that fluxes from the most intensive Baikal flares were similar to those in the Norwegian and Okhotsk seas. Gas hydrates decompose at the lower boundary of the gas hydrate stability zone due to sedimentation. Calculation of the amount of methane produced due to sedimentation gave a total of between 2,600 and 14,000 tons per year for the central and southern basins of the lake. Based on rough estimation, the total flux from shallow- and deep-water gas seeps is similar to the amount of methane produced due to sedimentation. This suggests that gas hydrates possibly occupy much more than 10?% of the pore volume near the base of the gas hydrate stability zone, or that there are other reasons for gas hydrate dissociation and bubble flux from these bottom sediments.     

Modes of iron-manganese mineralization on the bottom of Lake Baikal

The investigation of the bottom of Lake Baikal carried out during the 2008 summer season by means of Mir manned deep-submergence vehicles resulted in the recovery of a series of sediments, ferruginous crusts, and peculiar mineralized tubes several centimeters high and up to 2–6 cm in diameter. According to the scanning electron investigation, these formations consist mainly of the enclosing sediment particles and biogcnie silica cemented by iron and minor manganese hydroxides. The chemical composition of the tubes is similar to both that of the enclosing sediments and slightly ferruginous crusts and nodules, but the tubes and crusts are somewhat richer relative to the sediments in some microelements, namely, arsenic, cadmium, and uranium. In general, the structure and composition of these tubes reminds one of the worm tubes common in the sediments of a number of seas. The investigation of the rare earth elements in some samples or ferruginous formations and sediments revealed a positive europium anomaly, which might be related to either the composition of the surrounding continental magmatic rocks or to the influence of hypothetical hydrothermal solutions.     

Variations in the elemental composition of ferromanganese structures from Lake Baikal

The elemental composition of ferromanganese sedimentary structures from the bottom of Lake Baikal represented by nodules and crusts, as well as the enclosing sediments, have been studied by the atomic absorption, chemical, and ICP-MS methods. It is established that the contents of the rock-forming and accompanying elements in them are highly variable. In this connection, the examined samples are divided in two groups differing by their Mn/Fe values. In most of the samples, they range from 0.01 to 0.1, although some of the ferromanganese structures or their parts are substantially enriched in manganese. The contents of most of the rare and dispersed elements in the ferromanganese structures are usually at the background level, although the samples maximally enriched in iron or manganese are characterized by relatively high copper, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, zinc, and molybdenum concentrations.     

Multi-frequency seismic study of gas hydrate-bearing sediments in Lake Baikal,Siberia

In this paper we present and discuss the frequency-dependent behaviour of the acoustic characteristics of methane hydrate-bearing sediments in Lake Baikal, Siberia. Five different types of seismic sources (airgun-array, two types of single airguns, watergun and sparker) are used, encompassing a frequency bandwidth from 10 up to 1000 Hz. On low-frequency airgun-array data, the base of the hydrate stability zone (HSZ) is observed as a high-amplitude bottom-simulating reflection (BSR) with reversed polarity. The amplitude and continuity of the BSR decrease or even disappear on medium- to high-frequency data, a feature explained in terms of vertical and horizontal resolution. The increasing reflection amplitude of the BSR with increasing offset, the calculated reflection coefficient of the BSR and the occurrence of enhanced reflections below the BSR suggest the presence of free gas below the HSZ. The observation of some enhanced reflections extending above the BSR may be interpreted as an indication for free gas co-existing with hydrates within the HSZ. Amplitude blanking above the BSR is highly variable while the BSR itself appears to act as a low-pass frequency filter for medium- to high-frequency data.New single-channel airgun profiles provide the first seismic information across the Baikal Drilling Project (BDP-97) deep drilling site, at which hydrate-bearing sediments were retrieved at about 200 m above the base of the local HSZ. At the drilling site there are no seismic characteristics indicative of the presence of hydrates. Combination of the drilling and seismic information has allowed us to make a rough estimation of the volume of hydrates and carbon stored in the sediments of Lake Baikal, which lead us to conclude that the Lake Baikal gas hydrate reservoirs do not form a prospective energy resource.     

Seismic evidence of small-scale lacustrine drifts in Lake Baikal (Russia)

High resolution, single-channel seismic sparker profiles across the Akademichesky Ridge, an intra-basin structural high in Lake Baikal (Russia), reveal the presence of small sediment mounds and intervening moats in the upper part of the sedimentary cover. Such features interrupt the generally uniform and even acoustic facies and are not consistent with the hemipelagic sedimentation, which is expected on such an isolated high and which would produce a uniform sediment drape over bottom irregularities. The influence of turbidity currents is excluded since the ridge is an isolated high elevated more than 600-1000 m above adjacent basins. The mounded seismic facies, including migrating sediment waves and non-depositional/erosional incisions, strongly suggest that sediment accumulation was controlled by bottom-current activity. We interpret the mounds as small-scale (< few tens of km² in area) lacustrine drifts. Four basic types of geometry are identified: 1) slope-plastered patch sheets; 2) patch drifts; 3) confined drifts; 4) fault-controlled drifts. The general asymmetry in the sedimentary cover of the ridge, showing thicker deposits on the NW flank, and the common location of patch drifts on the northeast side of small basement knolls indicate that deposition took preferentially place at the lee sides of obstacles in a current flowing northward or sub-parallel to the main contours. Deep-water circulation in the ridge area is not known in detail, but there are indications that relatively cold saline water masses are presently flowing out of the Central Basin and plunging into the deep parts of the North Basin across the ridge, a process that appears to be driven mainly by small differences in salinity. We infer that the process responsible for the observed bottom-current-controlled sedimentary features has to be sought in these large-scale water-mass movements and their past equivalents. The age of the onset of the bottom-current-controlled sedimentation, based on an average sedimentation rate of 4.0 cm/ky, is roughly estimated to be as least as old as 3.5 Ma, which is generally regarded as the age of the onset of the last major tectonic pulse of rift basin development in the Baikal region.     

Faunal communities at sites of gas- and oil-bearing fluids in Lake Baikal

Macro- and meiofaunal communities were examined at four geomorphologically distinct sites with different gas- and oil-bearing fluid characteristics in the northern, central and southern basins of Lake Baikal. All sites had elevated concentrations of bicarbonate, nitrate, sulphate and chloride ions in pore fluids, with highest values at the Frolikha vent. Elevated levels of iron ions were found in pore waters of the St. Petersburg methane seep and the Gorevoy Utes oil seep. The chemical composition of pore waters at the Malenky mud volcano was similar to that reported in earlier work. Consistent with published data, the Frolikha vent (northern basin) and the St. Petersburg methane seep (central basin) were characterised by methane of mixed genesis (thermogenic + biogenic), whereas the methane source was mainly thermogenic at the Gorevoy Utes oil seep (central basin) and biogenic at the Malenky mud volcano (southern basin). In contrast to marine seep ecosystems, the macrofauna was dominated only by amphipods, giant planarians and oligochaetes, whereas bivalves were absent; the meiofauna was similar to its marine counterpart, being dominated by nematodes, cyclops, harpacticoids and ostracods. A statistically significant positive relationship was revealed between faunal abundance and the availability of bacterial mats on seep sediments. Moreover, ANOVA tests showed significant increases in both meiozoobenthic and macrozoobenthic densities at “hot spot” vent/seep sites relative to discharge-free reference sites. The isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen at various trophic levels of these benthic vent/seep communities was found to differ markedly from that reported by earlier studies for the pelagic and other benthic food webs in Lake Baikal. As in marine seeps, the macrofauna had variable isotopic signatures. Light δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values suggest the utilization of chemosynthetically fixed and/or methane-derived organic matter. By contrast, the heavy δ¹³C signatures of some mobile amphipods likely reflect consumption of photosynthetically derived carbon. These findings would at least partly explain why Lake Baikal is a notable outlier in global temperature–biodiversity patterns, exhibiting the highest biodiversity of any lake worldwide but at an extremely cold average temperature.     

cDNA cloning of an aryl hydrocarbon receptor from Baikal seals (Phoca sibirica)

Species differences in sensitivity to related planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAH) add significant uncertainty in assessing the ecological risk to aquatic mammals. To investigate mechanisms of PHAH sensitivity in aquatic mammals, we cloned and sequenced the cDNA of Baikal seal aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), an intracellular protein that initiates PHAH-mediated effects. The Baikal seal AHR cDNA has an open reading frame of 843 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 94.6 kDa. Comparison of AHR amino acid sequences indicated a high degree of sequence conservation (98%) between Baikal and harbor seals. The high conservation of AHRs between Baikal and harbor seals indicates that these seals express AHR proteins closely related structurally. In our previous report (Kim & Hahn, 2002), the dioxin-binding affinity of the harbor seal AHR was at least as high as that of the AHR from a dioxin-sensitive strain of mice, suggesting that this seal species may be sensitive to PHAH effects. This implies that Baikal seal may also be sensitive to dioxin effects.     

Gas hydrate accumulation in the subsurface sediments of Lake Baikal (Eastern Siberia)

Gas hydrate (GH) accumulation in subsurface sediments was discovered at shallow depth within the Malenkiy vent structure in the southern basin of Lake Baikal. The hydrated gas consists mainly of methane. Interstitial water chemistry indicates that water discharged within the study area is enriched with salts, especially Ca, Cl, and SO₄ ions. The ascending water delivering gas into the GH stability zone is thought to be the main GH-forming fluid. Geochemical data together with noble gas isotopic ratios suggest that the GH in the subsurface sediments of Lake Baikal originated from a deep source of water with anomalous composition assumed to be derived from buried paleolakes. As a whole, the GH accumulation corresponds to the area of the Malenkiy structure and is represented by several small-scale GH occurrences coincident with local fluid discharge manifestations. It is filtrational in origin, related to fluid flow features and controlled by tectonic setting.     

Molecular and isotopic characteristics of gas hydrate-bound hydrocarbons in southern and central Lake Baikal

We investigated the molecular composition (methane, ethane, and propane) and stable isotope composition (methane and ethane) of hydrate-bound gas in sediments of Lake Baikal. Hydrate-bearing sediment cores were retrieved from eight gas seep sites, located in the southern and central Baikal basins. Empirical classification of the methane stable isotopes (δ¹³C and δD) for all the seep sites indicated the dominant microbial origin of methane via methyl-type fermentation; however, a mixture of thermogenic and microbial gases resulted in relatively high methane δ¹³C signatures at two sites where ethane δ¹³C indicated a typical thermogenic origin. At one of the sites in the southern Baikal basin, we found gas hydrates of enclathrated microbial ethane in which ¹³C and deuterium were both highly depleted (mean δ¹³C and δD of –61.6‰ V-PDB and –285.4‰ V-SMOW, respectively). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C₂ δ¹³C–δD classification for hydrate-bound gas in either freshwater or marine environments.     

电磁海流计传感器性能的比较

电磁海流计在海洋调查和研究中起着非常重要的作用。当前被广泛应用的电磁海流计的传感器基本采用三种不同的结构形式：球形结构、盘形结构和环形结构。而三种结构形式的传感器具有各自不同的技术参数和性能。文章对不同结构形式电磁海流计传感器的特点进行简要的比较和分析。我们在研制和使用电磁海流计时，应根据不同的设计要求和特定的应用环境和条件，选择适当形式结构的传感器，力求得到良好的结果。     

Atypical heat-flow near gas hydrate irregularities and cold seeps in the Baikal Rift Zone

In this paper, we address the irregular behaviour and geometry of the gas hydrate stability zone (HSZ) inferred from reflection seismic data in relation to heat-flow measurements. The study area lies in the hanging wall of the Posolsky fault in the Southern Baikal Basin (SBB). Side-scan sonar imagery already revealed an undulating antithetic active fault structure and several isolated active vent structures. Remarkably, these fluid discharge structures occur only where the base of the hydrate stability zone (BHSZ), as inferred from seismic reflection profiles, is fluctuating and discontinuous, independent of lake floor morphology. The correlation between the interpreted BHSZ and heat-flow data across the Malenki seep is reasonable. On a seismic profile south of the fluid escape features, the BHSZ is expressed as an oscillatory, but continuous reflection, and shows poor correlation with heat-flow measurements. In nearly all cases, measured heat-flow exceeds inferred heat-flow. Additionally, the local inferred minima are anomalously low compared to the expected background values in the SBB. These observations suggest that the present-day hydrate accumulation and its (meta-)stability are more complicated than originally suspected. The limited area of these anomalies, their amplitudes and their occurrence in the immediate vicinity of faults and fluid escape features suggest that fluid convection cells disturb local gas hydrate stability conditions.     

贝加尔湖KUKUY地区两种结构气体水合物的形成过程

贝尔加湖首次发现气体水合物是1997年贝加尔钻探计划（BDP）在盆地南部海底深度121m和161m处,气体成分主要是甲烷,8δC值范围为-68．2‰～-57．6‰,表明这些气体水合物是微生物成因的。最近,在盆地南部的Malenky泥火山和盆地中部的Kukuy K-2地区海底发现气体水合物,这些站点位于抬升地形带上,并且具有流体溢出口特征。     

海洋可控源电磁数据预处理方法研究

海洋可控源电磁法是探测海底油气资源和矿产资源的一种新兴的海洋地球物理勘探方法。本文提出了一套海洋可控源电磁数据预处理方法,包括时频转换和预白处理、时钟漂移补偿、随机噪音估计、叠加窗口选择、方位校正、椭圆极化分析、主轴旋转以及合并航道数据等等,并用实例详细说明了各种处理方法及其应用效果。     

水下电磁探测技术的发展现状

首先阐述了水下电磁探测技术的现实意义,之后介绍了国外水下电磁探测、预警系统的研究现状,以及电场传感器、磁场传感器的性能指标。通过对国内水下电磁探测技术的发展历程以及与国外的差距进行分析,指出未来水下电磁探测系统集成化、智能化、系统化、无人化、多元化和网络化的发展趋势。     

Thermal anomalies associated with shallow gas hydrates in the K-2 mud volcano, Lake Baikal

Thermal measurements and hydrate mapping in the vicinity of the K-2 mud volcano in Lake Baikal have revealed a particular type of association of thermal anomalies (29–121?mW?m^–2) near hydrate-forming layers. Detailed coring within K-2 showed that hydrates are restricted to two distinct zones at sub-bottom depths exceeding 70–300?cm. Temperature data from stations with hydrate recovery and degassing features all display low thermal gradients. Otherwise, the thermal gradients within the mud volcano are generally increased. These findings imply a more complicated thermal regime than often assumed for mud volcanoes, with important roles for both fluids and hydrates. The coexistence of neighbouring low and high thermal anomalies is interpreted to result from discharging and recharging fluid activity, rather than hydrate thermodynamics. It is suggested that hydrates play a key role in controlling the fluid circulation pattern at an early stage. At a later stage, the inflow of undersaturated lake water would favour the dissolution of structure I hydrates and the formation of structure II hydrates, the latter having been observed on top of structure I hydrates in the K-2 mud volcano.     

Distribution and morphology of mud volcanoes and other fluid flow-related lake-bed structures in Lake Baikal, Russia

New high-resolution multibeam bathymetry data recorded in 2009 in the deepest lake in the World, Lake Baikal, Siberia, enabled a better understanding of the morphology of ten known lake-bed structures—the Bolshoy, Malenki, Malyutka and Stari mud volcanoes in the South Baikal Basin, the K1–4 structures in the Selenga delta, and the Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg structures in the Central Baikal Basin—and also the discovery of 29 new lake-bed structures. These new structures are the S1, Tolstiy, mTSG and S2 in the South Baikal Basin, the P1–P4, P6–P19 and K5–K8 in the Selenga delta accommodation zone, and the C1, C3 and C4 edifices in the Central Baikal Basin. In all, 39 positive relief structures were identified and their large-scale distribution mapped. Based on their typical shape, the observation of high-reflectivity areas on side-scan sonar data records, and evidence of feeder channels on subsurface data, these structures can be classified as mud volcanoes. This has already been confirmed in other publications for the Bolshoy, Malenki and K2 structures, by the recovery of mud breccias in sediment cores. Most structures occur on or near faults and have orientations parallel with the major faults and main stress orientations in the basins, suggesting a strong structural control on the formation of the mud volcanoes. Their slopes are generally steeper than 5°, consistent with interpretation as mud cones formed by high-viscosity, stiff mud plugs. Only few structures appear to be characterised by a crater, in which case this apparent crater seems to be formed by the coalescence of several single cones, leaving a depression in the centre. Some structures have a moat, which has probably an erosional origin. Furthermore, three depressions have been found, named P5, P20 and C2, which are suggested to be pockmarks.     

Freshening of near-bottom waters in Lake Baikal triggered by the Mw6.2 Kultuk earthquake of August 2008

In September 2008, freshening of near-bottom water and an increase in concentration of suspended particles were observed in the western part of southern Lake Baikal. The reduction in the content of total dissolved solids was about 0.4–0.7?mg/kg (0.7?%), and average suspended particle concentration increased strongly to 6–9?mg/l, the background value being 0.2?mg/l. The spatial distribution of these waters was virtually identical to the focal area of the M_w6.2 Kultuk earthquake that occurred on 27 August 2008. It is suggested that there was a causal relationship between these two phenomena. Freshening of a significant amount (about 20?km³) of near-bottom waters was plausibly caused by an input of poorly mineralized pore waters from bottom sediments as a result of dissociation of methane gas hydrates suspected to occur in the area. The energy radiated by the earthquake source was four orders of magnitude smaller than that needed to explain the observed freshening of near-bottom waters. This points to other mechanisms leading to seismic-induced sediment failure and possible subsequent hydrate dissociation in the case of the Kultuk earthquake.     

Heat and mass transfer effects during displacement of deepwater methane hydrate to the surface of Lake Baikal

The present paper focuses on heat and mass exchange processes in methane hydrate fragments during in situ displacement from the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) to the water surface of Lake Baikal. After being extracted from the methane hydrate deposit at the lakebed, hydrate fragments were placed into a container with transparent walls and a bottom grid. There were no changes in the hydrate fragments during ascent within the GHSZ. The water temperature in the container remained the same as that of the ambient water (~3.5 °С). However, as soon as the container crossed the upper border of the GHSZ, first signs of hydrate decomposition and transformation into free methane gas were observed. The gas filled the container and displaced water from it. At 300 m depth, the upper and lower thermometers in the container simultaneously recorded noticeable decreases of temperature. The temperature in the upper part of the container decreased to –0.25 °С at about 200 m depth, after which the temperature remained constant until the water surface was reached. The temperature at the bottom of the container reached –0.25 °С at about 100 m depth, after which it did not vary during further ascent. These observed effects could be explained by the formation of a gas phase in the container and an ice layer on the hydrate surface caused by heat consumption during hydrate decomposition (self-preservation effect). However, steady-state simulations suggest that the forming ice layer is too thin to sustain the hydrate internal pressure required to protect the hydrate from decomposition. Thus, the mechanism of self-preservation remains unclear.