Posted on 07/28/2008 6:47:03 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The two Russian submersibles which dived to the sea-bed beneath the North Pole last year are now attempting to reach the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Mir One and Mir Two will try to measure the maximum depth of the world's deepest lake.
A preliminary dive to test the equipment under water was postponed on Saturday because of bad weather.
Research work on the bottom of the lake is scheduled to begin on July 29. Scientists intend to go as deep as 1,700 metres to study the tectonics of Lake Baikal and to inspect archaeological artefacts. The operation, which will last till mid-September, will also provide data for geological, chemical and biological studies.
Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia is estimated to be 25 million years old. It contains around 23,000 cubic metres of fresh water - about 20 per cent of the world's fresh water and 90 per cent of Russia's. The majority of flora and fauna of the lake are unique to the area.
Scientists are still divided about how the lake originated.
(Excerpt) Read more at russiatoday.ru ...
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Lake”
23,000 cubic metres of fresh water - about 20 per cent of the world's fresh water and 90 per cent of Russia's.Yeah, that isn't even close to right. :') It's 23,000 cubic kilometers of water (estimate). The Amazon basin has about half the fresh water in the world (and neither figure counts freshwater ice in Antarctica and Greenland, if memory serves), so the 90 per cent of Russia's water is probably too low?
It would be very cool to see what they come up with in the way of archeological artifacts.
I hope the sub doesn't have linoleum floors like the sub Basehart used to drive.
Big hole in ground filled with water. Mystery solved... ;-)
How the big hole in the ground originated, however, I don't know. Maybe subterranean water channels undermined the integrity of the foundation for an entire area, and eventually the world's largest sinkhole turned into the world's largest freshwater lake.
23,000 cubic kilometers is 1000 times 1000 times 1000 cubic 23,000 cubic meters. It is a billion times greater, not 1000.
My thought as well. Very deep and cold water should be an excellent preservative. From the photos posted to Google Earth, it has an eerie, wild beauty.
That was a curious detail in the article. I’m not too sure (for one thing) that the lake is 25 million years old, but regardless, how far down will they be looking? Also, if the intent is to look on the bottom for ancient artifacts washed in when the big glacial dams let go and cubic miles of meltwater tore lose everything in their path and dumped it into the overflowing Baikal, wouldn’t it make more sense to look upstream? ;’)
That line struck me immediately as a mistake in the text. Am I misunderstanding something?
A meter is roughly 3 feet. 23,000 cubic metres would be about 450 feet on a side.
In the case of North America, between the glacial periods and the periods where the ocean covered much of the land, IMO, most evidence of former inhabitants and their way of life would have been scrubbed from existence.
Thanks!
Cube root 23,000 meters=28.4386698 meters
One kilometer=1000 meters; 1000x23,000=23,000,000 kilometers
Cube root 23,000,000=284.436698 meters
SORRY:
Cube root 23,000 meters=28.4386698 meters
One kilometer=1000 meters; 1000x23,000=23,000,000 meters
Cube root 23,000,000=284.436698 meters
I have my own little artifact taken from the shores of Lake Baikal. A piece of wood? A shell portion? I don’t know, but I treasure this little bit of something from this interesting lake, even tho it is worth only something to me -——— like memories of a great trip.
Believe you should be using cubes, not cube roots. A cubic kilometer is 1000 meters long, 1000 meters wide, and 1000 meters deep. Therefore each cubic kilometer = 1000 X 1000 X 1000 (1 Billion) cubic meters. Actually 23,000 cubic kilometers would be 23 Trillion cubic meters.
Then the cube root would be 28,443.6698 meters; how many lakes are more than 1,000 meters deep?
How big a surface area is this lake in question?
I may be missing something, but I don’t see what the cube root has to do with this calculation.
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