Lake El'gygytgyn ( Russian and Chukchi: Эльгыгытгын) is an impact crater lake located in the

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukotka (russian: Чуко́тка), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug,, ''Čukotkakèn avtonomnykèn okrug'', is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian ...

in northeast

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

, about southeast of Chaunskaya Bay. The word "Elgygytgyn" means "white lake" in the

Chukchi language Chukchi , also known as Chukot, is a Chukotko–Kamchatkan language spoken by the Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The language is closely related to Koryak. Chukchi, Koryak, Kerek, A ...

. The lake is of particular interest to scientists because it has never been covered by

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s. This has allowed the uninterrupted build-up of of

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand ...

at the bottom of the lake, recording information on prehistoric

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Geography

Lake El'gygytgyn is located in the Anadyr Plateau, part of the Anadyr Highlands. It is drained to the southeast by the Enmyvaam, a tributary of the Belaya. It is approximately in diameter and has a maximum depth of . The lake is centered within an

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...

with a rim diameter of that formed 3.6 million years ago during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Zhamanshin as the source of the young Australasian strewnfield.

Scientific drilling

In late 2008 and early 2009, an international team from the US (Dr.

Julie Brigham-Grette Julie Brigham-Grette is a glacial geologist and a professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she co-directs the Joseph Hartshorn Quaternary Laboratory. Her research expertise is in glacial geology ...

), Germany (Dr. Martin Melles), Russia (Dr. Pavel Sergeevich Minuyk) and Austria ( Dr. Christian Koeberl) conducted a drilling program targeting three holes in El'gygytgyn Lake. The resulting cores are designated ICPD Site 5011-1 and 5011-3. This co-sponsored by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), with funding also provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), the Russian Academy of Sciences Far East Branch (RAS FEB), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMWF).

Fauna

The conditions in the El'gygytgyn lake are extremely severe for fish life. Even so, there are three species permanently inhabiting the lake's harsh aquatic environment. These are three types of

char Char may refer to: People * Char Fontane, American actress * Char Margolis, American spiritualist * René Char (1907–1988), French poet *The Char family of Colombia: ** Fuad Char, Colombian senator ** Alejandro Char Chaljub, mayor of Barranquill ...

: ''Salvelinus boganidae'', '' S. elgyticus'' (Small-mouth char) and '' Salvethymus svetovidovi'' (long-finned char). The two latter species are endemic to the El'gygytgyn lake. The golets (''Salvelinus alpinus'', russian: голец) has been introduced recently. Fish species in the lake are adapted to its very cold waters, which are generally just above the freezing point, and spend most of the year in total darkness. The surface is frozen for about 10 months of the year. It may start to melt in the summer, but some years it never fully thaws.Arctic char ''(Salvelinus alpinus)'' in the lake
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References

External links

Dr. Matt Nolan at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

PhysOrg.com Phys.org is an online science, research and technology news aggregator offering briefs from press releases and reports from news agencies (a form of journalism sometimes pejoratively called churnalism). The website also produces its own science ...

.
NASA Earth Observatory

''Haltia E. M.'', ''Nowaczyk N. R.'' Magnetostratigraphy of sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn ICDP Site 5011-1: paleomagnetic age constraints for the longest paleoclimate record from the continental Arctic, 2014.
{{Authority control Impact craters of Russia Elgygytgyn Pliocene Landforms of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Impact craters of the Arctic Impact crater lakes

Geography

Scientific drilling

Fauna

See also

References

External links