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

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 structur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geo-marine letters 2012-12, Vol.32 (5-6), p.383-394
Main Authors: Cuylaerts, Myriam, Naudts, Lieven, Casier, Robbert, Khabuev, Andrey V., Belousov, Oleg V., Kononov, Eugene E., Khlystov, Oleg, De Batist, Marc
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Freshwater
Geochemistry
Geology
Lakes
Limnology
Marine
Natural gas
Original
Volcanoes
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0276-0460
1432-1157