GEOECOLOGICAL STUDIES OF LAKE BAIKAL

Abstract

A geoecological study of Lake Baikal has been carried out within the framework of two joint Soviet-American expeditions, in August and September 1988. The main task of these research was to obtain data on the gas and geochemical characteristics of the bottom layer of water and upper layer of sediments, the vertical and horizontal areal distribution of adenosine triphosphate (ATF) in the lake water, and the distribution of six simultaneously measured gas components (hydrocarbon gases, helium, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen) in the environment next to the lake bottom. New data were obtained. The gasgeochemical measurements were made primarily in the deep-water parts of Lake Baikal, using special sampling instruments, as were the measurements of ATP, its vertical distribution was studied both separately by depth horizons, including the bottom layer of water, and in two layers - the uppermost 0-200 m layer and the bottom layer up to 120 m above the lake bottom - at the deep-water stations, and throughout the water at the shallow-water stations.