Comments on: Journey To The Bottom Of Lake Baikal

By: Maven

Maven — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:51:55 +0000

Any follow-ups on this?

By: dogu4

dogu4 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:35:15 +0000

I find it hard to believe that the exploration is about oil. It’s much easier to explore on dry land and besides the geologic history of the lake indicates that its not the kind of basin in which entrapment is likely. Gas hydrates, sure and even likely, but not likely to be a good place to begin commercial harvesting when far easier concentrations occur in other large deep marine situations, but oil? Unlikely to be particularly in a tectonically rifting situation. Never the less, the other threats from modern industrial technologies and economies are real and should provoke some concern from those who value the natural historiy value of this lake in particular.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:18:15 +0000

This is fascinating. Lake Baikal is really quite an amazing, unique, and somewhat mysterious ecosystem. I am very much looking forward to hearing about any new findings these gentlemen come up with.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:13:55 +0000

That lake has something more valuable than oil or gas, which will become even more precious in the years to come: fresh water.

By: Munnin

Munnin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:26:53 +0000

Wow, very cool! I hope we’ll eventually get to see at least some of the photos and video that they shoot. I’d love to see what the view out those windows is like; especially once they get down below the previously explored depths.

It seems to me unlikely that they’d be looking for extractable oil, considering Putin’s re-routing of a pipeline to keep from accidentally polluting the lake. But anything’s possible in the realm of geopolotics and economics, I suppose. And it certainly may be that Putin stands to gain some political clout for him and his party through backing the expedition, but that doesn’t lessen my excitement about it, nor my interest in its findings.

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:02:13 +0000

I saw a brief item about this on BBC World News America late last night. Not much description aside from the very basic, but they did show the submersible being used. Pretty cool, I think, even if mostly searching for oil.

By: gkingdano

gkingdano — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:32:19 +0000

The OIL factor is probably the REAL reason for the expedition especially with the full backing of the top govt. backing and that this is the same guy who planted the flag on the arctic sea bottom to claim the sea for Russian oil expliotation. What I am really surprised at is that they have never done this before.

By: Ayala

Ayala — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:36:22 +0000

I think this is really exciting. I have always wanted to visit Lake Baikal (it will never happen). It is so beautiful and reports say the locals are so friendly. We found really strange aquatic life deep in the sea, so I don’t see why there won’t be strange and wonderful new creatures at the bottom of Lake Baikal.

By: Lightning Orb

Lightning Orb — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:28:04 +0000

I hope they find something really strange – be it sinister sturgeon, monstrous manatee, or something else altogether; cool article, thank you for the info

By: Spinach Village

Spinach Village — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:12:06 +0000

This is great.. except I too am nervous about the “Oil Factor”…
but wow this lake is deep huh? I hope they do find the Lake Baikal Monster… or atleast something new

i was cuckling reading this, as i kept thinking about Bill Murray in “The Life Aquatic”