July, 30 2010

Expedition of P.K. Kozlov

In 1845 Tsar Nicholas I founded the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, which started organsing large-scale research and exploration

expeditions with broad and complex objectives.

Various departments and committees were created within the Society, conducting research in specialised, quite narrow branches of geography. The first to be established were Departments of General Geography, Geography of Russia, Ethnography, and Statistics. They were followed by Committees on Mathematical and Physical Geography.

Creation of these departments helped considerably improve the quality of research, for there appeared a means of coordinating the work of all scientists and realising to the full their potential, so much needed in the then underexplored Russia.

The Society was responsible not only for organising expeditions, but also for finding sources to finance them. These funds were of great help, given the scale of upcoming research, the vastness of areas to be explored and harsh environmental conditions. Besides, even the most enthusiastic scientists couldn’t work just for the thrill of it – they had to earn money to support their families.

On November 17, 1851 the first Siberian branch of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society was launched in Irkutsk. Scientists started conducting research and organising expeditions in Siberia and near Lake Baikal.

A whole period of Lake Baikal and its littoral zone studies is connected with the distinguished natural scientists B.I. Dibovsky, A.L. Chekanovsky, I.D. Chersky and V.A. Godlevsky.

B.I. Dibovsky

B.I. Dibovsky

B.I. Dibovsky together with V.A. Godlevsky gave the first scientific explanation for water level fluctuations in Lake Baikal. In 1869 Dibovsky marked the first scale to measure high water levels. I.D. Chersky continued this work in 1877-1880. Studying the contours of the Lake, he marked 14 scales along the cliffs and made detailed descriptions of their location.

After seeing the rich Baikal fauna with his own eyes, Dibovsky thought that sporadic research was not sufficient and suggested organizing a permanent biological station at the Lake. It is he who is considered the founder of scientific studies of Lake Baikal. Between 1868 and 1971 Dibovsky and Godlevsky made stationary observations at Lake Baikal. Having conducted a thorough research into the local fauna, Dibovsky divided the species into two separate groups: the Baikal group, including endemic species, and the Siberian group, made up of species, inhabiting water reservoirs in the Baikal region.

By the end of the 19^th century, due to construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, geological and geographical research was conducted systematically. V.A. Obruchev carried out in-depth geological research at Lake Baikal, which made it possible to develop the theory of neotectonic crustal movements. He was the first to provide a comprehensive scientific explanation of the Baikal hollow origin, and put forward a well-grounded hypothesis of the Baikal flora and fauna origin.

In 1916, on the initiative of the Nature Protection Commission affiliated with the Russian Geographical Society the government adopted the first in Russia law on preserves and the first country’s preserve – Barguzinsky – was established. This effort helped preserve the unique taiga forests in the Eastern Baikal region, as well as the taiga’s “perl”- the Barguzin sable.

Between 1928 and 1933 G.Y. Vereshchagin (from the Western Siberia branch of the Russian Geographical Society) published articles, putting forward tentative hypothesis on the marine origin of the Baikal fauna. Altogether he published 286 scientific works, including the popular science essay “Baikal”.

Vereshchagin took part in the integrated hydrobiological research, conducted by the Lake Baikal Limnological Station and the Institute of Hydrobiology, which was highly praised at the 4^th International Limnological Congress in Rome in 1927. Vereshchagin was awarded a medal and a diploma.

Professor M.M. Kozhov

Professor M.M. Kozhov

The leading Baikal authority in his contemporaries’ opinion was V.V. Lamakin, who followed in the footsteps of I.D. Chersky and A.L. Chekanovsky. He considered the greatest challenge in the studies of Lake Baikal to be the Lake’s origin. He assumed that the Lake was formed as a result of the horizontal drift of the Siberian platform to the north-west. Lamakin produced maps of the landscape and quaternary deposits in the Baikal area, as well as numerous artistic photographs of high scientific

value.

In the 1930s, Professor M.M. Kozhov consolidated the data from all the lake’s fauna research, conducted at the Lake Baikal Limnological Station, in a book called “Biology of Lake Baikal”.

In 1983, L.G. Kolotilo and A.I. Sulimov, members of the Pacific Fleet Hydrographic Expedition registered the maximum depth of Lake Baikal at 1,642 metres. In the course of the expedition, scientists obtained new data on the lake’s bottom morphology and conducted physiographic regionalisation of the lake.

The Russian Geographical Society has been taking an active interest in the Baikal Lake region, and has been working towards preservation of this unique natural site, which has no equivalent in the world.