ИСТИНА

Lake Baikal is a part of large intracontinental rift zone. Baikal sedimentary infill is more than 7 km thick and was developed under predominantly extensional tectonics. Large number of faults of different geometry is imaged by several seismic surveys carried out in the region. The fault systems serve as fluid discharge pathways from deep sources to surface. A number of active seepage structures were mapped and studied during the Class@Baikal expeditions along the major fault system of the Central Baikal basin, which extends in SE-NW direction over 40 km and was named recently as the Gydratny Fault. Irregular distribution of these seeps, differences in their morphology and activity rate imply a variable permeability of the fault and different characteristics of migration pathways along its segments.