The 1912 earthquake in South Baikal: traces in bottom sediments and gas release into the water column

Abstract

Abstract Large earthquakes took place in southern Cisbaikalia in the first half of 1912. They might have caused a mass release of gas (methane?) into the water column of Lake Baikal and the atmosphere near Sharyzhalgai station of the Circum-Baikal Railroad. This phenomenon was observed in August 1912 by the residents as rising water columns several meters high and reported in the regional press. To find traces of this event, core was recovered from bottom sediments at a depth of 1300 m in winter 2010. The depth interval 1–8.7 cm is a homogeneous layer, no more than 100 years old (210Pb dating). The sediments here are poor in SiO2biog but richer in Corg than the underlying sediments. Also, they are marked by a considerable content of terrestrial plant remains, a lower content of planktonic diatoms, and higher contents of benthic and ancient diatoms. These data indicate that the layer under study formed as a result of the 1912 earthquake, with a considerable contribution from the littoral and shallow-water zones of Lake Baikal.