Lake Chebarkul () is a
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
in
Chebarkulsky District,
Chelyabinsk Oblast
Chelyabinsk Oblast; , is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chel ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, on the slopes of the southern
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. . The town of
Chebarkul lies on its eastern shore, and
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...
, the
administrative center
An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located.
In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...
of Chelyabinsk Oblast, is located about to the northeast. The name of the lake, and the city of the same name, comes from
Turkic and means "Beautiful, colorful lake."
Mostly fed by
snowmelt from mountain streams, the lake freezes in November and stays icebound until April. The lake is the source of the Koelga River, which in turn flows into the Uvelka,
Uy,
Tobol,
Irtysh
The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob (river), Ob and is also the longest tributary in the world.
The river's source lies in the Altai Mountains, Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern p ...
, and
Ob Rivers. The Ob finally empties into the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
.
There are several wooded islands, including Grachev, Golets, the Ribatskies, and Korablik Islands. The Krutik, Marin and Nazarychev peninsulas extend into the lake. Rest homes and
sanatoria are located on the shores.
Lake Chebarkul is the largest of several lakes in the region, which collectively take on the name "Chebarkulsky lakes."
Fish that can be found in the lake include
tench
The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...
,
carp
The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...
,
crucian carp,
bream
Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...
,
pike, and
perch.
2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite impact
On 15 February 2013, local fishermen found a hole in the ice where a large fragment from the
2013 Russian meteor event likely struck the frozen lake. The hole was circular, and about across.
Police
The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
immediately cordoned off this site, as well as one other possible impact site in the area of the lake, but scientists and interested people streamed to the area to investigate.
In the days after the impact, black fragments of rock were found around the hole, which scientists from
Ural Federal University
Ural Federal University, named after the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, (Уральский федеральный университет имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина, ''Uralʹski ...
suspect are meteorite fragments, and composed of about 10% iron.
[ News story contains photographs of meteorite fragments.] Months later, divers found a large meteorite fragment on the lakebed, and it was dredged to the surface on October 16, 2013. This fragment weighed about .
Gallery
File:Chebarkul meteorite sample.jpg, Scientists found meteorite samples on the ice of frozen Lake Chebarkul.
File:Chebarkul meteorite sample on lake ice.jpg, The meteorite fragments are about 10% iron.
Further reading
Detailed Russian-language map of the Lake Chebarkul regionPhotos of the meteorite fragments
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chebarkul
Lakes of Chelyabinsk Oblast