Lake Teletskoye (; ) is the largest lake in the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

and the

Altai Republic The Altai Republic, also known as the Gorno-Altai Republic, is a republic of Russia located in southern Siberia. The republic borders Kemerovo Oblast to the north, Khakassia to the northeast, Tuva to the east, Altai Krai to the west, as well ...

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 ...

, and has depth up to 325 meters. Situated at a height of above the sea level, the lake is long and wide and lies between the mountain ridges Korbu and Al-tyntu, on the junction of the Sailughem Mountains and the

Western Sayans The Sayan Mountains (, ; ) are a mountain range in southern Siberia spanning southeastern Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva and Khakassia) and northern Mongolia. Before the rapid expansion of the Tsardom of Russia, the mou ...

. Its surface area is ; however, due to its considerable depth (), the lake contains no less than of fresh water. Annual water level fluctuations are estimated at some 348 sm. The lake transparency is high, with the visibility of the lake water ranging from six to fourteen meters. About 70 rivers and 150 temporary streams flow into the lake, the largest of them,

Chulyshman River The Chulyshman (; , ''Çolışman'') is a river in Altai Republic in Russia. The river is long, and its drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth ...

, supplying more than half of the lake's water. The lake is drained through a single outlet, the

Biya River The Biya (; , ''Biy'') is a river in the Altai Republic and Altai Krai in Russia. At its confluence with the Katun, downstream of the city Biysk, the Ob is formed. The Biya is 301 km long; the area of its drainage basin A drainage bas ...

, which, after its confluence with the

Katun River The Katun ( ; ) is a river in the Altai Republic and the Altai Krai of Russia. It forms the Ob as it joins the Biya some southwest of Biysk.

, forms one of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

's largest rivers, the

Ob River The Ob (; ) is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia, and with its tributary the Irtysh forms the world's seventh-longest river system, at . The Ob forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins in the Alta ...

. The lake is surrounded by mountains of 600–1,300 m in the northern part and about in the southern part. Lake Teletskoe is included into Altaisky Nature Reserve. That reserve along with the

Katun Nature Reserve Katun Nature Reserve () (also Katunsky) is a Russian zapovednik (strict nature reserve) located in the highlands of the central Altai Mountains of south Siberia. The Katun River runs down through a valley in the reserve, serving as the primary so ...

and the Ukok Plateau Nature Refuge were listed as one of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Natural Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage ...

s under the name "

Golden Mountains of Altai Golden Mountains of Altai is the name of an UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of the Altai and Katun Natural Reserves, Lake Teletskoye, Belukha Mountain, and the Ukok Plateau. As stated in the UNESCO description of the site, "the region ...

". The

Altai people The Altai people (, ), also the Altaians (, ), are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group of indigenous peoples of Siberia mainly living in the Altai Republic, Russia. Several thousand of the Altaians also live in Mongolia (Altai Mountains) and C ...

have a legend about the name of the lake in their language, which means Golden Lake. According to this story, once, a rich man had an ingot of gold, which he wanted to use to buy food. He travelled around Altai, but could not find anyone who would sell him any food. Eventually, he threw the gold into the lake. This legend is the origin of the name.

Research

There is a field base of Institute of Taxonomy and Ecology of Animals () by the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences () at the northwest part of the lake, about 6 km from head water of

. Therein studies are performed of the insect-eaters and rodents of

, helminthofauna of vertebrates in biocenoses of taiga, ichthyocenose and animal plankton of Lake Teletskoye. Near the base there is located the research-and-production sport-and-sanitary base of

Gorno-Altaisk State University Gorno-Altaisk State University was founded in 1949 as the Pedagogical Institute. It is located in Gorno-Altaisk, Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries an ...

Tomsk State University The National Research Tomsk State University, TSU () is a public research university located in Tomsk, Russia. The university, which opened in 1888, was the first university in the Asian part of Russia and, in practice, the first Russian univ ...

has been conducting scientific research in the area for more than 50 years. Ecologists, geologists, and archeologists from Institute of Water and Ecological Problems () the Siberian Division of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

from the Institute of Water and Ecological Problems spend many years working here to study the lake and surrounding area. Geomorphologists and geologists scrutinize geological structure of Lake Teletskoye, its paleogeography, age, and origin. It has been known for a long time that there are

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in placers and

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

deposits in the Altai. The Geomorphologists from

works in the Teletskoye geology-prospecting detachment searching for gold-placers. They managed to establish a new search criterion for a placer. The base for the discovery were the palaeoglaciological studies during the last few years and theoretical models of the diluvial morpholithogenesis. The content of the precious component is everywhere much higher than the lowest accepted industrial standard, sometimes it's tremendous. The investigators carried out large-scale exploration routes on vast territories near watersheds of the upper reaches of all the rivers in the northern and western parts of the Teletskoye Lake basin. These explorations included studies of exposures, boring of prospect-holes, pits and

hollow Hollow may refer to: Natural phenomena *Hollow, a low, wooded area, such as a copse * Hollow (landform), a small vee-shaped, riverine type of valley *Tree hollow, a void in a branch or trunk, which may provide habitat for animals Arts, entertai ...

wells (up to 15 m deep). The results of these investigations let us speak about the regularity and reliability of the new criterion. The first 14C-method data for the layered

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

s on the flat watersheds showed the age of 15 thousand years and younger. This important fact leads to an unavoidable conclusion about the youth of the Teletskoje Lake depression – the post-glacial age of “the last cutting” during the pre-glacial (

Late Quaternary The Holocene () is the current geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Qu ...

)

peneplain In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage of peneplain is meant to imply the representation of a near-final (or ...

References

* Малолетко А. М. ''Телецкое озеро по исследованиям''. 1973—1975 гг. / Изд. 2, перераб. — Томск, 2009. — 234 с. * Николаева Н. А. ''Эхо песен Алтын-Кёля. Сказка''. Барнаул:ООО «Принт-инфо», 2005.-128с.;1000 экз. * Дулькейт, Тигрий Георгиевич. ''Телецкое озеро в легендах и былях''. 2-е изд. Бийск: НИЦ БиГПИ, 1999. — 160 с. * Будников А. Л., Рудой, Алексей Николаевич. Дилювий Северо-Восточного Алтая: Новые данные // «Научные чтения памяти. Селиверстов, Юрий Петрович (Селиверстовские чтения)». — СПб, 2009. — С. 399–405. * Будников А. Л., Рудой А. Н. Новые находки ленточных глин на территории Северо-Восточного Алтая // Материалы Всероссийского совещания по изучению четвертичный период — Новосибирск, 2009. 19-23 окт. 2009. — С. 94–100.
''Будников А. Л., Рудой А. Н.'' Дилювиально-аккумулятивные образования Северо-Восточного Алтая: новые данные

Notes

External links

"Climate, ice, water, landscapes". Фотогалерея (более 300 фотографий) экспедиций Томского государственного университета в бассейн Телецкого озера 2008-2010 годов.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teletskoye Lakes of the Altai Republic LTeletskoye South Siberian Mountains