The blue lake in Kabardino-Balkaria turned out to be deeper than it was thought. Mystery of nature

Today (December 6th, 2015) we went to the Blue Lakes (Kabardino-Balkaria). I've been downstairs a couple of times before. But I realized the moment of mystery and mystery of this lake only today .. It may be the deepest karst lake in the world .. But today, in the age when human expeditions to Mars are planned, right here, there is a lake for which even depth ... and many other important things .. and in general, it seems that there are more mysteries in it than clues ...

Today I happened to take a walk around the neighborhood around them. On the way above the upper lake. In search of a dry lake. Just now, while driving, along the way, I found out that there is a huge funnel here, from where the water left. This is one of the lakes, the fourth. Like vaguely-approximately known way. Like, you have to walk all day and all that. Mystery - bribed. Somewhere to the end, and then through the forest along the path. There was really nothing to catch the card. And that means - cheers-campaign! As far as the car was able to reach, it reached, and then with its feet - as far as the feet could and desired to reach. At the end of the plateau, not far from the headwaters of the Zhemtala River, there was a turn back. Route track

In the forest - red viburnum berries.
If you stop - complete silence and tranquility. The white slopes are combed with trees. Warm, the closer, the farther - the colder. It's great to watch how it fades into blue in space and gradually blends with the sky. It's great to watch along the way how nearby branches, or trees, cut distant branches and trees. How horses are scattered in the distance, dots on white. Black-and-reddish lambs and white lambs come round the turn into the snow, and nibble at the sparse December vegetation in the interstices of the snow. Somewhere two cows were lost, someone went and looked for them in the "field". On a distant plateau, a shepherd on a farm offered to make a fire, tea-may, but we had to return until dark. Although, of course, that special reality that is called “tea-mai”, “martoshka potatoes”, etc. deserves the most frantic immersion in it, and no less attention than all these mountains ... (coffee-mofe, gopher-muslik ... here with milk and pasta - it's a little more difficult to weave a thread)
























Zhemtala, Zaragizh, Aushiger, Urvan and Nalchik view from the plateau at the head of the river. Zhemtala


The sun began to be covered with clouds and the tops of nearby mountains. It was great highlighting the low clouds that flew in and began to show the space. It seems to be starting to get cold, the height here is about 1150 m, but still it's winter, sort of. But here, it still feels easier than in the Nalchik region, plus but wet now.










On the way to the car, the guys on the "field" also returned, drove past. They never found two cows. After descending to the main road, to the asphalt, I still wanted to stop by for five minutes to stand and look at the Blue Lake. Last year I came here on a bicycle from Nalchik, and there were nuts. Hazelnut. I looked. Found one nut. When the day is light and bright, the bottom is visible. But when it is already such an evening, it is not visible, but the lake turns into a perfect mirror. Previously, I somehow did not have time to feel the moment. Heard something about the unexplored. And then - imbued with the greatness of the moment. An unknown moment. The unknown, on the shore of which I now stand.


A person (the same me, for example) opening a laptop today, or receiving any answer on the Internet, practically does not allow the thought that something may be incomprehensible and unknown. Yes, some distant corners of space and all that. But this is how everything seems to be simple and understandable and studied (although often he studied only a certain list of familiar operations, actions and thoughts familiar to him). And here. You are standing on the shore of the lake. It is so small, if you look at the size of the mirror - 235 x 130 meters. And the depth... It is only known for certain that it is not less than 258 meters. What's at the bottom - no one knows. And where is it, this is the bottom. This is a karst lake, everything is not easy here with the bottom. It is a mine with sheer walls, formed due to karst processes - the destruction of rock by water. Even with what is known about it, it is the second deepest karst lake in the world. Nothing flows into the lake (terrestrial, in the sense). But everything flows out. Every day, about 70 million liters of water (7 million buckets) come out of it through the channel. It has nothing to do with the season. This is a constant value. The water temperature of the lake is the same throughout the year - about 9 degrees. It doesn't freeze. There are no fish here. Water is slightly mineralized. Transparency - exceptional - about 30 meters. Where the water enters the lake is unknown. It is only clear that from somewhere below, under pressure. The water level may fluctuate throughout the day. There are ideas that somewhere down there, the devil knows where, there is a cave (caves) where the inflow comes from. The influx occurs in any way - 70 million liters per day, at least. 0.8 cubic meters per second (lower karst floor, rich in water, and all that). There is also an idea that the shaft can go somewhere to the side, forming an inflection, and this can significantly increase the depth of the lake.


Tserik-Kol or Cherek-Kol. So it is called in Balkar. The lake is located right next to the road to Upper Balkaria, just a few meters from the asphalt. But even before the days of asphalt, it was kind of like a pretty walkable path. According to legend, many ambitious guys from Macedonian to Tamerlane could appear here. According to legend, some artifacts of those events can rest at the bottom. If you follow the logic, then this is quite legitimate. From time to time, divers find something on the little things, on the shelves and at the mouth of the lake (which is much wider than the mine itself). It is considered a reliable fact that in the 30s a truck with port wine fell into the lake. (However, I noticed that there are often many "reliable facts" here that are not actually documented anywhere, or it is impossible to find some weighty evidence of this). The lake is considered among the karst lakes the second deepest in the world, second only to Lake Cverno in Croatia. However, on the same Wikipedia in the Karst Lakes category it is not at all. And in some descriptions of such a device of the planet as "Karst Lakes" you will not find a word about it. But the same Wikipedia writes that Jacques Yves Cousteau was here and explored (it seems that this is another legend). There is a depth figure of 360 m (link to a very dubious source). This figure is a champion figure. Recently here at one holiday, when it came to the area of ​​Crimea, that he, they say, is twice the size of Kabardino-Balkaria in terms of area, heard a mini-dialogue:

Let's take a look at Wikipedia!
Yes, I do not believe these Wikipedias.

I increasingly come to the conclusion that you can only trust your eyes, ears and other body devices. The exception may be those who are attached to you. Literally, a rope.

At first I thought that they were unfair, these misunderstandings, and then I came to the conclusion that the lack of knowledge is great. This is potential .. As for the depth, by the way, many karst lakes (the same in Croatia, for example) experience quite strong fluctuations in the water level due to various underground or atmospheric processes, calculated in meters and tens of meters. Here, on the Blue Lake, the fluctuations are very weak. They exist, because the inflow processes are constantly going on, and nothing on earth is stable, but the outflow still regulates the professionalism of the lake.

I don't know... it seems like most people are more comfortable living when everything is predictable. securely. predetermined. when the path is known, when everything is clear.. when everything is categorized.. named.. voiced.. RATED...approved/not approved...put on the shelf...medal hung..curses hung...

But it all seems silly to me...

Here you are standing, and only 250 meters down - nothing is clear. 250 meters, you can run them in just half a minute. You can also rappel quite cheerfully. And here is the lake. And what is there at the bottom, where it is, how it is - IS NOT KNOWN ...

And all around is full of life. here - hychins, there - they sell knitted things. On the shore - a diving center. By the way, yes, in 2012, the Englishman Martin Robson plunged to a depth of 200 m, as I understand it - this is a record for this lake, no one got lower here. He wanted to find a cave from which water comes here, and in general, to figure out what it thinks down there. He spent about 9 hours underwater. And all this almost ended for him with the cessation of life processes. One member of that expedition, Andrei Rodionov, who acted as an operator, died.

Deep sea vehicle? (Do they exist? Has anyone seen them not on TV?) Probably expensive, pathetic, and no one really needs it. Although - "What are you talking about, we are constantly studying everything here and there!". Or maybe such a thing, like a quadcopter, for gopros, only underwater (I wonder if a quadcopter can do it under water? I found material that someone tried to turn it into a submarine)))

The blue lake system is four lakes. In any case, it is customary to consider them as something unified. Until this moment, I did not go on the road to the upper ones. And I had little idea what was there. Rumor has it that they are all connected underground. However, it seems that at least the upper one is more of an atmospheric origin than a harsh underground one. One of the four lakes is dry. Kol-Kechkhen. Water left it, leaving a small lake five meters deep at the bottom. This happens with karst lakes - the water in the funnel is kept due to the sediment accumulated at the bottom, above the main underground aquifer. In the case of tectonic troubles, the integrity of the shield deteriorates and the water leaves. As apparently happened in this case (according to rumors in 1931). In general, they are also called "failure" - water can leave, then after some time it can again fill the funnel, due to the same processes of formation of a sedimentary shield. Funnel Kol-Kechkhen - similar to the funnel of the lower lake - a karst mine, 177 m deep with sheer walls. But I later read this, and at that time the purpose of our trip was to find this lake, I heard about it for the first time, but it seems that somewhere you need to get to the end of the road and follow the path through the forest.

In general, when we asked the shepherds, on a distant plateau, about such a phenomenon as a dried-up karst lake, they said that there was no such thing here.

When I returned to the city and looked at the map, it turned out that we had gone too far in the wrong direction. And it is very close to the general location of the rest of the lakes. On the Internet - only a couple of photos are not very good. View from above. And one good

Scientists have measured the deepest karst lake in Russia. The main discovery that scientists managed to make is that the depth of the unique natural monument is 21 meters more than expected. However, according to researchers,this is clearly not the limitAnd the number is far from final. .

No one has done such a detailed research work that we have done before us. For example, we found a niche that goes towards the mountain range, which has yet to be explored, - said Nikolai Maksimovich, Deputy Director for Research, Natural Science Institute, Perm State National Research University.

Last fall, divers dived into the emerald-blue depths (the color of the lake is due to the high content of hydrogen sulfide) about 400 times. In the process of visual inspection, they managed to discover three previously unknown caves. Upon a detailed examination of one of them, the Marlin-350 underwater robot reached the lowest mark. Thus, it was possible to prove that Tserik-Kel is deeper by another 21 meters.

The fact is that the lake "lives", the landscape of its bottom and side slopes is constantly changing. The depth that the robot showed this time is far from the final result. If research continues, it may increase even more. I fully admit that Tserik-Kel will be officially recognized as the deepest karst lake in the world,” said the Executive Director of the Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Fokin.

In addition, the scientists of the Russian Geographical Society were able to confirm the source of "feeding" of Tserik-Kel, into which not a single river flows. By creating a 3D model based on sonar, they found out that water had been forcing its way out of the ground for many years.

Blue Lake (Tserik-Kel, Cherek-Kel)- a unique monument of nature, the second deepest freshwater reservoir in Russia after Lake Baikal. It is located surrounded by mountains in the picturesque Cherek Gorge at an altitude of 809 m above sea level. Here are five of the seven 5-thousanders of the Caucasus and the longest glacier in Europe. One of the oldest mountaineering camps in Russia, Bezengi, is also located here, where the legendary Soviet mountaineering was born.

Blue Lakes is a group of five karst lakes in the Cherek region of Kabardino-Balkaria. Located at the foot of a rocky ridge, from where the Cherek-Balkar gorge begins. The uniqueness of the Lower Blue Lake lies in the fact that with a relatively small surface (only 235x130 m), it has a depth of 258 meters. The surface water temperature in winter and summer is about +9.3C. Not a single stream or river flows into the lake, but about 70 million liters of water flows out daily. At the same time, the level of the lake is unchanged, which is explained by powerful underwater sources. The water is blue from the presence of hydrogen sulfide in it and the refraction of light rays in a deep pool.

Located at the entrance to the gorge, Blue Lake is a unique natural phenomenon, interesting not only for Kabardino-Balkaria, but also on a national scale. Lower Blue Lake has several names: Chirik-kel (balk.) - rotten (stinking) lake; Sherej-ana (kab.) - Cherek's mother; Psykhurei (kab.) - round water (lake), natural artesian well. The flora and fauna of the lake is very poor due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide.

There is a legend among the local population about the origin of this lake. Once on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria lived the fearless hero Bataraz, who defeated the evil dragon in a duel. And when the dragon collapsed, a hole formed in the mountains, which was filled with water. The dragon to this day lies at the bottom of this lake and sheds tears, thereby filling the lake with water and an unpleasant odor.

However, the nature here is quite picturesque: green hills, dense beech forests on steep slopes, and in the distance, in a blue haze, peaks sparkling in the sun. Closer to Babugent, the greenery becomes brighter, juicier. Near the village of Babugent there is a fork in the road. At the beginning of the road to the lake, there is a cave in the rock, in which traces of an ancient site of the 5th-10th centuries AD were found. Now many bats settle there, and sometimes, in bad weather, shepherds with flocks of sheep hide.

Not reaching the lake 200 meters, from the main road to the left, a gravel road leading to the Upper Blue Lakes goes uphill in a serpentine. On a plateau, 500 meters above the lower lake, there is Dry Lake. The Balkars call it Kel-ketkhen (Gone Lake), since the lake itself (by the area of ​​the water surface is 2 times larger than the lower lake) is located in a 160-meter-deep sinkhole.

On the slope, 2 km from the lower lake, in a beech forest is the Secret Lake (so named because it is difficult to detect) 17 meters deep and smaller in area than the lower lake. The Balkars call it Tasha-Kel (Stone Lake).