The possibility of a tsunami on Lake Baikal

Abstract

Based on the general physical nature of tsunami generation, it is established that it is an attribute of seismically hazardous areas and regions adjacent to large water reservoirs and is threatening to the popula tion and infrastructure of the coastal zones. The main preconditions and possibilities for the occurrence of tsunami on Lake Baikal are considered: the information on earthquakes in the Baikal hollow during the instrumental-historical period (1724-2011) is generalized in the map of epicenters of shocks of magnitude M ≥ 5 and histograms of the distribution of numbers of shocks with respect to magnitude. It is shown that the tsunami waves start forming on Baikal if the earthquake magnitude M is ≈5, but since a system of tsunami monitoring on Baikal is absent, it can be observed only during the strongest earthquakes of M > 7. The cata strophic Tsagan earthquake (1861, M ≈ 7.5) is given as an example. It happened near the eastern coast of Lake Baikal and caused a tsunami with people's deaths.

Methodology for geohazard assessment for hydropower projects

“…IM For causative fault in foundation DP FM may cause damage (Wieland, M et al 2008;Mejia et al 1999)or result in failure TM Cascading from triggering MW in Res (Cui and Zhu, 2011). TW Eq may induce SW on very large lakes (Klyuchevskii et al, 2012).…”

Freshwater (paleo)tsunamis – a review

“…The reported wave height has been estimated at 37 cm and a graded sand layer has been found in the lake deposits as the evidence of this earthquake triggered tsunami. Another example happened in Lake Baikal during the 1861/1862 AD Tsagan earthquake (Didenkulova and Pelinovsky, 2006;Klyuchevskii et al, 2012;Lunina et al, 2012) that is thought to have caused a tsunami that led to several casualties (Klyuchevskii et al, 2012). However, other studies suggest that this tsunami might have been generated by an earthquakegenerated mass-movement (Didenkulova and Pelinovsky, 2006).…”

Shallow‐Water Tsunami Deposits: Evidence From Sediment Cores and Numerical Wave Propagation of the 1601 CE Lake Lucerne Event

“…The most common mechanism that generate tsunamis in freshwater environments are large subaqueous and subaerial mass movements (Hilbe & Anselmetti, 2015; Kremer et al., 2021; Mountjoy et al., 2019; Nigg, Wohlwend, et al., 2021; Roberts et al., 2013; Strupler, Bacigaluppi, et al., 2020). Historic chronicles document that lacustrine tsunamis have caused fatalities, severe lake‐shore erosion, and inundation in various lakes around the world (e.g., Lake Geneva, Switzerland [563 CE Tauredunum rockfall event (Favrod, 1991; Montandon, 1925]), Lake Lucerne, Switzerland (1601 CE Unterwalden earthquake (Cysat, 1969) and 1687 CE Muota Delta collapse (Bünti, 1973; Billeter, 1923; Dietrich, 1689)), Lake Baikal, Russia (1861 CE Tsagan earthquake (Klyuchevskii et al., 2012)). Prehistoric lake tsunamis were proposed based on subaqueous lake morphology in Lake Tahoe (Gardner et al., 2000; Moore et al., 2006), mass‐movement event stratigraphy (Hilbe & Anselmetti, 2014; Kremer et al., 2015; Schnellmann et al., 2006; Siegenthaler et al., 1987), and numerical tsunami simulations (Hilbe & Anselmetti, 2015; Kremer et al., 2012; Mountjoy et al., 2019).…”