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Diving expedition to ancient Mongolian lakePosted by Jeremy Goldkorn, August 2, 2007 4:35 PM
Steven Schwankert is the founder of Beijing diving school SinoScuba. From August 9 to 23 this year, he will lead the first-ever diving expedition to Lake Khovsgol, an ancient body of water in Mongolia that contains two percent of the world's freshwater.
The team includes members of previous expeditions to the Titanic and the USS Monitor. They will test for pollution in the lake, one of the purest sources of water on the planet. They will also look for new species of fish and lake life, and explore shipwrecks. On August 7 at 7:30 pm at the Bookworm bookshop and restaurant in Beijing Schwankert will explain the goals of the expedition and show photos of the lake and its environs. Danwei recently asked Schwankert a few questions about the expedition and the lake. Danwei: Where is this lake and why does it contain so much of the world's fresh water? There are actually very few large sources of freshwater on the planet. Lake Khovsgol is an ancient lake, two to five million years old, and was formed through a combination of geologic movement and glacier action. Its size — 136 km long, 30 km wide in some places, and 262m deep — makes it one very large drink of water. Danwei: Are you sure it's the first time anyone has dived in it? Danwei:: What types of fish will you see in the lake? Whose ships are lying at the bottom of the lake? Are there skeletons of rejected Mongolian concubines? There are two ships that we know of at the bottom of the lake. One is the Mongolian Navy ship, the Sukhbataar. The other seems to be a cargo ship, and was dived for the first time by one of our team members in June. We'll be going to both for a closer look. No former concubine skeletons on the bottom, but there may be Buddhist relics thrown into the lake in the 1930s by monks who wanted to preserve them during a persecution. However, it's not a treasure hunt; anything we find will be returned to its rightful owners. Danwei: What does Khovsgol mean? Danwei How will you test for pollution? If the lake is polluted, where is that pollution likely to have come from? Where pollution would come from is the big question. It could potentially drift in from Russia or maybe China, or elsewhere in Mongolia. It could also be from within the lake itself, due to pre-national park dumping, or perhaps from the shipwrecks or the 30-40 cars that lie on the bottom, having crashed through the ice when the lake's surface is used as a road in the winter. We have a sonar unit traveling with us, so we may be able to discover other wrecks or dump sites that were previously unknown. |
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Comments on Diving expedition to ancient Mongolian lake
Fascinating, thanks Danwei for the report, and Schwankert for attempting this. Looking forward to Danwei's continuing coverage.
Went here in 1999, most incredible place on earth. Untouched and stunning. The locals didn't eat the fish, they're Buddhist.
How wonderful to dive in Hovsgul, a truly fabulous place. BTW - it does not mean Ocean in Mongol. The word for Ocean is Dalai, as in Lama.