Ecological and biogeochemical studies of the Bureya Reservoir in the area of a giant landslide

Authors

  • Kondratyeva L.М. 1
  • Litvinenko Z.N. 1
  • Andreeva D.V. 1
  • 1 Institute of the Water and Ecology Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Khabarovsk Federal Research Center, 56, Dikopoltsev Str., Khabarovsk, 680000 Russia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31951/2658-3518-2025-A-4-428

Keywords:

landslide, reservoir, microbial complexes, volatile compounds, transformation of humic substances

Abstract

For the first time in the Russian Far East, , a temperature of, a giant landslide with a volume of 24.5 million m3 occurred in December 2018 at 32 °C. The landslide was accompanied by a massive rock movements that collapsed directly into the Bureya Reservoir. It completely blocked the access of water to the Bureya Hydroelectric Power Station and provoked a tsunami. According to geomorphologists’ research, the Bureya landslide is one of the largest in the world in terms of tsunami wave height and is a unique natural phenomenon in an ice-covered reservoir. To assess the ecological and biogeochemical state of the Bureya Reservoir in winter and summer (2019-2022), comprehensive studies of water composition in the landslide influence zone, using gas chromatography, spectrography and microbiology, were carried out . The obtained results support the idea on complex biogeochemical processes during cyclic thawing-freezing of rocks and explosive emission of methane accumulated in the pore space.

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Published

2025-08-31

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Section

Articles