El'gygytgyn
Key facts
- Country
- Russia
- Diameter
- 18 km
- Age
- about 3.6 million years
- Location
- 67.50° N, 172.08° E
A round lake about 12 km across in the mountains of Chukotka, in the Russian Far East, surrounded by the eroded crater rim.
El'gygytgyn is a crater lake in Chukotka, in the far north-east of Russia, about 100 km north of the Arctic Circle. It is remote, cold and beautiful, a round lake surrounded by low mountains. Its greatest treasure lies at the bottom: a record of Arctic climate stretching back millions of years.
The impact. About 3.6 million years ago an asteroid struck the region, forming a crater about 18 km across. The rocks it struck were volcanic, formed in an ancient belt of volcanoes. That makes El'gygytgyn the only known impact crater formed in rocks of this kind, which are rich in silica. Scientists study it to understand how impacts affect volcanic rocks, which are common on other planets.
The lake. The crater is filled by a lake about 12 km across and about 175 m deep. Lake El'gygytgyn has existed since soon after the impact. It is one of the oldest lakes in the Arctic, and unusually, it was never scoured by ice sheets, because the region was not covered by thick glaciers even during the ice ages.
A climate archive. Because the lake has existed for so long, and was never wiped clean by glaciers, its sediments contain an unbroken record of climate in the Arctic over millions of years. In the winter of 2008 to 2009 an international team drilled through the frozen lake and recovered cores of sediment more than 300 m long, along with rock from beneath the lake. The cores reveal how Arctic temperatures and vegetation changed through warm periods and ice ages. They show, for example, that the Arctic was much warmer than today during some periods in the past, information that helps scientists understand how the Arctic might respond to future warming.
Recognition. El'gygytgyn was recognised as an impact crater in the 1970s, when Soviet scientists found shocked minerals and impact glass. Before that, some had thought it was volcanic.
Wildlife. The lake is home to several species of fish found nowhere else, including types of char that evolved in isolation in the lake.
Why it matters. El'gygytgyn is one of the most important sites in the world for understanding past climate in the Arctic. It is also a unique example of an impact into volcanic rocks, valuable for comparing with craters on Mars and other bodies.
Visiting. The crater is extremely remote, reached only by helicopter or by long overland journeys. It is visited mainly by scientific expeditions.
Did you know?
El'gygytgyn's lake sediments hold an unbroken record of Arctic climate over millions of years.
It is the only known impact crater formed in silica-rich volcanic rocks.
The lake is home to fish species found nowhere else.