Scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France explained the natural phenomenon called “Baikal Zen”. They managed to reproduce it in artificial conditions of the laboratory, reported on the website of the department.
The name “Baikal Zen” received an atypical location of the stones on the ice of Lake Baikal. During the winter, they seem to rise on legs and become like compositions from Japanese gardens of stones.
French experts stated that ice legs under stones arise due to sublimation – the process of evaporation, as a result of which ice evaporates without transition to a liquid form. This phenomenon is formed on Baikal due to a combination of climatic conditions – stable clear weather and strong winds.
The sun over Baikal shines up to 2,200 hours a year, so Ice under the stones melts. At the same time, winds move in different directions, so the ice does not have time to move into a liquid shape and save it. The shadow from the stone closes only part of the ice, which turns into a leg, the remaining ice is blown out after heating.
Such a version of the “Baikal Zen” offered and earlier. However, the full description of the phenomenon scientists offered only now.
Earlier, a group of scientists from Russia and France found a possible explanation for mysterious giant circles from ice on Baikal. It became known that they are formed due to the movement of water and temperature differences.