Geology

Faults in the Tunka area

In this region of the Baikal area you can differentiate 3 types of faults. The first type of faults are very deep faults with a depth of more than 50 km. These are the so called structure formation faults. They rarely carry any water. Examples for this type of fault are the Primoskij fault and the Tunka fault which were formed in the early Proterozoic. The Tunka fault has a length of more than 200 km. In the north the fault is 100 m wide and in the south more than 650 m. The second type of faults are deep faults with a depth of more than 30 km, as e.g. the Kingirga fault. It is of Cretaceous age and has a fault displacement of nearly 500 m and a length of 10 km. Low mineralized (< 4 to 4.5 g/L) waters with increased temperatures are related to this fault type. The third type of faults are near-surface faults with a depth of not more than 10 km. Waters in this fault zone show a low mineralization and typically low temperatures.

On its way down into the valley the Kingirga River drops 250 m in altitude and shows 12 waterfalls. On our way along the Kingirga River (through the Arshan Medical Centre) we saw Carbonate rocks of the Irkut series formed in the early Proterozoic. Above this series you can see a layer of Quaternary debris which belong to one of the old terraces of the Kingirga River. and t

(Proterozoic carbonates with old terraces of Kingirga river)

Also you can see remains of talus (consisting of quaternary debris) at the bottom of the carbonate rock.

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