One Rift, Two Models

Ivanov Aleksey

Lake Baikal, one of the greatest hollows of the Earth, is a part of the Baikal rift system. The causes of rifting have been largely discussed from the earliest 1970s till now. Researchers were divided into two camps: supporters of the hypotheses of “active” and “passive” mechanism of extension in the Baikal rift. Which of them is correct? Aleksey Ivanov, senior researcher at the Institute of the Earth’s Crust of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, does not impose his opinion but gives a brief account of recent important data on tectonics, volcanism, sedimentation, and deep structure of the Baikal rift, which are often ambiguously interpreted. The truth has always been out there…

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