Lake Sevan is a high-altitude (roughly 2000 meters) freshwater lake surrounded by mountain ranges – the Pambak range from the northwest, Sevan and Areguni ranges from the northeast, and the Geghama and Vardenis ranges from the west and south.
Sevan consists of two parts – Lesser and Greater Sevan. The depth of the lake reaches 99 meters. Sevan is the second highest freshwater mountain lake in the world, second only to Lake Titicaca.
Sevan is the only major guaranteed source of freshwater in Armenia and the largest in the entire Caucasus. In 1848, it was proposed to use the lake’s water for irrigation of the lands on the left bank of Hrazdan. At the beginning of the 20th century, there have been several proposals for the use of lake waters for practical purposes.
In 1923, a plan was implemented to use Sevan’s water for the needs of the national economy. In 1931, the first scheme of lowering the lake’s water level appeared. After the approval of the project in 1933, works began on creating artificial flow paths and the deepening of the Hrazdan river bed.
At the beginning of 2006, the rise in water level relative to the previous year was 41 cm. During 2006-2010, the water level rose by 25-35 cm per year.
Sevan is home to the Sevan trout (also called ishkhan or salmo ishkhan), but its existence is threatened by the competing species of fish that either naturally got here or were brought here. The Armenian Justice Council may turn to France to recognize the fact of “fish genocide” in the republic.
Lake Sevan is an important center for the Armenian gull (Larus armenicus) whose population reaches 4000-5000 pairs.
Sevan is also famous for its cultural monuments and recreational resources situated along its coast, including mineral springs, clean air, and beautiful nature.
The water of Lake Sevan has not been used for energy needs since 1998 due to environmental concerns. Experts say that Lake Sevan can only be saved if its water level is raised by at least 6 meters. For the first time in three years, the water level in Lake Sevan has reached a critical mark of 1897 cm. The destruction of Lake Sevan could lead to an environmental crisis for Armenia.
Lake Sevan, A Literal Goldmine
Lake Sevan has also been home to sensational discoveries. The lake is now under the close attention of the whole world – the findings of Armenian scientists have shocked the world science.
Events on Lake Sevan are especially closely watched by people who are, to one degree or another, connected with the gold and foreign exchange world market, as well as professional jewelers, ichthyologists, and others.
An analysis of the latest water samples from Lake Sevan taken from a depth of 80 meters unexpectedly showed a high gold content. Lake Sevan can basically be considered golden.
The boulders raised by Armenian scientists from Lake Sevan turned out to be practically a treasure. The concentration of gold ions in the stones, even according to preliminary spectral analyses, reaches 80%, nearly making for an ingot of pure gold.
According to Karen Markaryan, a scientific employee at the Center for Nanotechnology Chemistry, there’s as much gold in one boulder as in a gold bar with a fineness of 900.
The whole point of the sensational discovery is that all the discovered gold is in a molecular state – this gold is almost impossible to detect with traditional methods or the naked eye.
An important task facing Armenian scholars is to understand the origin of so many impurities in this precious metal from Sevan. According to preliminary estimates, Lake Sevan is to become the largest goldmine in the world.
The data of Armenian scientists have already been confirmed by satellite imagery. According to professor of geotectological sciences Vardan Poghosyan, the gold mine on the bottom of Sevan is heterogeneous in composition, and the gold content varies throughout the lake. Particularly, Greater Sevan is a large-scale planetary magnet, and it is there that the richest world gold deposit has been observed.
Over thousands of years, the gold layer has gradually mixed with the lake water at the molecular level. Simply put, diffusion occurred.
Lake Sevan is nearly isolated from the outside world. About 30 rivers flow into it and only one flows out – the Hrazdan River. One could say that the gold flows out of the lake with the waters of Hrazdan.
Based on the environmental variables in the center of the lake where the samples of gold have come from, it is planned to trace the Earth’s climate change over a million years.
Extra-departmental and state military structures have been involved to protect the goldmine in Lake Sevan. A cleaning and gold collection system is now being developed at the riverhead of Hrazdan.
Diplomatic battles underway
Although the lake is located on the territory of Armenia, some countries are already trying to gain access to the treasures discovered by Armenian scientists.
This wasn’t the only sensation awaiting the Armenian scientists though – in one of the samples of the fence from the bottom of the lake, scales of an unknown fish species were discovered. The fish has already been officially named golden fish. This is because the gold dissolved in Sevan has almost completely covered the found fish.
According to the size of the found scales, the fish has been a large individual sized from 100 to 150 cm. As the director of the Chemical Industry Institute Norayr Karapetyan said, no toxins were found in the sample.
The sensational discovery of Armenian scientists is apparently expected to turn the whole fundamental world science upside down. How many more incredible and amazing discoveries could Lake Sevan have in store for us?
P.S. On the streets of Yerevan, you can see whitefish on sale, which is a fish species native to Sevan whose catching has been forbidden. Whitefish plays a vital role in the ecological health of the lake. Unrestricted and illegal fishing of this species could lead to the death of Lake Sevan.
Such uncontrolled fishing for whitefish has been observed in the years of Levon Ter-Petrosyan who has justified the poaching of fish by the famine that reigned in Armenia at the time. I have no doubt that the individual that now calls himself the Prime Minister of Armenia will come up with something “better” than Ter-Petrosyan – as his past and probably current adherent, the Prime Minister has already surpassed his teacher.
