There is a strange place in the middle of the forest in the Svetlogorsk region (Belarus). Everything looks great: off-road, trenches and craters, a dense forest, a relict lake surrounded by pine trees and bog. The lake is said to be sterile. For thousands of years, a fish has not started in beautiful dead water, and it washes anything without soap. Even mosquitoes allegedly fly around this place.
Lovers of mysticism have several convincing explanations for the phenomenon. As usual - something about a heavenly flame, a collapsed village and a drowned church that disinfects water from the depths, does not allow anything to start in it … With the help of divers, we looked under this suspicious glossy surface. For the first time in several thousand years.
Officially, the lake is called Blue, but the locals are used to calling it Dead.
- The old people told everything, and their ancestors told them, and so on, - the inhabitants of the village of Pogontsy set out variations of the epic in the version in which they got to the present day. - For example, they said that in that place there was a village on a hill. Once lightning struck the mountain - all the houses, together with the church, fell underground. It seems like Perun punished for betrayal of traditional values.
According to other versions, the lake was formed on the site of a pagan cemetery or on the site of a huge stone.
The inhabitants of Pogontsev paid attention: neither in their memory, nor in the memory of their ancestors there was a case that someone drowned in this lake - even sober, even drunk. They were drowning everywhere, but here - no! Dead water pushes a person out, no matter how hard you try.
Along with this, there is a successful belief that the lake is bottomless. And it is impossible to approach him: you will fall under the quagmire - and remember what your name was. But this hypothesis is supported mainly by urban researchers.
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There is also a legend about a princess who lived in a castle by the lake. Variations are also provided here. According to one of them, the grooms had to take off the ring from the princess's hand at a gallop. But no one succeeded - everyone fell into the water and drowned.
According to another version, the evil princess cursed the lake, envying its beauty. Because here everything has died out. This scenario was even filmed recently by local enthusiasts.
-… After the village turn left, then left again. And left again. Well, at the end there to the left, - a resident of the village of Pogontsy diligently, observing the scale, draws a map for us with a stick in the sand.
If you follow this spiral plan, you will certainly come somewhere!
With us in the car, just in case, the medical assistant-laboratory assistant of the Svetlogorsk zonal center of hygiene and epidemiology Natalya in a white coat remembers the way back. Her task is to take samples and instantly deliver them to the laboratory in order to understand why the water is dead. In Svetlogorsk, we were strictly punished: to save Natalia, and the samples, according to the regulations, must be delivered within two hours. It doesn't count otherwise.
The spiral is compressed, the road, ridden by timber trucks, becomes impassable for civilian vehicles. Further on foot.
Traces of battles are visible among the pines. Trucks with wheels dug up a smokehouse, in a hurry made from a shell … Later it turns out: the trees are about 80 years old. It looks like at the time of the fighting there was just a wetland. And the road to the Blue Lake was open - people from the surrounding villages allegedly took to wash clothes there. Soap is not necessary, everything goes away anyway.
The closer to the strange body of water, the quieter the forest. The birds become silent, the horseflies begin to hum in an undertone. We, too, just in case, are quiet.
Finally, water peeps through the trees. It's not that blue, it's a lake. Normal.
At first glance, the rumors about his "deadness" are somewhat exaggerated. The skaters seem quite pleased with the local stability. The water scorpion is hastily rowing towards us: we need to find out what is happening. Whenever you look at the water, two or three snakes with a very busy look will cross the mirror in different directions (as you know, life on the other side is always better).
Technically, the lake is designed like a bowl with curved edges. Pines and blueberries grow on the mainland surrounding the reservoir. Further along the coast in a circle begins a strip of bog, 10-20 meters. You can even dive under it. At first we wander on this trampoline with caution, but soon we get used to it - we have to jump!
Noticing how great we are jumping on the agitated surface, the snakes, out of curiosity, turn to us. It seems that the local inhabitants of people are not taught to be afraid at all. Reptiles do not run away, they are given in hand. The frogs are large, snout - they look with clever eyes with drag, but they say nothing. Small blue butterflies have to be politely shoved with their feet so that they can pass.
At first glance, it is quite a cheerful place. Again - neatly … A merry red-book sundew is waiting for victims.
But when the first euphoria passes, you notice: there are no aquatic plants - no duckweed, no cattail with sedge, no water lilies. Algae is not noticeable either. Birds are still not heard or seen. There are no fry near the coast, no characteristic splashes of fish on the surface, no floats of poaching "TVs" …
The locals, of course, warned that there was no fish here, and there is no fish. They say that once they launched crucians - none survived. Although, it would seem, this fish is able to survive everywhere.
At the same time, insects are present that have a water stage of development. The web is full of mayflies. Dragonflies fly as if everything is normal.
The blue lake is completely isolated, nothing flows into it. In fact, the isolation of the biological system sometimes leads to the emergence of new interesting species of common animals - marsupial carp or hairy frogs. Maybe something will be displayed here in a hundred thousand years?
In the uncomplicated biological chain of the lake, many links are missing that are common for "normal" reservoirs. Most importantly, there is no poacher who must sit at the top of the food pyramid. Poachers are not needed without fish. There are no birds like herons, ducks, cranes. It turns out that the local king of nature is already, and he has no enemies. He is not aware that there are more terrible predators, therefore he behaves arrogantly …
Our coherent theory is destroyed by a strong splash a little way off the coast! A short struggle - and again silence. Who fought with whom and what score is a mystery. It turns out that someone bigger than frogs lives here?
We go to check the bottomlessness of the dead lake. This parameter is very important for divers who need to drive up any minute. From the slightest movement, the dregs rise, which lay peacefully for centuries.
Hmmm … Even quite far from the shore, we manage to find some snags with our feet. Obviously, this is the bell tower. In general, even if there is no sunken church (tank / plane / cemetery / princess) in the pond, it must be shoved there. The tourist potential of the area will immediately grow in leaps and bounds.
A cold "window" in warm water distracts from thoughts about the development of the region: something is clearly hitting from the bottom. The water tastes too fresh. The top is transparent, of a beautiful golden color.
Let's try to dive into the golden domes that shine so beautifully. We always do this. But already at a depth of about a meter, someone abruptly, without crossing, turns off the light! Strange optics here … Ice cold is added to the darkness. No, better up. Indeed - he throws it out.
The hydrology is no less strange here. During a flood, the lake can overflow, like other normal bodies of water. The oddities begin in the event of a drought. People say that even in the hottest years, the water never dropped below the level of the coastal bog. It is possible, however, that it just sags.
Natalya does not jump in the bog, is collected and serious. Standing on a swaying surface, prepares sterile specimen dishes. We collect water about 30 meters from the shore.
… Meanwhile, while we are filling bottles and cans, a minibus with divers is cruelly skidding a couple of kilometers away from us. They responded to our proposal to check “one dead lake there” without much thought: let's go! Now they are dragging the car out of the hole.
An inexperienced person could take these people for mushroom pickers. But we are not like that.
Diving instructor Andrey Smirnov and his team have already traveled with us to the luxurious quarries in "Polesskaya Scandinavia". They plan to return in a hundred years, when a new quarry is finally flooded there. Until then, behold, a dead lake.
- We sat down on the path! - commanded by Smirnov. - We walk in pairs, we are counting on a maximum depth of 12 meters, we checked wrist computers, communication with gestures and flashlights will most likely be muddy …
- … Yeah, and at the "thirty" will start "transparency" … - skeptically muttered divers.
- And at 110 meters there will be a tank, - Smirnov guarantees.
Be that as it may, a historical moment: no matter how many thousands of years the lake is, no one has ever dived here with equipment.
As soon as the divers jump into the water, one of the snakes immediately rushes to them: she urgently needs to find out what kind of new life form has arrived. After getting to know each other and embracing, she does not swim away, but moors to the shore and settles down among the rest of the audience.
- Well, what's at the bottom? - the audience rushes to the first one that emerges (it is in a hurry ahead of everyone).
- The village, the church, the dogs bark, the peasants go to pray … - the submariner begins to list.
According to the computer, the maximum depth of the reservoir is 2.6 meters, the temperature at the bottom is 19 degrees. The bottom is littered with tree trunks with branches. No houses, churches, farms, or other buildings were found.
On the way back we pass through Pogontsy. After bathing in acidic water, someone's hair is erect, someone has dashing curls. People themselves are interested: they have heard enough of legends - now they would like to find out what is really there. But we must wait for the test results. They wave:
- Zucchini! Take the zucchini. And come again!
* * *
Petr Mitrakhovich, PhD in Biology, once participated in the first and only study of this reservoir - together with Doctor of Geographical Sciences Viktor Kiselev and Candidate of Geographical Sciences Alexei Yarotov. It was in 2005.
“Then we found out that the water in Sinyi is close in characteristics to distilled water,” says Pyotr Anisimovich. - There are almost no dissolved salts - at least pour it into the battery. There are practically no planktonic organisms and, accordingly, those who feed on plankton. Thick sphagnum deposits have formed along the banks. We went deep into these sediments by three meters, but did not reach the "continental" bottom, there was not enough drill. And at this depth, they found a half-centimeter layer of insect chitin (later it was determined that these were dragonflies and mayflies).
What does it mean? It is believed that every meter of sphagnum deposits is a thousand years old. It turns out that three thousand years ago on the site of the lake there were favorable conditions for the development of insects. Interestingly, at the same depth we found a pine cone - as if it had just fallen. Fresh, green, chlorophyll is not destroyed! Moreover, it is at least three thousand years old.
These are the conditions for conservation in sphagnum: several types of organic acids are released, which prevents the development of plankton and cohabiting plants and organisms (with a few exceptions). If you have seen amphibians and tadpoles there, then perhaps this means that near the coast the rain runoff somewhat lowers the acidity of the water and there the life of those who have managed to adapt is possible.
In a few days, the results of the water study were ready. First of all, we look at the standard parameter - the concentration of common and thermotolerant colymorphic bacteria (OKB and TKB). They were counted at 60 colony-forming units per 100 cubic centimeters. For the sanitary service, this only means that according to this indicator, the reservoir is suitable for bathing (the limit values are 500 and 100 CFU, respectively). For Ph. D. Mitrakhovich, this is another confirmation that the water, if not dead, is close to that:
- We see that microorganisms are poorly developed in an acidic environment. Usually, this figure is much higher in water bodies.
The pH value (pH) is 6. For an open reservoir, this is very small, moreover, the day before there were rainstorms that could slightly increase it (in 2005 it was 4.9 in general). Few can survive in such water.
The oxygen content is 7.3 milligrams per cubic decimeter of water. Nothing supernatural, but not enough for organisms with gills.
For nitrites and nitrates, the indicators are close to zero. In rural wells, their concentration is an order of magnitude higher, and in natural reservoirs - by several orders of magnitude.
Petr Mitrakhovich suggests that Blue does not feed only on precipitation. This allows you to maintain a certain level even in dry years. We swam, we know. But as for the formation of such a strange reservoir, scientists have only unproven hypotheses. It is possible that once upon a time powerful deposits of peat burned out, a depression formed in which water accumulated.
Apparently, in a few thousand years this reservoir will disappear naturally, a beautiful bog will cover it completely. But while it is there, such a place is worth appreciating.
