Baikal Selenga Network (BaSeNet)

Baikal Selenga Network (BaSeNet) is a separate subprogram in PEEX acting according to MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION (signed in Feb 2017) between Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) and BaSeNet.

BaSeNet is interested in investigating and quantifying the waterborne transport of matter under changing hydro-climatic conditions on large drainage basin scales. BaSeNet aims to utilize and further develop an already established unique monitoring and modeling platform within Lake Baikal and its main tributary Selenga River Drainage Basin which are considered as a large-scale field laboratory. The area represents a region of the Arctic Ocean catchment, which will also be used for cross-regional comparison with other parts of the world.

BaSeNet is open to all interested parties and scientists to work together for the integrated hydrologic-hydrogeologic-geochemical region in the extensive Baikal Selenga drainage basin.

About BaSeNet

To promote and further develop hydrologic-hydrogeologic-geochemical research in PEEX BaSeNet is :

  1. developing an adaptive regional characterization approach that enables use of the extensive Baikal Selenga drainage basin as a large-scale field laboratory for measuring:
  • representative hydrological and hydrogeochemical characteristics of the individual and the coupled groundwater and surface water systems
  • solute, suspension and bedload transport over control planes at multiple locations within the basin
  • changes in flow and transport characteristics during hydrological (precipitation) events, and between hydrological seasons.
  1. using the Baikal Selenga drainage basin results in inter-regional comparison studies with consistently investigated other drainage basins in different world parts. The comparison aim is to identify similarities and systematic differences between large basin characteristics, hydrological responses to climate change, and tracer-pollutant spreading behavior (spatiotemporal variability and change trends) across different main drainage basins of the world. In this comparative context, the Baikal Selenga drainage basin represents a sparsely populated and as of yet largely unmonitored and unregulated river basin with discontinuous permafrost, discharging through Lake Baikal and its downstream river network into the Arctic Ocean.

Specific objectives & Research questions

  • to summarize our current state of knowledge regarding fluxes and forms of elements; to continue collaborations between researchers who study physical processes of sediment movement, chemical discharges, and hydrological processes; to better produce/refine models of physical and chemical processes for flux analysis within the catchment.
  • Basin-wide perspective on advanced water budget, to produce advanced water budgets and predictive models of water quality, with emphasis on establishing uniform protocols of data collection methodologies, and establishing protocols for sharing among research groups.
  • Implications of changes in the landscape for influencing basin runoff: water quantity and quality modeling and monitoring, with tributary system studies to further (precisely) refine sources of heavy metal inputs, and identify local catchment variations.
  • “Big picture”; to constrain predictions at basin-scale, with emphasis that the system, in its current configuration, remains un-dammed, and that this is about to change. Emphasizing the need to better understand the Selenga system in terms of the functions of various processes, such as catchment-scale sediment erosion and transport models.
  • Large-scale transport phenomena; can we track contaminants from sources in the upstream mining, using both geophysical processes and chemical fingerprinting? This dovetails nicely with a “source to sink” style study, specifically targeting grain size (washload versus bedload), and provides a basis for evaluating sediment residence time in a dispersal systems, which is a BIG topic in basin research.
  • A catchment-wide flux analysis could be utilized to evaluate/predict water quality: what are the pollutants? What are the necessary “state of the art” treatment processes? Is it possible to utilize a particular tracer (e.g., arsenic) to evaluate fate of chemical transport variability in time and space (e.g., year-to-year and over basin scale); such a paper/study could be a prime example of bringing our work together.

Main publications

  • THORSLUND, J., JARSJÖ, J., BELOZEROVA, E.V. AND CHALOV, S.R. (2012) Assessment of the gold mining impact on riverine heavy metal transport in a sparsely monitored region: the upper Lake Baikal Basin case. Environ. Monit., 14, 2780-2792
  • KARTHE, D.; HOFMANN, J.; IBISCH, R.; HELDT , S,; WESTPHAL, K.; MENZEL, L.; AVLYUSH, S. & MALSY, M. (2015): Science-Based IWRM Implementation in a Data-Scarce Central Asian Region: Experiences from a Research and Development Project in the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia. Water 7(7): 3486-3514.
  • KARTHE, D.; MALSY, M.; KOPP, B.; MINDERLEIN, S. & HULSMANN, L. (2013): Assessing water availability and its drivers in the context of an integrated water resources management (IWRM): a case study from the Kharaa River Basin, MONGOLIA. GEOOKO 34(1-2):5-26.
    MALSY, M.; AUS DER BEEK, T.; FLORKE, M. (2015): Evaluation of large-scale precipitation data sets for water resources modelling in Central Asia. Environmental Earth Sciences 73(2): 787-799.
  • MALSY, M.; HEINEN, M.; AUS DER BEEK, T. & FLORKE, M. (2013): Water recourses and socio-economic development in a water scarce region on the example of Mongolia. GeoOko 34(1-2):27-49.
  • KARTHE, D.; CHALOV, S.; THEURING, P. & BELOZEROVA, E. (2013): Integration of Meso- and Macroscale Approaches for Water Resources Monitoring and Management in the Baikal-Selenga-Basin. In: Chifflard, P.; Cyffka, B.; Karthe, D. & Wetzel, K.-F. (2013): Beiträge zum 44. Jahrestreffen des Arbeitskreises Hydrologie, 90-94. Augsburg: Geographica Augustana.
  • CHALOV SERGEY R., JARSJÖ JERKER, KASIMOV N., ROMANCHENKO A., PIETRON JAN, THORSLUND J., BELOZEROVA E. (2015) Spatio-temporal variation of sediment transport in the Selenga River Basin, Mongolia and Russia // Environmental Earth Sciences 73(2): 663-680
  • KARTHE, D.; KASIMOV, N.; CHALOV, S.; SHINKAREVA, G.; MALSY, M.; MENZEL, L.; THEURING, P.; HARTWIG, M.; SCHWEITZER, C.; HOFMANN, J.; PRIESS, J. & LYCHAGIN, M. (2014): Integrating Multi-Scale Data for the Assessment of Water Availability and Quality in the Kharaa -Orkhon – Selenga River System. Geography, Environment, Sustainability 3(7):65-86
  • PIETROŃ, J., JARSJÖ, J., ROMANCHENKO, A.O., CHALOV, S.R. (2015) Model analyses of the contribution of in-channel processes to sediment concentration hysteresis loops // Journal of Hydrology 522: 576-589
  • I. ALEKSEEVSKII, A. S. ZAVADSKII, M. V. KRIVUSHIN, S. R. CHALOV (2015) Hydrological Monitoring at International Rivers and Basins // Water Resources, 42(6): 747–757.
  • JOSEFIN THORSLUND, JERKER JARSJÖ, TERESIA WÄLLSTEDT, CARL MAGNUS MÖRTH, MIKHAIL YU. LYCHAGIN, SERGEY R. CHALOV. (2016) Speciation and hydrological transport of metals in non-acidic river systems of the Lake Baikal basin: Field data and model predictions // Regional Environmental Change. 1-15
  • ЧАЛОВ С.Р., ГРЕЧУШНИКОВА М.Г., ВАРЕНЦОВ М.И., КАСИМОВ Н.С. (2016)Современная и прогнозная оценка стока воды и наносов рек бассейна Селенги // География и природные ресурсы. № 5. С. 39–48
  • LYCHAGIN, M.; CHALOV, S KASIMOV, N.; SHINKAREVA, G.;  JARSJÖ, J. THORSLUND, J. (2016) Surface water pathways and fluxes of metals under changing environmental conditions and human interventions in the Selenga River system // Environmental Earth Sciences
    КАСИМОВ Н. С., ЛЫЧАГИН М. Ю. , ЧАЛОВ С.Р. , ШИНКАРЕВА Г. Л., ПАШКИНА М. П. , РОМАНЧЕНКО А. О. , ПРОМАХОВА Е.В. (2016) Бассейновый анализ потоков веществ в системе Селенга–Байкал // Вестник МГУ. Серия 6. География. № 3 С. 67-81

The BaSeNet collaborators:

  • Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
  • Department Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis and Management, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany
  • Institute of Geography Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
  • Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
  • Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden
  • N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
  • Baikal Institute of Nature Management, Ulan Ude, Russia
  • Institute of Geography, Irkustsk, Russia
  • Department of Soil and Hydro-Geography, Faculty of Geography, Marburg University, Germany

BaSeNet is open to all interested parties and scientists to work together for the integrated hydrologic-hydrogeologic-geochemical region in the extensive Baikal Selenga drainage basin.

Program Director:
Prof. Nikolay Kasimov, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Russian Geographical Society

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Sergey Chalov , Lomonosov Moscow State University
For contact srchalov@geogr.msu.ru