Archie Hayes Lake Kaindy is the 400 meters long (1300 ft.) lake located in Kazakhstan’s Tian Shan Mountains. Would look like a usual lake, however, dried out treetops, swelling from crystal water, testify the puzzling story this lake is hiding. To find out what has happened here, we had to go back in 1911.
In 1911, Kazakhstan was hit by Kebin, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, which triggered massive landslides and caused vast shifts in geological structures around this region. In the location of the former forest, large landslides blocked gorge and formed a natural dam that suspended rainwater coming from the mountains and thus created the Lake Kaindy.
Located more than 2,000 meters above the sea level, Lake Kaindy is so cold, that even in the summer a temperature of the water doesn’t exceed 6 Celsius degrees (42,8 °F). A coldness of the water preserved drowned trees. Great pines remain on the trees underwater, yet after more than a hundred years.
