- BRAINERD, MINN. (AP)
-- A mysterious black hole in the ice of North Long Lake has officials
stumped -- and it's getting expensive.
-
- The Thirty Lakes Watershed District has spent $4,000
to figure out how the hole formed on the lake just north of Brainerd.
-
- The hole, measured at 2,128 feet long and 400 feet wide,
was found in the lake's ice last February. Since then it's been a constant
source of speculation, conversation and concern. What caused the hole to
appear? Distant earthquakes? New thermal springs on the lake bottom? Sabotage
by unknown enemies?
-
- These theories and many others have been offered, said
Dick Beeson, the district's chairman.
-
- "It's the only one of the 70 lakes we monitor where
we've seen anything like it," Beeson said. "It's an unusual situation
and dangerous to the public."
-
- As many as a dozen people have gone into the hole via
snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle, and one person has died.
-
- Warning signs have been posted at lake accesses and other
places on shore by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office.
-
- Lakeshore residents say they've never seen anything like
it, Beeson said. Typically, holes in ice form where currents or thermal
springs are concentrated. But the hole had never appeared before last winter.
Ice thickness at the perimeter of the hole ranges from 4 to 10 inches.
-
- Al Cibuzar, who runs A.W. Research Laboratories in Brainerd,
said he viewed the hole from an airplane in March and noticed nothing unusual.
-
- Cibuzar flew over the hole again on Tuesday and photographed
it with an infrared, water-penetrating camera that uses hyper-spectral
imaging to locate sources of warmth.
-
- "It's changing daily, getting a little bigger every
day," Cibuzar said. "We've searched the Internet for similar
situations, but have found nothing like we're seeing here. It appears there
may be some springs developing near the north shore, but we have to verify
that on the ground."
-
- Return to top © Copyright 2002 Star Tribune. All
rights reserved.
|
