13 June 2008 | The Ohrid Lake is around 3 million years old and has three larger tectonic movements that are still active, according to joint research by the Ohrid’s Institute of Hydrobiology and the Cologne Institute of Geology and Mineralogy.

The results were announced, according to the Makfax information agency, after the two centres collected samples from the sediments on the lake’s bottom over a period of four years. Further analyses will explore the endemic life in the lake, thought by academics to be due to the water body’s age and its isolated position.

So far, sediment parts from a period of 50,000 years were studied in detail. Evidence of anthropogeneous influences and volcanic eruptions was discovered.

Further studies of the sediment, the academics say, will reveal the Ohrid Lake’s entire history, but research should continue over the next decade.

For now, the plan is to continue the research, worth 4 million euro, through 2009. According to Makfax, over 60 per cent of the funds will be provided by a scientidic institute in Cologne, while the Macedonian government will contribute 100,000 euro.

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