The expedition to the Patomsk crater situated in the north of the Irkutsk Region is completed. For a week the scientists of Plekhanov Saint Petersburg State Mining Institute, Institute of Geophysics of the Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Institute of Geochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted experiments and studies aimed at exploring the genesis of one of the most mysterious geological features found in Russia.
S.M. Mironov (geophysicist), Chairman of the Federation Council of the RF, and M.V. Slipenchuk (geographer), Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for the Protection of Lake Baikal, took part in the expedition.
It was the forth expedition over the last ten years, and the most renowned as far as its members are concerned. Administrative and financial support was provided by METROPOL Group and the Fund for  Protection of Lake Baikal.

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Patomsk crater situated in the Bodaybinsk District of the Irkutsk Region, is a huge conic mountain with a razed peak located in a barely passable area of taiga. It was discovered in 1949 by V. Kolpakov, geologist. Scientists still have no idea about the origin of this geological feature. It was supposed to be of a meteorite or volcanic origin, but lately scientists have turned to think that the crater appeared because of endogenous activities in the earth crust. However, scientists still cannot answer what caused the eruption of more than half a million cubic meters of carbonate rock that formed a regular concentric structure.