Siberia's Gecko-Shaped Water Reservoir

CREDIT: ESA. View full size image

A reservoir formed in Siberia in the 1960s bears an uncanny resemblance to a gecko.

The Bratsk Reservoir in southeastern Siberia, Russia , was formed by damming the Angara River to provide hydroelectric power. The dam, 410 feet (125 meters) high and about 14,500 feet (4,417 m) wide, was built near the city of Bratsk. The city is the white area in the upper left of this image, taken by the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite and released earlier this month.

The reservoir streches for more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) along the Angara, Oka and Iya Rivers in the Irkutsk region; it is described as being 'river-like.'

Dams store water in reservoirs, from which water flows through pipes past electricity-generating turbines. The Bratsk Dam, the second of four power stations on the Angara River, has a capacity of 4,500 megawatts.

Agricultural crops can be seen along the southwestern side of the reservoir, including grains, potatoes and vegetables.

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