This has allowed the uninterrupted build-up of 400 m (1,300 ft) of sediment at the bottom of the lake, recording information on prehistoric climate change.

The lake is centered within an impact crater with a rim diameter of 18 km (11 mi) that formed 3.6 million years ago during the Pliocene.

[1] Before it was reliably dated, preliminary papers in the late 1970s suggested either Elgygytgyn[2] or Zhamanshin[3] as the source of the young Australasian strewnfield.

In late 2008 and early 2009, an international team conducted a drilling program targeting three holes in Elgygytgyn Lake.

All three species are adapted to the lake's extremely cold waters, which are generally just above the freezing point, and spend most of the year in total darkness.