Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal


Lake Baikal is a rift lake located in the south of the largest by volume in the world, largest by surface area in Asia, clearest and the deepest in the world and is the largest storage of surface freshwater in the world containing almost 20% of the total surface freshwater in the world. The lake is 636 km long, 79 km wide and 1642 meter deep being the deepest freshwater lake in the world. The lake was formed when a rift was formed by the moving apart of tectonic plates. The lake is supposed to be around 25 million years old, still expanding at the rate of 2 cm per year. The bottom of the lake is 1186.5 meter below the sea level, below which, there is 7 km thick sediment. Hence the actual depth of the rift floor comes to be more than 8 km, making it the deepest continental rift in the world.



The lake is divided into three basins, North Central and South of Russian region of Siberia. There are 27 islands in the lake and the lake was misunderstood to be a sea in ancient times. Though the lake is too deep, it is equally oxygenated at all depths. Various rivers pour water into the lake and Angara River is the single outlet of the water of lake. The average temperature of the region ranges from -190C to 140C and the lake is mostly frozen in winters. The ice of the lake is thick enough to support snowmobiles, and can be crossed on foot.


About 1770 plant and animal species are found in the lake, of which 80% are endemic. The Baikal seal (one of the only three freshwater seal species of the world) is not found anywhere else in the world else the Lake Baikal.


Lake Baikal is a World Heritage Site and is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Underwater World’. 
Credits: Image Source- Google Images

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