Where is Lake Baikal located? Lake Baikal is the cleanest and deepest freshwater lake on our planet. Lake Baikal is also the largest reservoir of fresh water, surface water on the ground. Baikal is famous for its crystal clean water. It is home to a large variety of fauna and flora. This magnificent lake is located in Asia and occupies part of the territory of Siberia in Russia. Lake Baikal is located and borders on the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region, not far from the city of Irkutsk. Baikal is considered one of the seven underwater wonders of the world. Its name Baikal comes from two words Turkic language, it is “bay”, which means rich and “kul”, which means lake.

Depth of Lake Baikal and its dimensions?

The width of Lake Baikal, in its widest part, is 79.5 kilometers, and the width in its narrow part is 25 kilometers. The average width of Lake Baikal is 47.8 kilometers. The lake is located along a tectonic fault, which explains its great depth. The maximum depth of the lake is 1637 meters, which makes it the deepest in the world. And its average depth is 758 meters. Baikal covers an area of ​​31,722 square kilometers. More than 330 small rivers flow into this lake. There are 22 islands inside the lake. Olkhon Island is the largest island in the lake. In Lake Baikal there are about

23 615.390 cubic kilometers of the purest fresh water. This is almost 20% of all the world's fresh water reserves on Earth, which is located on the surface. It contains more water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. It is also the oldest lake in the world. Since Lake Baikal has existed for more than 25 million years.

Features of Lake Baikal

One of its most important features is that the water on Lake Baikal is so clean that any object at its depth is already visible at a depth of 40 meters. In addition, Lake Baikal is also the most beautiful lake in the world. It is one of the few sources of fresh water that continues to grow rapidly, growing at an average of 2 centimeters per year.

Flora and fauna on Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal has an impressive and unique flora and fauna. Scientists have determined the existence of about 2,600 species of animals and plants. Among them, about 70 percent of animals and plants are endemic. That is, this means that these animals and plants can only be found here on Lake Baikal. One of the most representative inhabitants of the lake's ecosystem is the Nerpa. This is a unique freshwater seal that lives in the northern part of Lake Baikal. Another symbol of the Baikal fauna is Omul. This is the most popular type of salmon fish in this lake. And another representative of Lake Baikal is Golomyanka. This fish is also called as "Baikal oil fish". This is a kind of unusual, beautiful fish, translucent in appearance. Which lives at a depth between 200 and 500 meters. This type of fish is famous for its decay, under the influence of sunlight, into separate parts, only bones remain from it. Foxes, eagles, deer, bears and many other species of animals and plants also live in this area.

Nature on Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal itself is a true miracle, but, in addition, it is surrounded by a beautiful landscape. There are beautiful forests and rocky mountains here, so it is one of the most favorite places for Russians. Hiking, camping, kayaking, biking, fishing and other activities are organized here.

About Lake Baikal, the most famous writer of Russia, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, said this: “Baikal is so amazing, and it’s not for nothing that Siberians treat it not like a lake, but like a sea. The water in it is unusually transparent, so that one can look into the depths as if through air; the color is soft turquoise, the most pleasing to your eye. And its shores are mountainous and covered with forest; around the impenetrable desert. Bears, sables, wild goats and other wild animals live here.”

History of Lake Baikal.

Since ancient times, many people have lived near Lake Baikal. Remains of human presence in the region have been found. This presence is dated stone age. Residents of the region consider this lake the most sacred place. Because of this, Lake Baikal was known as "sacred water" or "holy sea" and people here prayed, believed in the power of the lake. But, on Lake Baikal, the main migration of people occurred only after its discovery by the Russians in the 17th century. In 1643, Ivanov Kurbat, who was the first Russian to enter this region of Eastern Siberia. And in 1647, at the head of the expedition, Vasily Kolesnikov, reached the northern part of the coast of Lake Baikal.

From the very beginning, the Russian people were engaged in fishing and hunting in Lake Baikal. For this region, the lake is the basis of the economy.

Since the discovery of Lake Baikal, many expeditions have carried out their research. One of the first was a scientific expedition sent in 1723 by Peter I. Most of scientific works about Lake Bakal have already been published by the Academy Saint Petersburg. However, only in the 19th century, in connection with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, were geographical and geological studies carried out. During the 20th century, many other studies were carried out in the lake, including a full survey organized by the Academy of Sciences. In 1976, the first satellite photographs of Lake Baikal were taken. Nevertheless, despite all these expeditions, there are still a lot of questions and mysteries.

Lake Baikal was declared in 1996 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, over the past 50 years, many enterprises and settlements have been built on Baikal that pollute it. They negatively affect and have a terrible impact on the sensitive ecosystem of Lake Baikal. Garbage, chemical waste dumped by agricultural production, the growing flow of tourists, all this causes enormous damage to the fresh water reserves in the main reservoir of the Earth.

Due to the growing pollution of Lake Baikal, the authorities have taken some emergency measures to protect it. They banned the harvesting of timber and their transportation through Lake Baikal. A number of industries in the Republic of Buryatia were transferred to a closed production cycle. To stop pollution and population growth around the lake, emergency protection measures have been taken. natural environment. But, these activities are not enough to fight against the threat that looms over Lake Baikal. Currently, there are two main pollution threats: the city of Ulan-Ude with its wastewater and the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill. Though about the second water pollutant of the lake, a decision was made to close it.

The future wonder of nature now depends on our decision to preserve it for our descendants. We are responsible and must fight for the preservation of this magnificent, wonderful lake Baikal. If you are in these parts, then be sure to visit these places and especially Lake Baikal, where you can spend your unforgettable.

- the deepest lake. Depth of Baikal about 1700 meters. In the world only one Lake can be compared to depth with Lake Baikal. This Lake Tanganyika to East Africa. Its depth is about 1400 meters. Depth of Lake Baikal comparable to the depth of the Arctic Ocean, the average depth of which is 1220 meters.

Baikal - most big lake in Asia. Water surface area Lake Baikal over 30 thousand square kilometers.

Lake Baikal water is its main value. Lake Baikal – most large reservoir of fresh water in the world. Baikal contains approximately a fifth of the world's reserves.

The deepest bay Lake Baikal- Barguzinsky. The depth of the Barguzinsky Bay is almost 1300 meters.

The largest bay Lake Baikal- Barguzinsky. The area of ​​the bay is 725 square kilometers.

The youngest bay of Baikal- Fail Bay. Proval Bay was formed after a powerful earthquake in 1862. Part of the Selenga delta with an area of ​​about 200 square kilometers has gone under water. This earthquake also caused the formation the youngest cape of Baikal- Cape Oblom.

The largest island Lake Baikal- Olkhon. The island is located in the middle Baikal and divides Lake to the Big and Small seas. The island is 71 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide.

On Cape Kotelnikovsky is the most. The water temperature in the mineral springs of Cape Kotelnikovsky is plus 81 degrees Celsius.

The basin of Lake Baikal – deepest mainland depression. Bottom of Lake Baikal lies below the level of the world ocean by about 1200 meters.

The largest influx Lake Baikal the Selenga river. The Selenga has a length of about 1000 kilometers. About half of all the water that enters Lake, brings precisely the Selenga.

The largest peninsula Lake Baikal- Holy Nose. The peninsula measures about 50 kilometers long and about 20 kilometers wide.

Depth of Lake Baikal

Basin of Baikal consists of three rather separate parts. The middle basin is the deepest. It is here near the eastern coast of Olkhon Island depth of Lake Baikal reaches almost 1700 meters. Depth southern basin Lake Baikal approximately 1432 meters. The largest measured depth northern part Lake Baikal 890 meters. Medium lake depth also very large - more than 700 meters. The biggest depth Small Sea - near the northwestern coast of Olkhon Island. It is approximately equal to 250 meters. The smallest depth in the open Baikal- about 30 meters. Northern and middle basins Lake Baikal separates the underwater Academic Ridge. lake depth in these places about 260 meters. Between the middle and southern basins Lake Baikal the Selenga bridge is located. The smallest depth here 360 ​​meters.

Where is Baikal located?

Baikal is located in the middle of Asia in the south of Eastern Siberia between the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region Russian Federation. Near lakes the cities of Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude are located.

Length, length, width of Baikal

Lake Baikal is a fracture in the earth's crust filled with water. water in Lake carry several hundred large and small streams. Lake Baikal stretched from south to northeast: length or length of Baikal about 640 kilometers. The largest width of Baikal 80 kilometers. Small earthquakes constantly occur in the vicinity of the lake. Occasionally there are big ones. coast Baikal moving away from each other at a rate of 2 centimeters per year - Baikal is growing!

Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Olkhon Island, Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Olkhon Island (Jason Rogers / flickr.com) Jason Rogers / flickr.com Sergey Gabdurakhmanov / flickr.com Martin Lopatka / flickr .com Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com Water surface Lake Baikal (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com) Sergey Gabdurakhmanov / flickr.com Khoboy Cape, Olkhon (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com) Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com White Sturgeon (Heaven Ice Day / flickr.com) Heaven Ice Day / flickr. com LA638/flickr.com

There are many places on earth that amaze with their beauty and uniqueness. Lake Baikal is one of them. This richest reservoir embodied all ideas about primevalness. It can be calm when there is calm on its surface, or it can be ferocious and cruel when a storm breaks out.

Asking the question of what attracts the attention of Baikal, it is quite simple to answer it. Peculiarities geographical characteristics giant reservoir attract tourists thousands of kilometers away.

Lake Baikal (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com)

The greatest depth of Baikal is impressive. The maximum depth of the lake is from the surface of the water at a distance of 1642 meters.

This indicator brings Baikal to a leading position among the lakes on the planet. Following the Russian Baikal, African Tanganyika is far behind. The difference between the maximum depths of these majestic reservoirs is about 160 meters.

The average depth over the entire area of ​​the lake also deserves attention. Most of Baikal has a depth of about 730 meters. As for the area of ​​this reservoir, here, for understanding, we can cite the area of ​​Belgium or Denmark as an example. Equating the size of the lake to the territory of one of these countries, one can only imagine its boundless expanses.

Olkhon Island (Jason Rogers / flickr.com)

The reason for the incredible depth and length of Lake Baikal is the countless number of rivers and streams flowing into it. There are more than 300 of them: large and small streams and full-flowing powerful river flows. Despite the fact that only the Angara takes its source from the lake.

It is worth noting that Lake Baikal is considered the world's largest natural reservoir of clean fresh water. Its volumes exceed even the famous American Great Lakes. If we add up the volumes of Michigan, Erie, Huron, Ontario and Lake Superior, then their sum will still not reach equality with the capacity of Baikal, which is over 23,600 cubic kilometers.

The huge depth, impressive expanses of the reservoir, the length and width of the mirror surface caused the inhabitants to often call Baikal the sea. Located in the southeast of Eurasia, a powerful lake is famous for its storms and tides (similar to sea ones).

Why is the lake called Baikal?

The history of the name of the lake is associated with several legends known to the local people. According to the first version, in translation from Turkic it means "rich lake", and in the original language it sounds like Bai-Kul.

Khoboy Cape, Olkhon (Konstantin Malanchev / flickr.com)

The second variant of the origin of the name, according to historians, is associated with the Mongols - in their language, the reservoir was called Baigal (rich fire) or Baigal dalai (big sea). There is also a third version of the name, according to which the neighboring Chinese called the lake the "North Sea". In Chinese, it sounds like Bei-Hai.

Lake Baikal is one of the oldest water bodies on the earth's surface. This orographic unit went through a rather complex and long process of formation in the earth's crust.

More than 25 million years ago, the reservoir began its formation, which continues to this day. Recent geological studies prove that Baikal can rightfully be considered the beginning of another ocean, which, of course, will not appear in the near future, but scientists look almost unequivocally that it will happen.

The shores of the lake are expanding significantly every year, the body of water is growing before our eyes, so in the place of the lake in a few million years, according to researchers, there will be an ocean.

Lake research

unique hallmark Baikal waters is their amazing transparency. At a depth of up to forty meters, you can easily see every pebble at the bottom.

Olkhon Island, Baikal (Jason Rogers / flickr.com)

This is explained by simple chemical laws. The fact is that almost all rivers flowing into Baikal pass through crystals of sparingly soluble rocks.

Hence and low level mineralization of Baikal. It is about 100 milligrams per liter of lake water.

Due to the maximum depth of Baikal and the high coastline, exceeding the surface of the ocean by 450 meters, the bottom of the reservoir is rightfully considered the deepest depression not only on this continent, but also among other continents.

Due to the fact that scientists found out the exact location of the maximum depth of the lake, a dive was made to this point several years ago.

It is located within the island of Olkhon. A modern deep-sea instrument sank to the bottom for more than 1 hour. For some time, scientists have filmed and taken samples for a detailed study of the bottom composition of the water and the rocks present.

During this experiment, the researchers managed to discover new microorganisms and identify the source of Baikal pollution with oil.

Origin of Lake Baikaldescribed in the legends of the Buryats - the indigenous inhabitants of the Baikal region. They gave the name to Lake Baigal. According to legend, the earth cracked, and fire broke out from there. In horror, people shouted: "Bye, gall!" (“fire, stop!”). The fire went out and the crack filled with water. So, according to legend, the lake and its name appeared. There are other beautiful legends about the origin of the lake. According to one of them, the old man Baikal mourned his runaway daughter Angara and cried out a whole lake. According to another legend, a golden chariot with a fiery dragon descended from the sky. From the blow of his tail, the earth shook, a crevice formed, ice melted on the tops of the mountains, and a lake formed. These are all beautiful myths, but what really happened?

Location and dimensions

Baikal is located in the south of Eastern Siberia. The lake has the shape of a crescent and is elongated in a direction approximately from north to south. The longitudinal dimension is about 640 km. Transverse dimension ranges from 25 km to 79 km. The contour of the coastline is 2 thousand km. This is one of the largest lakes on earth.

The basin of the lake is divided into three separate parts - Southern, Middle, Northern. They have different depths. The deepest of them is the Middle - 1642 m. The northern and middle basins are separated by the Akademichesky ridge. Only in some parts of the lake, the peaks of the ridge protrude above the water and form islands. Between the Southern and Middle depressions is the Selenga bridge. This structure is hidden by the waters of Lake Baikal.

The sides of the basin are asymmetric. The western slope goes sharply down, while the eastern one is more gentle. The relief of the slopes is also different. The eastern coast is with underwater valleys, canyons, and the western coast is almost without dismemberment. The bottom of all depressions is leveled and has a slight slope towards the western coast. The bottom depth gradually decreases due to river sediments.

The lake is surrounded by mountains. They are made up of:

• Granite.
• Marble.
• Gneiss.
• Slate.
• Jade.
• Magnetite.
• Quartz.
• Lapis lazuli.

earthquakes

In the Baikal zone, the seismic background is high, and earthquakes are very frequent. Their strength is small - 1-2 points. But there are catastrophic aftershocks. So, as a result of an earthquake in the middle of the 19th century. with a force of 10 points, Proval Bay was formed. Its depth reaches 6 m, and the area is almost 200 km². Almost 100 years later, as a result of the same event, the bottom of the Middle Basin sank by 15-20 m.

Now there are no active volcanoes, but geologists are still studying their former activity. The origin of Lake Baikal and the current formation is associated with seismic activity in this zone. So, it is known that the shores of this lake diverge by 2 cm per year.

Glaciers

During the ice age, the relief of Baikal underwent changes. These traces are visible in rock fragments under the ice, sediments and bottom sediments. Geologists suggest that the thickness of the descending glaciers was 80-120 m. Perhaps there was no permanent ice cover. Otherwise life in the lake could not be. However, among the inhabitants now living in the lake there are golomyankas, sponges, amphipods, sculpins, flatworms. These organisms originated before this period.

Age

It is believed that Baikal is supposedly 25 million years old. However, this fact causes surprise and controversy about the age of the lake. The fact is that the lake usually does not live that long. This applies especially to those lakes that are of glacial origin. They exist for 10-15 thousand years, then they are filled with silt and disappear. There is speculation that it may be younger. At the same time, it is believed that the deep-sea part is 150 thousand years old, and the coastal part is only 8 thousand years old.

Versions

There is no consensus on the formation of Baikal. One thing is obvious, that it is located in the rift basin. Several versions of the formation of this lake were put forward:

• As a result of the failure of land during an earthquake (Pallas' hypothesis).
• As a result of compression of the earth's crust in a horizontal direction (Chersky's hypothesis).
• As a result of land subsidence along fault surfaces (Obruchev's hypothesis).
• As a result of processes in the world rift system, the Baikal rift (fault of the earth's crust).

And which version is closer to you?

lake formation process

In the south of Eastern Siberia, where the Irkutsk region borders on Buryatia, there is one of the seven wonders of the world - the largest and deepest fresh water reservoir in the world - Lake Baikal. The locals used to call it the sea, because the opposite shore is often out of sight. This is the largest fresh water reservoir on the planet with an area of ​​​​more than 31 thousand km², which would completely fit the Netherlands and Belgium, and the maximum depth of Baikal is 1642 m.

Lake-record holder

The crescent-shaped reservoir has a record length of 620 km, and a width of different places fluctuates between 24-79 km. The lake lies in a basin of tectonic origin, so its relief bottom is very deep - 1176 m below the level of the World Ocean, and the water surface rises 456 m above it. The average depth is 745 m. The bottom is extremely picturesque - various banks, in other words, ancient shallows, terraces, caves, reefs and canyons, plumes, ridges and plains. It consists of a wide variety of natural materials, including limestone and marble.

Above is the depth of Lake Baikal, according to this indicator, it is in first place on the planet. The African Tanganyika (1470 m) ranks second, and the Caspian (1025 m) closes the top three. The depth of other reservoirs is less than 1000 m. Baikal is a reservoir of fresh water, it is 20% of the world's reserves and 90% of Russia's. The tonnage of its mass is greater than in the entire system of the five Great Lakes of the United States - Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario and Superior. But the largest lake in Europe is still considered not Baikal (it is in 7th place in the world ranking), but Ladoga, which occupies 17,100 km². Some people are trying to compare the famous fresh water bodies in Russia and are wondering which lake is deeper - Baikal or Ladoga, although there is nothing to think about, since the average depth of Ladoga is only 50 m.

An interesting fact: Baikal takes in 336 large and small rivers, and releases only one from its embrace - the beautiful Angara.

In winter, the lake freezes to a depth of about a meter, and many tourists come to admire an exceptional sight - a transparent ice “floor”, under which blue and green water pierced by the sun splashes. The upper layers of ice are transformed into intricate shapes and blocks, carved by winds, currents and weather.

The famous Baikal water

Lake water was deified by the ancient tribes, they were treated with it and idolized. It is proved that Baikal water has unique properties- Oxygenated and practically distilled, and due to the presence of various microorganisms, it is devoid of minerals. It is famous for its exceptional transparency, especially in spring, when stones lying at a depth of 40 meters are visible from the surface. But in the summer, during the "blooming" period, the transparency decreases to 10. The waters of Lake Baikal are changeable: they shimmer from deep blue to rich green, these are the smallest forms of life that develop and give the reservoir new shades.

Baikal depth indicators

In 1960, researchers measured the depth near Capes Izhemey and Khara-Khushun with a cable lot and documented the deepest place of Lake Baikal - 1620 m. Two decades later, in 1983, the expedition of A. Sulimanov and L. Kolotilo corrected the indicators in this area and recorded new data - the deepest point was at a depth of 1642 m. Another 20 years later, in 2002, an international expedition under the auspices of a joint project of Russia, Spain and Belgium worked on creating a modern bathymetric map of Baikal and confirmed the latest measurements using acoustic sounding of the bottom .

The unique reservoir has always attracted the increased attention of scientists and researchers, who equipped all new expeditions in order to clarify the previous measurements of the depth in different parts reservoir. So, in 2008-2010, the MIR expeditions organized about 200 dives throughout the entire water area of ​​this fresh sea. They were attended by prominent politicians and businessmen, journalists, sportsmen and hydronauts from the countries of Western and Eastern Europe and Russia.

Where are the deepest places of Baikal

Since the bottom of the reservoir is dotted with faults, the depth of the lake in different parts of the water area differs:

• the deepest breaks in the earth's crust lie near the western shores;
• in the southern part, the record depth of the depression between the mouths of the rivers Pereemnaya and Mishikhi was recorded at 1432 m;
• in the north, the deepest place is located between capes Elokhin and Pokoiniki - 890 m;
• depressions in the Small Sea - up to 259 m, their location at the Big Olkhon Gates;
• The greatest depth of Baikal in the region of the Barguzinsky Bay reaches 1284 m, this point is located on the southern shores of the Svyatoy Nos peninsula.

Video: an interesting film about Lake Baikal

The unique ecosystem attracts scientists, researchers from different countries. Thousands of tourists go to the deepest lake in the world to enjoy the splendor of landscapes, landscapes that you will not find anywhere else. The boundless diversity of flora and fauna of the region, among which are mostly endemics (found only here), complements the wealth that nature has given to people.