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Lake Baikal: The World’s Largest, Deepest Lake

In 1996 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

By Telangana Today

Published Date - 9 May 2021, 06:12 PM

Lake Baikal: The World’s Largest, Deepest Lake — Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world (by volume) and the world’s deepest lake. Somewhat crescent-shaped, it is in the southern Siberia area of Russia.

In 1996 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lake Baikal is the oldest lake in the world. It is home to approximately 1,700 to 1,800 endemic plant and animal species.

It holds 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, due to the lake’s depth. Read more about the lake here…

Location

Lake Baikal is located in south-central Russia near the Mongolian border. The largest nearby city is Irkutsk. Lake Baikal has historically played a large role in the Russian imagination. It represents the unspoiled beauty of Russia and is sometimes referred to as the Sacred Sea.

Lake Baikal features

There are 27 mostly uninhabited islands in Lake Baikal, according to Lake Baikal.org. The largest is 45-mile-long (72 km) Olkhon, on which there are villages. About 1,500 people live there.

More than 300 streams and rivers feed into Lake Baikal, but the Angara River is the only outlet. It carries out about 60 cubic km (15.8 trillion gallons) of water per year into the Yenisei River. Eventually, the water makes its way to the Arctic Ocean.

Lake Baikal is considered one of the clearest lakes in the world. During the summer, when the lake is full of melted ice from the Siberian mountains, it is sometimes possible to see more than 130 feet (39 m) down. Lake Baikal attracts more than 5, 00,000 tourists a year.

Ecosystem

According to the UNESCO World Heritage Commission, Lake Baikal is sometimes called the “Galapagos of Russia” because of its exceptional biodiversity and importance to evolutionary science. The age, isolation, and deep oxygenated water of Lake Baikal have resulted in one of the world’s richest freshwater ecosystems.

About 80 percent of the more than 3,700 species found at Lake Baikal are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else on Earth.

Threats to the lake

As Russia and Mongolia have become increasingly industrialized and tourism has increased, Lake Baikal has faced more and more threats to its environment. Additionally, climate change is threatening its ecosystem. Water temperatures and ice cover have already changed.

By the numbers

Volume: 5,521 cubic miles of water (23,013 cubic km)
Maximum depth: 5,354 feet (1,632 meters).
Length: 397 miles (640 km)
Maximum width: 49 miles (79.5 km)
Coastline area: 1,300 miles (2,100 km).