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| 1774 Lake Baikal - Babushka Bay |
Posted on 25.07.2015, 13.11.2015
Located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, Lake Baikal is the largest (by volume) freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water. Also, at 1,642m, it is the world's deepest lake, and is considered among the world's clearest and the world's oldest lake (25 million years). It was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape. Known as the "Galapagos of Russia", Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two-thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
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| 2033 Lake Baikal -The Turtle Rock |
The lake is divided into three basins: North, Central, and South. The North and Central basins are separated by Academician Ridge, while the area around the Selenga Delta and the Buguldeika Saddle separates the Central and South basins. The lake is fed by as many as 330 inflowing rivers, and it drains into the Angara tributary of the Yenisei. It is completely surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are technically protected as a national park. It contains 27 islands; the largest, Olkhon, is 72 km long and is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world.
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