Coastline of Lake Baikal. Message about Lake Baikal
Baikal is located in the center of Asia, in Russia, on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. The lake stretches from north to southwest for 636 km in the form of a giant crescent.
The length of the lake is approximately equal to the distance from Moscow to the Baltic. The width of Baikal ranges from 25 to 80 km.
Among the lakes the globe Lake Baikal ranks 1st in depth. On Earth, only 6 lakes have a depth of more than 500 meters. The greatest depth mark in the southern basin of Lake Baikal is 1423 m, in the middle - 1637 m, in the northern - 890 m.
Baikal depression
The Baikal depression is slightly wider than the modern lake, but much deeper than it. The depth of the depression is determined by the height of the mountains above it, the depth of the lake and the thickness of the bottom sediments lining its bottom. The most deep point Baikal's root basin lies about 5-6 thousand meters below the level of the world's oceans. According to the geologist N. A. Florensov, the "roots" of the basin cut through the entire earth's crust and go into the upper mantle to a depth of 50-60 km. This is the deepest basin of the earth's land. He figuratively called the Baikal depression a window into the bowels of the Earth, helping to understand the essence of its deep processes.
The lake lies in the Baikal depression - a bottomless stone bowl, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. Wherein West Coast- rocky and steep, relief east coast- more gentle (in some places the mountains recede from the coast for tens of kilometers).
Baikal- lake tectonic origin located in the southern part Eastern Siberia, on the border of the Republic of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region
Baikal itself
Lake Baikal stretches from southwest to north for 636 kilometers. The width of the lake varies from 25 to 80 km. The water surface area is 31,722 km. sq. Length coastline is 2100 km. Baikal deep lake land - his maximum depth 1642 meters. The lake has huge reserves of fresh water - 23,615 km. cubic meters, which is 20% of all world reserves.
The area around
Lake Baikal is surrounded on all sides by hills and mountain ranges. At the same time, the western coast is steep and rocky, while the eastern coast is more gentle. 336 streams and rivers flow into the Lake. The largest tributaries: Upper Angara, Selenga, Turka, Barguzin, Sarma, Snezhnaya. Only one river flows out of the lake - the Angara. There are 27 islands on Baikal, the largest of the islands is Olkhon, which is 71 km long and 12 wide, the largest peninsula is Svyatoy Nos
Climate
The huge water mass of Lake Baikal has a strong influence on the climate of the coastal area. Summers are cooler here, while winters are milder. Spring comes later by 10-15 days compared to the surrounding areas, and sometimes longer. The peculiarities of the climate are determined by the Baikal winds, which even have their own names - Sarma, Barguzin, Kultuk, Verkhovik.
When to go to Baikal
Characteristics
Briefly the main characteristics of Baikal
- Length - 363 km.
- Width - 79.5 km.
- Area -31722 sq. km.
- Volume - 23615 cubic meters. km.
- The average depth is 744 meters.
- The maximum depth is 1637 meters.
- There are 27 islands on Baikal.
- 29 fish species are endemic
Depth
Lake Baikal is the deepest in the world - 1637 meters, the depth was established in 1983. At the same time, the average depth is also very large - 744 meters. In 2002, these data were confirmed and a depth map was compiled.
- the area of Baikal is equal to the area of three countries - Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands.
- Baikal is the deepest lake on earth
- The lake contains 19% of the world's fresh water
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. The transverse size 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. East coast with underwater valleys, canyons, and the western one 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.
Not now active volcanoes, but geologists are still studying their past activities. 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?
Baikal is located almost in the center of Asia within 51°29′–55°46′ north latitude and 103°43′–109°58′ east longitude. The length of the lake is 636 km, the maximum width is 81 km, the length of the coastline is about 2000 km. The area is 31,500 km2. In terms of area, Baikal ranks 7th among the world's lakes after the Caspian, Victoria, Tanganyika, Huron, Michigan and Upper. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world - 1637 m, its average depth is 730 m.
In terms of water mass (23,000 km 3), Baikal ranks first among fresh lakes world, containing 20% of the world and 80% of Russia's water reserves. There is more water in Baikal than in all the Great American Lakes combined.
If we assume that the flow of water into the lake due to tributaries stopped, then a river equal to the water content of the Angara would begin to flow out of Baikal in 383 years, and it would take more than half a year (about 200 days) to fill the bowl of Baikal with all the rivers of the globe. The level of the lake after its regulation by the Irkutsk reservoir is maintained at 456–457 m above sea level. 336 rivers flow into Baikal (according to I. D. Chersky) and one Angara flows out. The area of the drainage basin is 588 thousand km 2, with 53% of it falling on the territory of Russia and 47% on Mongolia. 
Islands
Baikal has 30 islands (Bryansky, 1989), the largest of them is about. Olkhon, having a length of 71.7 km, a maximum width of 14 km, an area of 700 km 2. Olkhon is a piece of land left above the water as a result of tectonic movements. Most of the island is occupied by a mountain range with gentle northwestern slopes and steep, steep southeastern slopes. greatest height 1274 m in the area of metro station Izhimey (mountain Zhima).In the northeastern part of the lake, near the Svyatoy Nos peninsula, there is an archipelago of the Ushkany Islands, consisting of four islands. The largest of them is Bolshoi Ushkanii, with an area of 9 km 2 and the highest elevation of 671 m. It rises 216 m above the lake level. The three Small Ushkanii Islands are small in size and height. According to V. V. Lomakin (1965), the Ushkany Islands rose above the level of Baikal relatively recently, as evidenced by wave-cut niches preserved in the rocks at a height of 200 m and a series of lake terraces.
Svyatoy Nos is the only peninsula on Baikal. Its length is 53 km, width up to 20 km, area 596 km2. The peninsula is a continuation of the Barguzinsky Range and rises 1000 meters above the level of Lake Baikal. The western slopes are rocky, slightly dissected, in some places abruptly dropping into the water. The eastern ones, on the contrary, are strongly dissected, replete with numerous bays and capes.
gulfs
Six large bays can be distinguished in the water area of Lake Baikal. The largest is Barguzinsky (725 km 2), then Chivyrkuisky (270 km 2), Proval (197 km 2), Posolsky (35 km 2), Cherkalov (20 km 2), Mukhor (16 km 2) follow in descending order.Bay, like the bay, is a part of the lake that goes into the land, but it is more open. There are about two dozen bays on Baikal (Listvennichnaya, Goloustnaya, Peschanaya, Aya, etc.).
Sora. On Baikal, closed shallow bays are called sors. The depths of sors usually do not exceed 7 m. They are formed when coastal shallow waters or bays are separated by moving coastal sediments, which form spits, embankments with breaks (straits). These formations are called by the local population kargoy. The largest sor is Upper Angara or North Baikal. Part of its water area is swampy, covered with aquatic vegetation. The largest sors in terms of open water surface area are the Arangatuisky and the Posolsky and Cherkalov bays mentioned above. Sors warm up well in summer and are the richest fishing grounds (Galaziy, 1987).
Straits
The Small Sea is a part of Baikal, located between the northwestern coast of the lake and about. Olkhon. The length of this strait is 76 km, the maximum width is 17 km, the prevailing depths are from 50 to 200 m.The Olkhon Gates strait washes Olkhon from the west and southwest. Its length in the middle part is more than 8 km, and the width at its narrowest point is 1.3 km, and at its widest point it is 2.3 km. The depth in the middle part is about 30–40 m.
You can find whole volumes of information about Baikal, both on the Internet and in various magazines and book editions. The lake is not deprived of attention from tourists, researchers and politicians. From year to year, stunning scientific discoveries are connected with Baikal, expeditions are constantly equipped for thorough research. I decided to dedicate this topic to the most interesting facts and events related to Lake Baikal. I will try to save you from boring geographical terms, only the most interesting will be here. Most of the photos in the topic are clickable (open on click)
- one of ancient lakes planets and the deepest lake in the world. Baikal is one of the ten largest lakes in the world. Its average depth is about 730 meters, the maximum is 1637 meters. In 1996, Baikal was included in the list world heritage UNESCO
Scientists disagree about the origin of Lake Baikal, as well as about its age. Scientists traditionally determine the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal unique. natural object, since most lakes, especially of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then they are filled with silt sediments and swamp
There is also a version about the relative youth of Lake Baikal, put forward by Alexander Tatarinov, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the Worlds expedition to Baikal. In particular, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to assume that the modern coastline of the lake is only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-water part is 150 thousand years old.
Baikal contains about 19% of the world's fresh water reserves. There is more water in Baikal than in all five Great Lakes taken together and 25 times more than, for example, in Lake Ladoga
The water in the lake is so transparent that individual stones and various objects can be seen at a depth of 40 m. clearest water Baikal contains so few mineral salts (100 mg/l) that it can be used instead of distilled 
2,630 species and varieties of plants and animals live in Baikal, 2/3 of which are endemic, that is, they live only in this reservoir. Such an abundance of living organisms is explained by the high oxygen content in the entire thickness of the Baikal water. 
Photo of Baikal from space 
The most interesting in Baikal is the viviparous golomyanka fish, whose body contains up to 30% fat. She surprises biologists with daily feeding migrations from the depths to shallow water. 
The second, after the golomyanka, the miracle of Baikal, to which it owes its exceptional purity, is the epishura crustacean (numbers about 300 species). The Baikal epishura is a copepod, 1 mm long, a representative of plankton, found throughout the depth (it is not found in bays where the water warms up). Baikal would not be Baikal without this copepod, barely noticeable to the eye, surprisingly efficient and numerous, managing to filter all Baikal water ten times a year, or even more 
A typical marine mammal lives here - a seal, or a Baikal seal. 
Baikal's water reserves would be enough for 40 years for the inhabitants of the whole Earth, and at the same time 46 x 1015 people could quench their thirst
Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. Thus, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station discovered unusual shapes ice cover, characteristic only for Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 meters high, hollow inside. Outwardly, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the opposite direction from the coast. Hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature " mountain ranges»
Satellite images clearly show dark rings 5-7 km in diameter on the ice of Lake Baikal. The origin of the rings is not known. Scientists believe that the rings on the ice of the lake may have already appeared many times, but it was impossible to see them because of their huge size. Now, with the use of the latest technology, this has become possible, and scientists will begin to study this phenomenon. For the first time, such rings were discovered in 1999, then in 2003, 2005. As you can see, rings do not form every year. The rings are also not located in the same place. Scientists were particularly interested in the reason for the displacement of the rings in 2008 to the southwest, compared with 1999, 2003 and 2005. In April 2009, such rings were found again, and again in a different place than last year. Scientists suggest that the rings are formed due to the release natural gas from the bottom of Baikal. However, the exact causes and mechanisms of the formation of dark rings on the Baikal ice have not yet been studied, and no one knows their exact nature.
The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal rift zone) belongs to areas with high seismicity: earthquakes regularly occur here, the strength of most of which is one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, strong ones also happen, so in 1862, during a ten-point Kudarinsky earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of 200 km2 went under water? with 6 uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, and the Proval Bay was formed
A unique deep-sea neutrino telescope NT-200, built in 1993-1998, was created and operates on the lake, with the help of which high-energy neutrinos are detected. On its basis, the NT-200+ neutrino telescope with an increased effective volume is being created, the construction of which is expected to be completed no earlier than 2017.
The first dives of manned submersibles on Baikal were made in 1977, when the bottom of the lake was explored on the deep-sea submersible "Pices" of Canadian production. In Listvenichny Bay, a depth of 1,410 meters was reached. In 1991, the Pisis sank to a depth of 1,637 meters from the eastern side of Olkhon.
In the summer of 2008, the Foundation for Assistance to the Preservation of Lake Baikal carried out a scientific research expedition “Mira” on Baikal. 52 deep-sea manned submersibles “Mir” were dived to the bottom of Lake Baikal. Scientists delivered water samples to the P.P. Shirshov Research Institute of Oceanology soil and microorganisms raised from the bottom of Lake Baikal
In 1966, production began at the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM), as a result of which the adjacent bottom areas of the lake began to degrade. Dust and gas emissions have a negative impact on the taiga around the BPPM, dry tops and drying of the forest are noted. In September 2008, the plant introduced a closed water circulation system designed to reduce the discharge of wash water. According to the source, the system turned out to be inoperable and less than a month after its launch, the plant had to be stopped. 
There are many legends associated with. The most fascinating of them is connected with the Angara River:
In the old days, the mighty Baikal was cheerful and kind. He deeply loved his only daughter Angara. She was not more beautiful on earth. During the day it is light - lighter than the sky, at night it is dark - darker than the clouds. And whoever rode past the Angara, everyone admired her, everyone praised her. Even migratory birds: geese, swans, cranes - descended low, but rarely landed on the water of the Angara. They said: “Is it possible to blacken light?”
Old man Baikal took care of his daughter more than his heart. Once, when Baikal fell asleep, Angara rushed to run to the young Yenisei. Father woke up, angrily splashed waves. A fierce storm arose, mountains sobbed, forests fell, the sky turned black from grief, animals fled in fear all over the earth, fish dived to the very bottom, birds flew away to the sun. Only the wind howled, and the heroic sea raged. Mighty Baikal hit the gray-haired mountain, broke off a rock from it and threw it after the fleeing daughter. The rock fell on the very throat of the beauty. The blue-eyed Angara pleaded, panting and sobbing, and began to ask:
“Father, I am dying of thirst, forgive me and give me at least one drop of water.”
Baikal shouted angrily:
“I can only give my tears!”
For thousands of years, the Angara has been flowing into the Yenisei with water-tear, and the gray-haired lonely Baikal has become gloomy and scary. The rock that Baikal threw after his daughter was called by people the Shaman stone. Rich sacrifices were made to Baikal there. People said: “Baikal will be angry, it will tear off the Shaman stone, the water will gush and flood the whole earth.” Currently, the river is blocked by a dam, so only the top of the shaman stone is visible from the water. 
There is a legend among the people about the creation of Baikal "The Lord looked: the unkind land came out ... no matter how she began to be offended by him! And so that she would not hold a grudge, he took and waved her not some kind of foot mat, but the very measure of his generosity, which he measured how much to be from him. The measure fell and turned into Baikal. 
