Lake Baikal hypothesis. Lake Baikal: interesting facts. Detailed description of the process
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 ground cracked and fire burst out. In horror, people shouted: “Bai, Gaul!” (“fire, stop!”). The fire went out and the crack filled with water. This is how, according to legend, the lake and its name arose. There are other beautiful legends about the origin of the lake. According to one of them, old man Baikal mourned his runaway daughter Angara and cried out the 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, the 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 in the south Eastern Siberia. The lake has the shape of a sickle and is elongated in a direction approximately from north to south. The longitudinal size is about 640 km. The transverse size ranges from 25 km to 79 km. The coastline contour is 2 thousand km. This is one of the largest lakes on Earth.
The lake basin is divided into three separate parts - Southern, Middle, Northern. They have different depths. The deepest of them is the Middle one - 1642 m. The Northern and Middle basins are separated by the Academichesky Ridge. Only in some parts of the lake the tops of the ridge protrude above the water and form islands. Between the Southern and Middle depressions there is the Selenga bridge. This structure is hidden by the waters of Lake Baikal.
The sides of the basin are asymmetrical. The western slope goes down sharply, while the eastern slope is more gentle. The relief of the slopes is also different. Eastern Bank with underwater valleys, canyons, and the western one is almost without division. The bottom of all depressions is leveled and has a slight slope towards the western shore. The depth of the bottom gradually decreases due to river sediments.
The lake is surrounded by mountains. They consist of breeds:
- Granita.
- Marble.
- Gneiss.
- Slate.
- Jade.
- Magnetite.
- Quartz.
- Lapis lazuli.
Earthquakes
In the Baikal zone, the seismic background is high, earthquakes are very frequent. Their strength is small - 1-2 points. But there are catastrophic shocks. So, as a result of an earthquake in the mid-19th century. With a force of 10, Proval Bay was formed. Its depth reaches 6 m, and its area is almost 200 km². Almost 100 years later, as a result of the same event, the bottom of the Middle Basin dropped by 15-20 m.
Not now active volcanoes, but geologists are still studying their past activities. The origin of Lake Baikal and its current formation is associated with seismic activity in this zone. Thus, it is known that the shores of this lake diverge by 2 cm per year.
Glaciers
During the Ice Age, the relief of Lake Baikal underwent changes. These traces are visible in the wreckage rocks under ice, sediments and sediments. Geologists suggest that the thickness of the descending glaciers was 80-120 m. Perhaps there was no permanent ice cover. There could be no other way of life in the lake. However, among the inhabitants currently living in the lake there are golomyankas, sponges, amphipods, sculpin gobies, and flatworms. These organisms arose before this period.
Age
It is believed that Baikal is supposedly 25 million years old. However, this fact raises surprises and debates about the age of the lake. The fact is that a lake usually does not last that long. This applies especially to those lakes that are of glacial origin. They exist for 10-15 thousand years, then they fill 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 Lake Baikal. One thing is obvious: it is located in a rift basin. Several versions of the formation of this lake have been 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 the horizontal direction (Chersky's hypothesis).
- As a result of land subsidence along fault surfaces (Obruchev’s hypothesis).
- As a consequence of processes in the global rift system, the Baikal rift (fault in the earth's crust).
Which version is closer to you?
Lake Baikal
There are places on Earth whose pristine beauty, grandeur and amazing harmony seem to demonstrate the unlimited possibilities of the creative power of nature. It is still not clear how Baikal arose - as a result of inevitable transformations or because of a monstrous catastrophe and failure in the earth's crust. This is the Siberian Lake Baikal - a unique creation of nature, a national treasure and the pride of Russia.
The mystery of the origin of Baikal has long haunted people. Where did this sea of pure water come from, surrounded picturesque mountains and pristine nature? The first explanation can be found in the Buryat legend, the essence of which was that at first there was continuous fire, then the earth collapsed and the sea became. The hypothesis of the creation of all these miracles in seven days is well known, which easily explains everything and even more, but experiences significant chronological difficulties and does not correspond well to archaeological data.
Baikal is one of the oldest lakes on the planet; scientists estimate its age at 25-30 million years. Most lakes, especially those of glacial and ancient origin, live for 10-15 thousand years, and then fill with sediment and disappear from the face of the Earth. There are no signs of aging on Baikal, like many lakes in the world. On the contrary, research recent years allowed geophysicists to hypothesize that Baikal is an incipient ocean. This is confirmed by the fact that its shores diverge at a rate of 2 cm per year, just as the continents of Africa and South America.
The depressions that appeared during stretching and fractures of the earth's crust began to quickly fill with water. The middle one is considered the oldest of them. Later, a southern basin arose, merging with the middle one. About 1 million years ago there were two lakes, one which included the modern southern and middle basins and, separated from it modern island Olkhon and now the underwater Academic Ridge, northern. About 500,000 years ago, these lakes connected, forming almost modern Baikal. Baikal was then connected to the World Ocean not through the Yenisei basin, but through the Lena. It was through the Lena, as researchers believe, that the seal and omul entered the lake. The ancient channel along which water left Baikal is the current Manzurka River.
About 100 thousand years ago, as a result of a strong earthquake, a section of the shore of Lake Baikal sank in the area of the modern village of Listvennichnoe. The waters of Lake Baikal poured into the resulting passage, forming the modern Angara. It is possible that it was this catastrophe (and it could not have been a catastrophe) that inspired our ancient ancestors to create the legend about the flight of the beautiful daughter Angara from the formidable father Baikal to the handsome Yenisei. By the way, the Yenisei was a rather unenviable groom - to the point of confluence of the Yenisei and Angara, the latter brings significantly more water…
In the distant past, the peoples inhabiting the shores of Baikal each called the lake in their own way. The Chinese in ancient chronicles called it “Tengis”, “Tengis-dalai”, the Buryat-Mongols called it “Baigaal-dalai” - a large reservoir. The origin of the name Baikal is not precisely established.
The most common version is that “Baikal” is a Turkic word, derived from “bai” - rich, “kul” - lake, which means “rich lake”. The first Russian explorers of Siberia used the Evenki name “Lama”. After Kurbat Ivanov’s detachment reached the shore of the lake, the Russians switched to the Buryat name “Baigaal”. At the same time, they linguistically adapted it to their language, replacing the “g” characteristic of the Buryats with the more familiar “k” for the Russian language - “Baikal”.
Indigenous people consider Baikal sacred, and many treat it not as a lake, but as a living, intelligent and wise creature. There are many legends and beliefs associated with it. The indigenous Buryat will not allow himself to unnecessarily throw a coastal stone into the lake: “Baikal wave laid it in this place, which means it should lie here!” The sacredness of the lake-sea was unconditionally recognized (or perhaps felt) by the Russian pioneers.
For most people, Lake Baikal is somewhere very far away. The origin of Lake Baikal is shrouded in legends about great catastrophes on a planetary scale, about gods and their deeds. The scientific point of view also exists - of course there is no mysticism in it.
Lake Baikal is located on the territory Irkutsk region and Buryatia. It is considered a lake of tectonic origin. The age of Lake Baikal is estimated differently. Some scientists put it at 35 million years. But Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009 put forward the version that the deep-sea part of Lake Baikal was formed 150 thousand years ago, and the modern coastline and at all - only 8 thousand years. Tatarinov justified such results with the results of the “Mirov” expedition on Lake Baikal. So, with the age of Lake Baikal, everything is also very ambiguous.
Lake Baikal is also called the Siberian Sea.
Lake Baikal contains 19% of the world's fresh water. How much water is in Lake Baikal - estimated at 23,615 km³. There is only one lake in the world, the displacement of which is greater than that of Lake Baikal - the Caspian Sea (not everyone knows, but there is a lake on this sea).
Despite the fact that Baikal is located in, there is a lot of sun here. Climatic conditions Lake Baikal has its own unique characteristics: sometimes the sun burns mercilessly, but cold winds blow, sometimes fierce storms blow in, sometimes in the summer the weather is calm and hot and tens of thousands of tourists flock to Lake Baikal for beach holiday. In terms of the number of sunny days, Lake Baikal surpasses many resorts on the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts.
The maximum depth of Lake Baikal is 1642 m. Many people write that Lake Baikal is shaped like a crescent. Rather, sorry if something is wrong, a banana. But very big. The length of Lake Baikal is 620 km (about the same as from Moscow to St. Petersburg), the width reaches 80 km. The length of the coastline is 2100 km.
Lake Baikal has 27 islands, the largest of which is . Many islands are sacred local residents and are protected by law. There are generally many sacred places on Baikal, the history of which is shrouded in mystery and legends. The predominant religion here is rather Buddhism, at least Buddhist symbols and objects of worship are found everywhere.
Lake Baikal water
The water temperature in Baikal is a phenomenon. In summer, only the upper layer of water and shallow coastal bays warm up in the lake. But at depth the temperature is always constant - about +4 °C.
The waters of Baikal are generally a separate mystery. Lakes of this age do not have such crystal clear water, but in Baikal it is very clean. Usually, over time, lakes silt up, and after 10-15 thousand years there are swamps in their place. Baikal not only does not become shallow, but also contains clean water that can be drunk directly from the lake without fear. In addition, the water of Baikal is saturated with oxygen to a very high degree compared to other freshwater bodies.
Lake Baikal owes its purity largely to a tiny (1.5 mm in length) crustacean called epishura. There are a lot of these crustaceans in the water of the lake. They both clean the water and provide food for the famous Baikal omul and predatory invertebrates.
The transparency of the water in Lake Baikal is also very high. IN good weather through the 40-meter water thickness you can see the bottom of the lake! In winter, Lake Baikal also has surprisingly clear ice. You just need to find a place not covered by snow, and so to speak - feel like God - walk on the water. The water above is really frozen, but below there is still the same picture - the bottom, the fish, and you are walking above them. 
Baikal is fed by the waters of more than 300 rivers, and only one river flows out of Baikal -.
Ice of Baikal
Lake Baikal freezes unevenly in winter. Bays and bays, as well as Northern part The lake freezes in November - December. And in the south, ice appears only in February, and if the winter is warm, then at the end of February.
The thickness of the ice on Baikal by the end of winter reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5–2 m. On Baikal there is a phenomenon that the locals call “stanova cracks”. This is when cracks appear in the ice in severe frost. They break the ice into pieces large fields. The length of these cracks is amazing - from 10 to 30 km, and the width is only 2-3 m. As you understand, it is better not to be in such a place at the time of the rupture. Breaks occur every year and in approximately the same places in the lake. Sound effect like gun shots.
Such breaks save fish in the lake from lack of oxygen. So mysterious, but needed by the lake natural mechanism. And due to the transparency of the ice, sunlight penetrates through it, due to which planktonic algae, which produce oxygen, develop rapidly in the water even in winter.
Another amazing ice phenomenon on Lake Baikal is the ice hills. These are hollow, cone-shaped ice hills that reach a height of 5-6 meters. In some of them you can find an “entrance”, and it is usually located in the direction opposite to the shore. It looks like an ice tent. Sometimes such tents stand alone, but are often grouped, resembling mountain ranges, only in miniature.
Another mysterious phenomenon was discovered using space photography - dark rings. 
The rings have a diameter of up to 7 km. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the rings are formed due to the rise of water from the depths of the lake. Due to the difference in temperature, a clockwise flow occurs, reaching different speeds in certain zones. As a result, the ice cover is destroyed, and the shape of the destroyed areas is ring-shaped.
Shores of Lake Baikal
The coastal landscape is very diverse. Most It is occupied by taiga, and in some places it is swampy. There are many difficult to pass places where there are no roads or settlements. But there are also many areas that look quite hospitable, sand, pine trees, cedars, wild rosemary. But from the side of the Tazheran steppe, in the surrounding area and on the island, the landscapes of the Baikal region are different - steppes, cliffs with forests of Siberian larch. 
The terrain on the coast of Lake Baikal is generally mountainous and transport infrastructure because of this he suffers greatly. In many places to travel by road from one settlement located on the shore, to another located, you need to make a long detour of tens of kilometers. A quarter of the coast of Lake Baikal does not have public access highways generally and practically uninhabited (there is somewhere for the Chinese to settle, I think they would be happy).
Bottom relief
Lake Baikal is also unique in its bottom topography. It has its own underwater mountain ranges, the largest of which are Academichesky and Selenginsky. These ridges divide the lake into three basins.
Earthquakes are also possible on Lake Baikal. More precisely, this is a common thing. But tremors usually do not exceed 2 points. But there were other cases:
- in 1862, a magnitude 10 earthquake was recorded, as a result of which a section of land in the northern part of the Selenga delta went under water
- there were points about 9 points in 1903, 1950, 1957 and 1959
- in 2008 - 9 points
- in 2010 - 6 points
Fauna and flora of Baikal
Vegetable and animal world are unique here. The lake serves as a reliable shelter for almost three thousand species of animals and thousands of plants. Many species are found only here. And this despite the fact that, as scientists suggest, of the living organisms living in the lake, more than 20% are still unknown to science. Fishing lovers will have a good time on Lake Baikal (if the bite goes well, of course). Common species include grayling, taimen, whitefish, sturgeon, omul, lenok, and golomyanka. There are about sixty species in total.
The top of the biosphere on Lake Baikal is occupied by the Baikal seal. There are no other mammals in this body of water. There are still heated debates about how the Baikal seal, a purely marine mammal, got to Baikal and comfortably took root here. It is assumed that it came here in the distant times of the Ice Age, moving from the Arctic Ocean along the Angara and Yenisei. Now tens of thousands of animals live here.
Many animals and birds live along the shores of Lake Baikal. Here you will meet seagulls, goldeneye, razorbills, mergansers, white-tailed eagles, and other birds. You can see mass swimming of brown bears (just be careful!). In the mountainous part of the Baikal taiga lives musk deer - the smallest deer on Earth.
Where does the name Baikal come from?
Researchers are still arguing about the origin of the name of the lake. There are several assumptions:
- Bai-Kul - translated from Turkic means “rich lake”;
- Baigal - from the Mongolian “rich fire”;
- Baigal Dalai - in the same Mongolian means “big lake”;
- Beihai - means "north sea" in Chinese;
- Baigal-Nuur - Buryat name;
- Lamu - that’s what the Evenki called the lake.
It is believed that the first explorers who appeared here in the seventeenth century eventually adopted the Buryat name, but softened the letter “g”, giving the name the sound that now exists.
Tourism and recreation on Lake Baikal
There are a lot of beautiful places on Lake Baikal. On my website you will find many stories from our tourists about trips and holidays on Lake Baikal (see the “Stories” section). A peculiarity of tourism on Lake Baikal is that the places that one would like to see are often located at large distances from each other. So if you want to see not all, but many of the beauties of Lake Baikal, you need to work out a competent route. If you feel that you cannot do it yourself, contact private guides or buy a comprehensive tour to Lake Baikal.
In any case, you won’t be able to see everything on Lake Baikal at once. Baikal is so big that it would take more than one vacation to travel around it all.
The largest number of tourists visiting Lake Baikal occurs, of course. in summer. The most popular places— Listvyanka village, Maloye More and Olkhon Island. People with a small budget, and even the most demanding ones will find a place for themselves. Lake Baikal is visited not only by Russians, but by many tourists from all over the world. The latter sometimes pay exorbitant amounts of money for such a vacation, but they still go.
In general, judging by the reviews, a holiday on Lake Baikal is not one of the cheapest, especially if you need to travel from places other than nearby cities. But nevertheless, Baikal sets records for attendance - the number of tourists reaches seven figures per year.
In summer, people relax on the beaches, go on bicycle and car excursions, go to hiking along the coast. There are rafting trips on the rivers flowing into Baikal, and much more.
Climbing cliffs, mountains and descents into grottoes and caves are popular in all seasons.
Fishing
There is a lot of fish in Baikal and lovers find a variety of places in the hope of catching omul or other fish on their own. For the most adventurous, there are specialized bases with varying levels of comfort. They go fishing on rented boats.
The most popular places for fishing on Lake Baikal are Chivyrkuisky Bay, Mukhor Bay, shallow bays of the Small Sea and, of course, the rivers flowing into the lake.
Lake Baikal in winter
Despite the severity of the Siberian climate, there are people who like to come to Baikal in winter. Fantastic ice world Baikal is fascinating. Snowmobiling and dog sledding are popular.
Most Popular Attractions
Baikal is home to many historical and architectural attractions, and even more natural and cultural monuments.
One of the most famous attractions is Shaman stone. These are a couple of boulders rising above the water at the source of the Angara. Locals have been worshiping these stones since time immemorial and consider them endowed with special powers.
Another rock, the photo of which is unusually widespread on the Internet for the search “Baikal” and “Olkhon Island” - Shamanka rock. Also sacred place for the Buryats, access here for tourists was not always open. 
Also on Olkhon Island there are many other religious and historical places. The good thing about Olkhon is that in the summer you can sunbathe there, swim, visit a bunch of excursions, or travel around the island on your own.
Holiday seasons on Lake Baikal
Baikal is beautiful at all times of the year. Summer, as throughout Russia, is the most popular season. The warmest weather is from the second half of July to the beginning of August. From November it becomes not very hospitable here until the ice stops. In March and early April, tourists flock to Lake Baikal, especially those who like to take photos. The reason for this is the sparkling, transparent ice of Baikal. There is another one - ice fishing. In spring, Baikal is also very beautiful, there are no longer severe frosts and winds. Lovers winter holidays find a combination weather conditions and the beauty of the scenery is very attractive. 
Relax on Baikal, enjoy its nature and energy. Take care of Lake Baikal, don’t leave landfills behind, don’t organize logging. This lake is thousands of years old and in many, many more years it needs to be as beautiful and attractive as it is now.
Members of the expedition of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences were among the first to put forward their explanation for the appearance of Lake Baikal at the end of the 18th century. German researchers Johann Georgi and Peter Pallas, who collaborated with the Academy at the invitation of Catherine II, believed that the lake basin was formed after a tectonic collapse of part of the land, which was caused by a natural disaster.
The cause of the failure, Georgi believed, was a powerful earthquake, which could even have affected the course of the local rivers.
A century later, political exile Jan Czerski, a Pole, put forward his own version of the origin of Baikal. He was based on his observations and research that he made during his travels around the lake. The talented scientist suggested that the basin and the mountains around it arose after the earth's crust slowly moved in a horizontal direction.
Since then, many scientists have put forward their own arguments in favor of one or another hypothesis, which often differed only in small details. V.A. came closest to the modern understanding of the problem of the formation of Lake Baikal. Obruchev. In his opinion, Baikal was formed together with mountain system Siberia.
Obruchev believed that the depression, which later became a lake, arose after land subsided along two rupture surfaces that followed in a vertical direction.
A modern view of the problem of the emergence of Lake Baikal
Progress in the study of the origin of the Baikal basin was made possible only by scientific achievements last century. When geologists and geophysicists discovered the existence of a global system of faults in the earth's crust, it turned out that the emergence of Baikal became part of processes occurring on a planetary scale. Researchers have discovered that several depressions on Earth have a nature similar to Lake Baikal. Examples include lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa, as well as the Red Sea.
According to scientists, the tectonic processes that led to the formation of the lake began more than 30 million years ago.
The Baikal Basin is considered today to be the central part of the rift of the same name, that is, a depression formed after a shift of the earth’s crust. The length of the rift is more than two thousand kilometers. The depression is located between two powerful lithospheric plates. At first, geophysicists believed that the lake basin arose as a result of the collision of these plates, but then it was assumed that their interaction was added to by an increase in the temperature of the mantle located under the Baikal depression.
Lake Baikal is the deepest on planet Earth, as well as the richest in fresh water (slightly less than 20% of the world's reserves are concentrated in this reservoir). Let's get acquainted with the origin of the Lake Baikal basin and learn some things about it Interesting Facts.
Description of the reservoir
This amazing lake is located in Eastern Siberia, on the border of the Buryat Republic and the Irkutsk region. The features of the reservoir are:
- Area - more than 31 thousand square meters. km.
- Volume - more than 23,615 cubic meters. km.
- The length of the coastline is 2.1 thousand km.
- The length of Lake Baikal is more than 630 km.
- The deepest section is 1.6 km.
- Average depth - 740 m.
- More than 330 rivers flow into it, the largest of which are Barguzin, Selenga, Turka, and Upper Angara.
The reservoir has the shape of a crescent, the width of which is from 25 to almost 80 km. Interestingly, the size of the giant lake is equal to the area of states such as Denmark or Belgium. Located on the territory of the Asian part of the Russian Federation, Baikal is surrounded on all sides by mountains and hills; in the west its coast is steep, but towards the east it becomes flat.
Briefly about depth
This unusual body of water is a true leader, since the greatest depth of Lake Baikal is 1637 meters. This value was discovered during hydrographic surveys in 1983. The data was later confirmed in 2002, during a joint study by several countries:
- Russia;
- Belgium;
- Spain.
Interestingly, the surface of the lake is located at an altitude of just over 450 m above the level of the World Ocean, while the lowest point is located at a depth of more than 1180 m below sea level. Therefore the cup deepest lake The planet becomes the deepest among continental depressions.
The average depth is also amazing, more than 744 meters. It is known that there are only two lakes on the planet with places more than a kilometer deep:
- Tanganyika.
- Caspian Sea (despite the name, this is also a lake).
But the deepest section of Lake Baikal is almost 200 meters superior to a similar place in Tanganyika.
Origin theories
Let's consider the origin of Lake Baikal, which is this moment has not yet been fully studied and is controversial in the scientific world. First, we present scientific facts that are recognized by all researchers:
- The reservoir is located in a rift basin.
- Its structure is in many ways reminiscent of the Dead Sea.
But what caused the formation of this fault? Further, the opinions of scientists differ:
- According to the first theory, Lake Baikal, whose area is more than 31 thousand km 2, is located in the area of the transform fault. That's why it became so deep.
- It is believed that there is a mantle plume under the reservoir.
- Another version is that the collision of the Eurasian plate and Hindustan (which in those eras was an independent continent) led to changes in the surface of the Earth, and it was then that the highest Mountain peaks Himalayas and Baikal depression. However, later this hypothesis was criticized, since scientists were able to prove that by the period of formation of the Himalayas, the platforms of the earth’s crust, on the border of which the depression is located, had already been formed and colossal changes did not affect them.
- The outpouring of basalt on the surface led to the appearance of vacuum pockets and subsidence of the depression.
How do researchers explain the origin of the Lake Baikal basin? It is believed to be the central part of the Baikal Rift Zone. Under the depression, processes of heating the subsoil occur, the substance of which, spreading, creates horizontal tension. In turn, they contribute to the formation of new faults and the opening of ancient ones, the lowering of entire blocks and the formation of depressions.
Detailed description of the process
We will describe in detail the origin of Lake Baikal, which is essentially a rift. In this case, the word “rift” refers to a fracture in the earth’s crust, shaped like a crack or ditch. The Baikal rift is very long, its length is more than 2.5 thousand km, stretches in the central part of Asia from Yakutia to Mongolia. And the lake is located in the central part of the fault, in its deepest region.
The maximum rift depth was calculated: the most deep place lakes (1637 m) + rock fragments, dead animals and plants (about 8 km) = 9637 meters.
How did the formation of the fault itself take place?
- Under the influence of high temperatures, the earth's crust became thinner and became covered with cracks.
- This process was accompanied by earthquakes and the appearance of faults.
- The completion of the process was the appearance of the rift zone.
It is possible that the collision of Hindustan and Eurasia somehow affected the process and corrected it, but it could not be the root cause.
The lake continues to form
The lake basin is surrounded on almost all sides by tectonic depressions:
- Verkhne-Angarskaya - in the north;
- Barguzinskaya - in the northeast;
- Onotskaya and Malomorsko-Buguldeyskaya - in the west;
- Khuvsgulskaya and Tunkinskaya - in the southwest.
It is interesting that the formation of the reservoir cannot be considered a completely completed process; regular earthquakes continue to modify the relief of Lake Baikal. Minor earthquakes are a constant occurrence here, but sometimes real disasters occur here:
- In 1862, as a result of a shaking of the earth's crust with a force of about 10 points, an entire section of land went under water, forming Proval Bay (its depth is about 6 meters).
- In 1959, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake caused the bottom of the lake to drop by 20 meters.
Researchers have found that the shores of the lake move away from each other by about 2 cm annually. This also happens due to seismic activity. This fact allowed some scientists to make a bold assumption that Baikal is not a lake, but an ocean at the stage of its inception. In 100 million years, according to this version, Asia will split, and a new ocean will appear in place of the reservoir.
Now there are no active volcanoes on the lake, but scientists continue to study traces of their activity in past eras.
Ice influence
Despite the tectonic origin of Lake Baikal, the features of its relief were seriously influenced by the Ice Age. Evidence that the lake collided with glaciers can be found by analyzing rock fragments located on its bottom. In the scientific literature they are called bottom moraines. Bottom sediments and sediments are also traces of the Ice Age. They allow us to conclude that the thickness of the glaciers moving across the lake was at least 80 meters, but not more than 120 m.
Scientists have found that a permanent ice cover most likely did not constrain the Baikal waters, otherwise life in the lake would have been impossible. Meanwhile, researchers were able to discover life forms that formed long before the glaciers:
- Sponges.
- Flatworms.
- Amphipods.
They indicate that there was no permanent ice cover on the lake.
Age
The age of Lake Baikal also causes no less controversy. There are several positions:
- It is traditionally believed that the reservoir is unique: it is believed to be from 25 to 35 million years old, which is not typical for glacial reservoirs; as a rule, they exist for no more than 15 thousand years, after which they become covered with sediment, silt or become swamped.
- In 2009, Doctor of Sciences Tatarinov expressed the idea that the deepest parts of the reservoir are no more than 150 thousand years old, and the coastline is much younger - about 8 thousand years old. This hypothesis even has a number of indirect evidence that were obtained during the study, namely the analysis of the activity of bottom mud volcanoes.
There is also a hypothesis that the outlines of the great lake were laid at the end of the Mesozoic period, that is, when the planet acquired modern look and continents were formed. This process took place 60 million years ago. However, a fact was previously indicated that refutes this version.
Properties of water
Having considered the origin of Lake Baikal, we learn the properties of its water:
- It is transparent. Objects can be seen even at a distance of 40 meters.
- The color depends on the season: in spring it is blue, in summer and autumn it is densely covered with vegetation, acquiring a blue-green hue.
- Rich in oxygen.
- Contains a very meager amount of dissolved minerals and salts, so it can be used as distilled water.
- Very cold, average temperature on the surface in summer time rarely exceeds +9 °C, only in some bays it reaches +15 °C. In depth the temperature is up to +3...+4 °C.
Ice on the lake appears in the second week of January and lasts until the beginning of May, covering the entire reservoir, with the exception of a small area at the source of the Angara (no more than 20 km in length). Interestingly, the ice is also very transparent, allowing sunlight to pass through its thickness, which is why plankton actively develops in the depths of the lake.
Bottom Features
We have looked at the origin of Lake Baikal, now let’s see what is specific about its bottom. First of all, this is a pronounced relief:
- Shelves and underwater slopes are scattered along the coast.
- There are three basins (Southern, Middle, Northern).
- One can note the presence of underwater ridges (Academichesky, Selenginsky).
- Underwater banks are also present.
These are the features of the bottom of Lake Baikal. Thanks to modern research, it has been possible to establish that this amazing body of water is flooded highest mountains planets whose height is more than 7 km. The thickness of bottom sediments is more than 6 km.
Let's get acquainted with a selection of interesting educational facts about the amazing reservoir - the pearl of Siberia:
- In Lake Baikal, whose area is 31,722 km, it is prohibited to catch sturgeon. And the total number of fish species that live here is more than 2 thousand.
- Despite the fact that the reservoir is a lake and not a sea, waves up to 5 m high and even storms are periodically observed here.
- On the coast amazing lake There are larches growing that are more than 700 years old.
- The length of Lake Baikal is 636 km.
- In the waters of Lake Baikal, 60-year-old long-lived sturgeons are found.
- The most unusual inhabitant of the lake is a transparent fish, almost entirely consisting of adipose tissue, the viviparous golomyanka.
We examined the origin of Lake Baikal and learned that, despite numerous studies, this unusual body of water has not yet revealed all its secrets to humanity.
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