Bottom relief. Depths. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world

Numerous scientific studies have been devoted to the problem of the origin of the word "Baikal", which indicates a lack of clarity in this matter. There are about a dozen possible explanations for the origin of the name. Among them, the most probable is the version of the origin of the name of the lake from the Turkic-speaking Bai-Kul - a rich lake.

Of the other versions, two more can be noted: from the Mongolian Baigal - a rich fire and Baigal Dalai - a large lake. The peoples who lived on the shores of the lake called Baikal in their own way. Evenks, for example, - Lamu, Buryats - Baigal-Nuur, even the Chinese had a name for Baikal - Beihai - the North Sea.

The Evenk name Lamu - the Sea was used for several years by the first Russian explorers in the 17th century, then they switched to the Buryat Baigal, slightly softening the letter "g" by phonetic replacement. Quite often, Baikal is called the sea, simply out of respect, for its violent temper, for the fact that the far opposite shore is often hidden somewhere in the haze... At the same time, the Small Sea and the Big Sea are distinguished. The Small Sea is what is located between the northern coast of Olkhon and the mainland, everything else is the Big Sea.

Baikal water

Baikal water is unique and amazing, like Baikal itself. It is unusually transparent, pure and saturated with oxygen. In not so ancient times, it was considered healing, with its help, diseases were treated. In spring, the transparency of Baikal water, measured using the Secchi disk (a white disk with a diameter of 30 cm), is 40 m (for comparison, in the Sargasso Sea, which is considered the standard of transparency, this value is 65 m). Later, when a massive algae bloom begins, the transparency of the water decreases, but in calm weather, the bottom can be seen from a boat at a fairly decent depth. Such a high transparency is due to the fact that Baikal water, due to the activity of living organisms that live in it, is very weakly mineralized and close to distilled.

The volume of water in Baikal is about 23 thousand cubic kilometers, which is 20% of the world and 90% of Russian fresh water reserves. Every year, the Baikal ecosystem reproduces about 60 cubic kilometers of clear, oxygenated water.

Age of Lake Baikal

The age of the lake is usually given in the literature as 20-25 million years. In fact, the question of the age of Baikal should be considered open, since the use of various methods for determining the age gives values ​​from 20-30 million to several tens of thousands of years. Apparently, the first estimate is closer to the truth - Baikal is indeed a very ancient lake. If we assume that the age of Baikal is indeed several tens of millions of years, then this is the oldest lake on Earth.

It is believed that Baikal arose as a result of the action of tectonic forces. Tectonic processes are still going on, which is manifested in the increased seismicity of the Baikal region.

Climate in the area of ​​Lake Baikal.

The climate in Eastern Siberia is sharply continental, but the huge mass of water contained in Baikal and its mountainous surroundings create an unusual microclimate. Baikal works like a big thermal stabilizer - in winter it is warmer in Baikal, and in summer a little cooler than, for example, in Irkutsk, located at a distance of 70 km from the lake. The temperature difference is usually around 10 degrees. A significant contribution to this effect is made by forests growing on almost the entire coast of Lake Baikal.

The influence of Lake Baikal is not limited to the regulation of the temperature regime. Due to the fact that the evaporation of cold water from the surface of the lake is very small, clouds cannot form over Baikal. In addition, the air masses that bring clouds from the land heat up when passing the coastal mountains, and the clouds dissipate. As a result, the sky over Baikal is clear most of the time. This is also evidenced by the numbers: the number of hours of sunshine in the region of Olkhon Island is 2277 hours (for comparison - on the Riga seashore 1839, in Abastumani (Caucasus) - 1994). One should not think that the sun always shines over the lake - if you are not lucky, you can get one or even two weeks of disgusting rainy weather even in the sunniest place of Baikal - on Olkhon, but this is extremely rare.

The average annual water temperature on the surface of the lake is +4°C. Near the coast in summer the temperature reaches +16-17°C, in shallow bays up to +22-23°C.

Wind and waves on Baikal.

The wind on Baikal blows almost always. More than thirty local names of winds are known. This does not mean at all that there are so many different winds on Baikal, just that many of them have several names. The peculiarity of the Baikal winds is that almost all of them almost always blow along the coast and there are not as many shelters from them as we would like.

Prevailing winds: northwest, often called mountain winds, northeast (barguzin and verkhovik, also known as angara), southwest (kultuk), southeast (shelonnik). The maximum wind speed recorded on Lake Baikal is 40 m/s. Large values ​​are also found in the literature - up to 60 m/s, but there is no reliable evidence for this.

Where there is wind, there, as you know, there are waves. I note right away that the opposite is not true - the wave can be even with complete calm. Waves on Lake Baikal can reach a height of 4 meters. Sometimes values ​​​​of 5 and even 6 meters are given, but this is most likely an estimate “by eye”, which has a large error, as a rule, in the direction of overestimation. The height of 4 meters was obtained using instrumental measurements in the open sea. The excitement is strongest in autumn and spring. In the summer on Lake Baikal, strong excitement is rare, and calm often occurs.

Ichthyofauna of Baikal.

Depending on the habitat conditions, fish can be divided into several groups. Sturgeon, pike, burbot, ide, roach, dace, perch, minnow occupy coastal shallow waters and river deltas in Baikal. Fish of Siberian mountain rivers: grayling, taimen, lenok inhabit small tributaries of the lake and its coastal zone. Omul, since ancient times considered a symbol of Baikal, inhabits its open and coastal part, whitefish, another well-known inhabitant of Baikal, inhabits only the coastal part.

The most remarkable group of Baikal fish are gobies, of which there are 25 species. Of these, golomyankas are of the greatest interest. This miracle of Baikal is not found anywhere else in the world. Golomyanka is unusually beautiful, shimmers in the light blue and pink, and if it is left in the sun it will melt, leaving only bones and a greasy stain. She is the main and most numerous inhabitant of Baikal, but rarely gets into the nets of fishermen. Her only enemy is the seal, for which she is the main food.

In order to preserve rare and endangered animals, the strictest and complete ban on hunting is being carried out, the maximum preservation of the habitat, the creation of special nurseries, national parks, reserves and wildlife sanctuaries.

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 body 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 the width in different places varies 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 has been proven that Baikal water has unique properties - it is saturated with oxygen 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 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 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. Even 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 more and more new expeditions in order to clarify the previous depth measurements in different parts of the 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:

• near the western shores lie the deepest breaks in the earth's crust;
• 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 coast of the Svyatoi Nos peninsula.

Video: an interesting film about Lake Baikal

The unique ecosystem attracts scientists and researchers from different countries. Thousands of tourists go to the deepest lake in the world to enjoy the magnificence 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.

Lake Baikal is the pearl of Russia. This is the cleanest, largest and deepest lake on our planet. The maximum depth of Baikal reaches 1642 meters. It contains 20% of the world's fresh water. Its water surface lies at an altitude of 456 meters above sea level, and the deepest point is at an altitude of 1186 meters below sea level. 336 large and small rivers and streams flow into Baikal, and only one flows out - the Angara.

Lake Baikal. Russia on Google Maps.

Lake Baikal. Photo.

To the question: “How was Baikal formed?” Scientists answer differently. Some argue that these are the waters of huge glaciers, having melted, gathered in one place. Others suggest that water came out of huge cracks in the earth after a series of earthquakes. But, in any case, Baikal is the oldest, largest, deepest and cleanest lake on earth. The formation of the Baikal depression began about 30 million years ago and has not ended to this day. Where is the bottom of Baikal located? According to some reports, this sacred lake has no bottom at all and is in contact with underground lava in the bowels of the earth. On the coast of Lake Baikal there are many places that are famous for witchcraft and magic, there is also a lot of evidence of its healing power.

Baikal in summer. Video.

Winter on Baikal. Video.

Baikal(bur. Baigal dalai, Baigal nuur) - a lake of tectonic origin in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, the deepest lake in the world and the largest (by volume) reservoir of watery fresh water. It contains about 19% of the global supply of fresh water. The lake is located in the rift plain in Eastern Siberia on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. 336 rivers flow into it, many of which are the Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin and others, and one river flows out - the Angara.

Information about Baikal:

Geographical location and dimensions of the basin

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 northeast to southwest for 620 km in the form of a huge crescent. The width of Lake Baikal ranges from 24 to 79 km. There is no other deepest lake on earth. The bottom of Baikal is 1167 meters below the level of the World Ocean, and the mirror of its waters is 453 meters higher.

The area of ​​​​the aquatic surface is 31,722 km² (excluding islands), which is approximately equal to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bsuch states as Belgium, the Netherlands or Denmark. Baikal ranks sixth among the largest lakes in the world in terms of the area of ​​its water surface.

The lake is located in a specific basin, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. With all this, the western coast is rocky and steep, the relief of the eastern coast is more gentle (in some places the mountains recede from the coast for 10 km).

Depth

Baikal is the deepest lake on the planet Earth. The modern value of the greatest depth of the lake - 1637 m - was established in 1983 by L.G. Kolotilo and A.I. Sulimov during the performance of hydrographic work by the expedition of the GUNiO of the USSR Ministry of Defense at the point with coordinates 53 ° 14 "59" N. latitude. 108°05"11" E

The greatest depth was mapped in 1992 and proved in 2002 as a result of a joint Belgian-Spanish-Russian project to create the latest bathymetric map of Baikal, when the depths were digitized at 1,312,788 points of the lake’s water area (the depth values ​​were obtained as a result of recalculation acoustic sounding data combined with additional bathymetric information, including echolocation and seismic profiling; one of the creators of the discovery of the greatest depth, L.G. Kolotilo, was a participant in this project).

If we take into account that the water surface of the lake is located at an altitude of 453 m above sea level, then the lower point of the basin lies 1186.5 m below the level of the world ocean, which makes the Baikal bowl also one of the deepest continental depressions.

The average depth of the lake is also very large - 744.4 m. It exceeds the greatest depths of many very deep lakes.

Apart from Baikal, only two lakes on Earth have a depth of more than 1000 meters: Tanganyika (1470 m) and the Caspian Sea (1025 m). According to some data, the subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica has a depth of more than 1200 m, but it must be taken into account that this subglacial “lake” is not a lake in the sense that we are used to, because there are four kilometers of ice above the water and it is a kind of closed container, where the water is under tremendous pressure, and the "surface" or "level" of water in different parts of this "lake" differs by more than 400 meters. Consequently, the concept of "depth" for the subglacial Lake Vostok is fundamentally different from the depth of "ordinary" lakes.

Water volume

The water reserves in Baikal are huge - 23,615.39 km³ (about 19% of the global fresh water reserves - all fresh lakes in the world contain 123 thousand km³ of water). In terms of water reserves, Baikal occupies the 2nd place in the world among lakes, second only to the Caspian Sea, but the water in the Caspian Sea is salty. There is more water in Baikal than in all 5 Great Lakes taken together, and 25 times more than in Lake Ladoga.

Tributaries and runoff

336 rivers and streams flow into Baikal, but this number takes into account only constant tributaries. The largest of them are Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin, Turka, Snezhnaya, Sarma. One river flows out of the lake - the Angara.

Water characteristics

Baikal water is very transparent. The main characteristics of Baikal water can be briefly described as follows: it contains very few dissolved and suspended mineral substances, negligible organic impurities, and a lot of oxygen.

The water in Baikal is cool. The temperature of the surface layers even in summer does not exceed +8…+9°C, in some bays - +15°C. The temperature of the deep layers is about +4°C. Only in the summer of 1986 did the surface water temperature in the northern part of Baikal rise to a record 22-23°C.

The water in the lake is so transparent that individual pebbles and various objects can be seen at a depth of 40 m. At this time, the Baikal water is blue. In summer and autumn, when a mass of plant and animal organisms develop in the water warmed by the sun, its transparency drops to 8-10 m, and the color becomes blue-green and green. The purest and most transparent water of Lake Baikal contains so few mineral salts (96.7 mg/l) that it can be used instead of distilled water.

The freezing period is on average January 9 - May 4; Baikal freezes completely, not counting a small, 15-20 km long section located at the source of the Angara. The sailing period for passenger and cargo ships is usually from June to September; research vessels begin navigation right after the ice breaks up the lake and complete it with the freezing of Lake Baikal, in other words, from May to January.

By the end of winter, the ice thickness on Lake Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5-2 m. In severe frost, cracks, which have the local name "stanovo cracks", break the ice into separate fields. The length of such cracks is 10-30 km, and the width is 2-3 m. Breaks occur once a year in approximately the same areas of the lake. They are accompanied by a sonorous crack, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. It seems to a person standing on the ice that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he will currently fall into the abyss. Thanks to the cracks in the ice, the fish in the lake do not die from a lack of oxygen. Baikal ice, in addition, is very transparent, and the sun's rays fall through it, therefore planktonic aquatic plants that produce oxygen rapidly develop in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal, it is possible to watch ice grottoes and splashes in winter.

Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. So, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station found unusual forms of ice cover, corresponding only to Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice mounds up to 6 m high, hollow inside. Outwardly, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the opposite direction from the coast. The hills can be placed separately, and from time to time they form small "mountain ranges". There are also a number of other types of ice on Baikal: “sokuy”, “kolobovnik”, “autumn”.

In addition, in the spring of 2009, satellite images of various parts of Lake Baikal were widely distributed on the Internet, on which dark rings were found. According to scientists, these rings appear due to the rise of deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the central part of the ring structure. As a result of this process, an anticyclonic (clockwise) direction appears. In the zone where the direction achieves the highest velocities, the vertical water exchange increases, which leads to accelerated destruction of the ice cover.

Bottom relief

The bottom of Lake Baikal has a pronounced relief. Along the entire coast of Baikal, coastal shallow waters (shelves) and underwater slopes are developed to a greater or lesser extent; the bed of 3 main basins of the lake is expressed; there are underwater banks and even underwater ridges.

The Baikal basin is divided into three basins: Southern, Middle and Northern, separated from each other by 2 ridges - Akademichesky and Selenginsky.

More expressive is the Academic Ridge, which stretches along the bottom of Lake Baikal from Olkhon Island to the Ushkany Islands (which are its highest part). Its length is about 100 km, the highest height above the bottom of Baikal is 1848 m. The thickness of bottom sediments in Baikal reaches about 6 thousand m, and as established by gravity survey, one of the highest mountains on Earth, more than 7000 m high, is flooded in Baikal.

Islands and peninsulas

There are 27 islands on Baikal (Ushkany Islands, Olkhon Peninsula, Yarki Peninsula and others), the largest of them is Olkhon (71 km long and 12 km wide, located almost in the center of the lake near its western coast, the area is 729 km², according to according to other sources - 700 km²), the largest peninsula is Svyatoy Nos.

seismic activity

The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal rift zone) is one of the areas with the highest seismicity: earthquakes constantly occur here, the strength of most of which is one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. But there are also strong ones; So, in 1862, during the ten-point Kudarinsky earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of ​​​​200 km² with 6 uluses, in which 1300 people lived, went under water, and Proval Bay was formed. Strong earthquakes were also recorded in 1903 (Baikal), 1950 (Mondinskoe), 1957 (Muiskoe), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Middle Baikal earthquake was located at the bottom of Baikal near the village of Sukhaya (southeast coast). His strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the force of the head shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor damage were observed in buildings and structures. The last strong earthquakes on Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and in February 2010 (6.1 points).

Climate

Baikal winds often raise a storm on the lake. The water mass of Baikal influences the climate of the coastal area. Winters are milder here, and summers are cooler. The arrival of spring on Baikal is delayed by 10-15 days compared to the surrounding areas, and autumn is often quite long.

The Baikal region is distinguished by a large total duration of sunshine. For example, in the village of Huge Goloustnoye, it reaches 2524 hours, which is more than in the Black Sea resorts, and is a record for Russia. There are only 37 days in the absence of the sun in the same inhabited Friday, and 48 on the Olkhon Peninsula.

The special features of the climate are justified by the Baikal winds, which have their own names - barguzin, sarma, verkhovik, kultuk.

Origin of the lake

The origin of Baikal still causes scientific controversy. Scientists usually determine the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal a unique natural object, because most of the lakes, separately of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and later they are filled with silty sediments and become swampy.

But there is also a version about the youth of Baikal, put forward by A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received circumstantial evidence during the second step of the Mirs expedition to Baikal. Namely, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to believe that the modern coastal strip of the lake is only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-water part is 150 thousand years old.

Of course, only that the lake is located in a rift basin and is similar in structure, for example, to the Dead Sea basin. Some researchers explain the formation of Baikal by its location in the transform fault zone, others imply the presence of a mantle plume under Baikal, and others explain the formation of the basin by passive rifting as a result of the collision of the Eurasian plate and Hindustan. Be that as it may, the transformation of Baikal continues to this day - earthquakes constantly occur in the lake districts. There are speculations that the subsidence of the basin is associated with the formation of vacuum chambers due to the outpouring of basalts on the surface (Quaternary period).

Additional information on the site about lakes:

Lake Baikal is located in Russia. It truly is a wonder of the world. In terms of area (31.5 thousand km2), it ranks seventh among other lakes in the world. The length of Lake Baikal is 636 km, the maximum width is 79 km, and the minimum width is 25 km. The total length of the coastline reaches 1995 km.

In terms of depth, Baikal has no equal among all freshwater lakes in the world. The greatest depth of Tanganyika is 1435 m, Issyk-Kul - 702 m, and Baikal - 1637 m. This deepest point is located off the coast of the largest of the Baikal islands, which is called Olkhon. The average depth of Lake Baikal is 1620 m. This figure is 396 m more than that of the second deepest lake Tanganyika (1223 m).

According to scientists, the average life expectancy of lakes is from 25 to 30 thousand years. Gradually they are filled with mud, algae grow thicker in them, an increasing layer of sediments raises the bottom closer to the surface, and, in the end, the shallow lake is overgrown with water-loving herbs and turns into a swamp. However, contrary to all laws, Lake Baikal is in no hurry to grow old. Scientists, having calculated the annual amount of precipitation falling here, predict a long life for Baikal.

Its depression was formed as a result of earthquakes about 25 million years ago. The second oldest lake - Tanganyika, which is located in Africa, is only 2 million years old.

View of Lake Baikal

The first explorer who left the "Drawing of Baikal and the falling rivers to Baikal", as well as information about fish and fur-bearing animals of the coastal taiga, was the explorer Kurbat Ivanov. In 1643, at the head of a group of Cossacks and industrial people, he reached the western shores of the lake and explored the island of Olkhon.

At the end of July 1662, returning from exile to Dauria, Baikal swam across the archpriest Avvakum, who wrote: “When they landed on the shore, a windy storm arose, and the waves found a place on the shore. Near it are high mountains, stone cliffs and so high that I have traveled more than twenty thousand miles, but I have never seen such ones anywhere. There are a lot of birds, geese, swans - they float on the sea like snow. The fish in it are sturgeon and taimen, sterlet, omul, whitefish and many other genera. The water is fresh, and seals and hares are unusually large.”

In the 18th century, long-term expeditions were engaged in the exploration of Siberia and Kamchatka. At the same time, scientists became interested in Baikal. Omul, golomyanka, seal and other animal species have been described. Over time, instrumental surveys of the area were made on Baikal, and several hydrometeorological stations were organized. Scientists began to conduct regular observations of the water level, magnetic surveys and gravitational measurements. In 1918, a permanent research base-station was established on the lake, which was later transformed into the Limnological Institute. The main research center on Baikal is currently the Baikal Ecological Museum.

Lake Baikal has the cleanest air, there is never exhausting heat, although there are more sunny days a year than in the Black Sea resorts. The lake is also famous for its beautiful, unique water, the volume of which in Baikal is 25 thousand km3, i.e. almost the same as in all five Great Lakes of Canada. This amount corresponds to approximately 20% of all surface fresh water in the world.

Baikal water is the highest quality in the world; it, without fear, you can drink without boiling. It is pure, tasty and transparent. Local restaurants even serve it as a specialty.

Since the crystalline rocks of the bottom and shores are hardly soluble, the water of streams and rivers flowing into Baikal is not saturated with salts. In addition, organic remains quickly dissolve in the Baikal water, so it is very rare to find animal skeletons in the lake. Thus, the main properties of Baikal water can be briefly described as follows: it contains very few dissolved and suspended mineral substances, negligible organic impurities and a lot of oxygen.

Baikal water is called living water for a reason. From the surface to the bottom, the lake is home to a wide variety of life forms. In other deep lakes of the world, the lower layers are dead because they are poisoned by hydrogen sulfide and other gases. In Baikal, on the contrary, the entire water column is permeated with oxygen. Water is constantly mixed by horizontal sea currents that run around the lake-sea and around each of its three basins, as well as vertical ascending and descending currents.

Modern scientists have discovered that, despite the enormous pressure that is created on the Baikal bottom, thermal springs beat there.

Moreover, a small transparent fish calmly sinks to the bottom of the lake, more than half consisting of fat - golomyanka. This is the only representative of viviparous fish from among those that live in the Siberian regions, as well as in the middle lane. It is known that all deep-seated fish have special bladders that save them from strong water pressure. Surprisingly, the golomyanka does not have such a bubble.

Baikal has the ability not only to store, but also to reproduce water. The lake throws ashore fragments of oars, boats, logs.

The cleanliness and health of Lake Baikal are protected by its inhabitants themselves. The crustacean epishura lives in the lake. Although he himself has a small size, no more than 2 mm in length, but its share in the total mass of zooplankton is 96%. Billions of such crustaceans, continuously passing water through themselves, cleanse it of dirt. Golomyanka also plays an important role in maintaining the cleanliness of the lake. She is the most numerous in the lake. Its total weight is about 150 thousand tons, i.e. 67% of the total number of Baikal fish. Golomyankas never gather in flocks, do not hide in algae. At any time of the day, they move throughout the lake: from the surface to the very bottom. During its endless movement, the fish seems to mix the lake water, due to which the latter is continuously saturated with oxygen. Golomyanka never forms spawning shoals, which makes it impossible to catch it commercially. Therefore, the number of this fish in the lake always remains at a constant level. The fish is also interesting because it has an absolutely transparent body that melts in the sun like ice. Previously, the Buryats rendered fat from golomyanka, which they used in everyday life and as a healing agent.

Anyone who comes to the shore of the lake is struck by its extraordinary transparency. With the naked eye, you can see everything that happens at a depth of 30–40 m. Modern instruments show that the water is clear even at a depth of 100 meters.

Siberians call Baikal water love water. It fascinates, it seems unreal, fabulous. Sailing along the shore in a boat, you just want to reach out with your hand to the gem you like, but, putting your hand into the water, you suddenly realize that this is an optical illusion, and the stone lies at the very bottom of the lake.

Even more admirable are the color metamorphoses that take place on the surface of the water. Due to its transparency, it reflects the slightest changes in the weather, the solstice, incoming clouds, haze coming from the taiga. Seasonal changes also influence its color: snow, delicate greenery of summer and multi-colored autumn. The color scheme varies from white-blue, silver-gray to piercing blue or slate-black with white splashes of waves. Artists say that neither with a brush nor with a pencil they manage to capture Baikal as it is.

From time immemorial, Baikal has been called the "sacred sea". For the first time, the Buryat name "Baigal" appeared in the chronicle "Altan Tobchi" by Mergen Gegen, which dates back to 1765, in the part devoted to the genealogy of Genghis Khan. There are many legends, legends and fairy tales about Baikal. So, Buryat myths say that Buryat and Swan swam in the Baikal waters, the Eagle soared over the sacred sea, and on its banks the bull Bukha-noyon roared and the Wolf quenched his thirst. All these animals are considered to be the ancient ancestors of the Buryats.

It is interesting that there is only one of all the main geographical elements on Baikal: one large island - Olkhon, one archipelago - the Ushkany Islands, one large peninsula - Svyatoy Nos, one large bay - Chivyrkuisky, one strait - the Small Sea, one large tributary - the river The Selenga, which carries as much water to Baikal as all the other rivers flowing into the lake, and there are more than three hundred of them. Also, only one river flows out of Baikal - the Angara, which ultimately flows into the Yenisei.

According to the Buryat legend, the gray-haired Baikal had many sons-rivers: Barguzin, Anga, Sarma and others, and only one daughter, beloved by Angara. When the time came to marry her off, suitors hurried to the possessions of Baikal. A fast Irkut galloped on a horse, a calm handsome man Alyat sailed. But none of them pleased the young maiden. One night, Angara ran away from her father's possessions to the mighty batyr Yenisei. Upon learning of this, Baikal became angry and, tearing out a coastal rock, threw it after the fugitive to block her path. But Angara bypassed the barrier and met with the groom.

Almost the westernmost point of the lake is Cape Shaman - one of the monuments of Baikal nature. It can be taken as a symbolic beginning of Baikal.

There are a lot of picturesque bays and capes on Baikal. Peschanaya Bay is one of the most beautiful and cozy corners of the 2000-kilometer Baikal coast. It is located on the western shore of the lake, relatively close to the source of the Angara. Against the background of blue water, the soft outlines of steep banks and rocky capes look very impressive. No wonder A.P. Chekhov compared the coast of Lake Baikal with the Crimean Yalta. Cape Bolshoy Kolokolny protects Peschanaya Bay from the mighty north wind - Verkhovik, or Angara.

Not far from Peschanaya is Babushka Bay. In sunny and warm weather, many tourists rest here. In autumn, already at the beginning of October, when the lake looks especially wonderful and unique, Babushka is deserted.

Rocky Islands of Baikal

To the north of Babushka Bay is Cape Arka, or Gate II. No less attractive is the island of Olkhon, although it has a severe appearance. This is a high mountainous island, which is more than 70 km long and 12 km wide. The highest point of the island is Mount Zhima, which has an altitude of about 1300 m above sea level. It is separated from the western shore of the lake by the Olkhon Gates Strait and the Small Sea. Olkhon is surrounded by many calm and small bays, which are convenient for fishing.

The name of the island comes from the Buryat word "olkhan", which means "dry" in Russian. This refers to one of the winds blowing on Lake Baikal. The winds on the lake are special. Suddenly escaping from the narrow mountain gorges, they can bring a lot of trouble. Each wind is usually called by the name of the river from whose valley it blows: barguzin, kurtuk, verkhovka, gloss, sarma, shelonik, khiuz, siver, etc.

The most insidious of them are considered the barguzin, sung in an old Buryat song, and the ferocious sarma, which rages in the Small Sea in the autumn and winter seasons, opposite the Olkhon Gates. That is why this small strait poses a considerable danger to navigation.

Escaping from the mountains from the valley of the Sarma River into the narrow space of the Small Sea, the wind reaches hurricane force, forms tornadoes and waves up to 4 m high. At the same time, the howling of the wind and the splashing of the waves become so strong that they drown out the sound of a shot.

Baikal winds blow sand from under the trees onto the coast, exposing their roots. So-called stilted trees appear, mostly pines growing along the edge of the beach. The trees take roots deeper and deeper, trying to withstand the pressure of autumn storms. As a result, bizarrely wind-bent plants appear near the shore, which rise 1.5–2 m above the beach on clumsy “props” legs.

Olkhon is the main sacred place of the lake-sea, where shamans of many clans perform tailagan. It is believed that it is on Olkhon that a shaman can enter into a mysterious relationship with the natural forces of Baikal. Through the rite of sprinkling with milk and vodka and prayer spells, you can beg for good weather, good luck in hunting and fishing. Pass tailagans on the island near the sacred places. One of them is Cape Burkhan, or Shaman, which, with its stone ridges, goes far into the Baikal waters. Folk legends say that the lord of the island and surrounding places lives in his cave.

The same sacred place among the Buryats is Mount Zhima. They say that somewhere at the foot of this mountain, an immortal bear is chained. It was through Olkhon on the ice of the lake that the Buryats moved and, thus, settled in the lands on both sides of Lake Baikal. In the epic about Geser, Baikal is referred to only as "Dalai", that is, "borderless", "great", "almighty".

For a long time, the Buryats worship the water element, which, in their opinion, came down from heaven. Each river and lake had its own owners - the kings of the waters of Usan Khan. They were represented in the form of elders, who, together with their servants, live at the bottom of reservoirs. The main one was Usan-Lopson with his wife Usan-Daban. Some kings of the waters patronized fishing and even fishing gear.

In total, there are about 30 indigenous rocky islands on Baikal, 15 of them are located in the Small Sea. Each island is a real miracle of nature. There are also many picturesque peninsulas on the lake. Not only their nature is unique, but also their names: Holy Nose, Kurbulik, Ayaya, Chivyrkuy, Ongokon, Shaggy Kyltygey, Katun, Shargodagan, Kultuk, Tsagan-Morin, Davshe. The smallest island of the Small Sea is called Madote.

On the eastern coast of the lake, the most interesting corner is the Svyatoy Nos peninsula, known for its mysterious singing sands. Such sands are found only in a few corners of the globe. On the peninsula, they form a whole beach 7–10 m wide. The sand here is fine-grained, perfectly sorted, grayish-yellow in color.

Sandy beaches of Lake Baikal

The dry sand at the top of the beach emits a loud creak, like the creak of new leather shoes. If, while walking, raking the sand with your feet, the creaking intensifies and gradually turns into a jerky howl. The same sound appears when sand is raked with a hand or a stick. If you press it vertically or hit it with something from top to bottom, then instead of a creak, only a faint crunch will be heard, as when stirring dry starch. In all likelihood, the "singing" of sand occurs at certain sizes, shape, humidity, roughness and other properties of sand grains. Until the end, the mystery of the appearance of "singing sands" has not been revealed by science.

Lake Baikal not only offers travelers an overview of magnificent views of nature, but also provides shelter for a huge number (more than 2600 species) of animals and plants. Almost all types of flora and fauna of the globe live in the lake. Among them, 50 fish species, about 600 plant species, 300 bird species and over 1200 animal species, with a truly incredible number - 960 animal species and 400 plant species - are endemic.

In terms of the number and variety of unique species, Baikal surpasses all exotic places on earth, such as the Galapagos, New Zealand and the island of Madagascar. However, if relict species survived there, the oldest animals and plants that have long been extinct in other places, then local, relatively young species of flora and fauna arose in Baikal, which appeared here over the past tens of millions of years. More than 50 species of fish are found in the lake, among which there are very common ones, such as pike and perch. But almost half are species of sculpins and other fish that are not found anywhere else. Two exclusively Baikal, unique species belonging to the genus comephorus (golomyankovye) are completely transparent and live at a depth of 503 m in complete darkness.

Most fish species live in the shallow coastal part of the lake. Only five species live at depth: omul (a relative of salmon), Baikal gobies, yellowwing, longwing and two species of golomyanka comephorus. These five species make up three-quarters of the total number of fish in the lake.

Baikal is also often called a living museum because an unusual group of organisms lives in it: amphipods, worms, mollusks, sponges, goby fish.

Among the commercial fish in the lake are grayling, whitefish, sturgeon and, of course, omul. The main food for many fish species are amphipods, which inhabit the entire water column: some of them live in water, others burrow into bottom sediments.

The most famous and very mysterious animal that lives on Lake Baikal is, of course, the Baikal seal, a pinniped mammal belonging to the family of true seals. The seal reaches a length of 1.8 m and a weight of about 70 kg. The main objects of her hunting are gobies and golomyanka. Occasionally, she manages to catch omul if the fish is weakened for some reason. This endemic species has thrived on the lake since time immemorial and currently numbers 70,000 individuals. There are especially many seals near the Ushkany Islands. The legend tells that the ancestors of the Baikal seal came to Baikal from the Arctic Ocean along an underground river. Scientists also suggest that the progenitors of the seals sailed from the Arctic Ocean, but not along the underground river, but along the Yenisei and Angara, which were dammed by ice during the Ice Age. In addition, it has been irrefutably proven that both the Baikal seal and the modern ringed seal descended from a common ancestor.

The Barguzinsky Nature Reserve is located on the northeastern coast of Lake Baikal. The flora and fauna of the reserve, its mountains, taiga, lakes and rivers is rich and unique, but the Barguzin sable is considered the most valuable animal of those that live here.

The surroundings of Lake Baikal have been declared a protected area. Here is the Pribaikalsky National Park. In addition to Barguzinsky, there is another reserve - Baikalsky.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning the assumption of scientists who have carefully studied the territory in the area of ​​Lake Baikal. Some geophysicists have suggested that Baikal is turning into an ocean. In the region of the lake, magnetic anomalies similar to those characteristic of the region of the mid-Atlantic fault were found (from the axis of this fault, the continents of Africa and South America are moving apart in both directions).

Scientists have established that tensile forces also act in the Baikal basin, due to which its banks diverge in opposite directions. Some researchers even cite data obtained by them indirectly, arguing that the rate of such a discrepancy reaches 2 cm per year. However, direct confirmation of such information has not yet been found, although it was they that served as the basis for putting forward a hypothesis about the transformation of Baikal into an ocean. On the other hand, if we assume that the expansion rate of Baikal is really such, then in 50-60 million years the width of the lake-sea will be about 1000 km, and this already looks like an ocean. Nevertheless, any scientific hypothesis requires rigorous proof.