The largest river flowing into Lake Baikal. Rivers flowing from Baikal

A story about Lake Baikal for children on the subject the world around us will help you prepare for the lesson.

Lake Baikal short message

Lake Baikal is the most mysterious and enigmatic. Tourists have been admiring its beauty for many years. 336 rivers and streams flow into the lake.

Depth Lake Baikal on average 730 m. The maximum depth of the lake is 1642 m. Even at a depth of 40 m, the bottom is clearly visible.

Where is Lake Baikal located?

Baikal is located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. The lake is located on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia, as well as the Irkutsk region.

How old is Baikal? It is difficult to give an exact figure. Scientists traditionally estimate the age of the lake at 25-35 million years.

Why is Baikal considered a unique natural phenomenon?

The main wealth of the lake is water, which makes up 90% of all reserves fresh water Russia and 20% of global reserves. It is clean and transparent, and its oxygen saturation is 2 times higher than its content in ordinary reservoirs.
There are two reasons for this phenomenon:

  • The solubility of oxygen in water depends on its temperature. How lower temperature, the more oxygen there is in the water. The water in Lake Baikal is very cold. At a depth of 100 m it is no more than 3-4 °C.
  • Algae also saturate the water with oxygen.

Baikal water is also purified due to the activity of planktonic crustaceans. The crustaceans filter out and ingest algae and bacterial cells. A clean water returned to Baikal. Sponges, mollusks and worms contribute to water purification by eating various dying organisms.

Lake Baikal softens continental climate these areas. Accumulating what you received for summer months warmth, Baikal gives it away with the onset of winter cold.
Another inexplicable phenomenon is that the shores of the lake diverge at a rate of 1.5–2 cm per year.

Animals of Lake Baikal

The lake is home to more than 2,600 species and subspecies of animals, half of which live only in this reservoir. This lake is the only habitat of Baikal seals (nerpas).
The weight of Baikal seals can reach 130 kg and on land they become clumsy and defenseless.

In the waters of Baikal there are about 50 species of fish(omul, grayling, sturgeon, burbot).
Near Lake Baikal live 200 species of birds(ducks, herons, waders, representatives of the eagle family).

Problems of Baikal

In 1996, Baikal was included in the List of objects World Heritage UNESCO. But human activities and tourists cause enormous damage to the environment. As a result, waterlogging of the once crystal clear Baikal reservoir has reached alarming proportions.

Besides this:

  • waste discharge from enterprises pollutes water;
  • The Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, built on the main source of Lake Baikal - the Angara, causes shallowing of the lake;
  • poaching leads to a decrease in the number of Baikal seals and omul, imperial eagles;
  • predatory deforestation combined with forest fires- they are destroying this protected area.

Lake Baikal message for grade 4 you can write using this information.

Baikal(Bur. Baigal Dalai, Baigal Nuur) is 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 aqueous fresh water. It contains about 19% of global freshwater supplies. 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 Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin, etc., and one river flows out - the Angara.

Data about Baikal:

  • Area – 31,722 km2
  • Volume - 23,615 km3
  • Length coastal strip— 2100 km
  • Great depth - 1642 m
  • Average depth - 744 m
  • Altitude above sea level - 456 m
  • Water transparency - 40 m (at a depth of up to 60 m)
  • 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 lake on earth that is so deep. The bottom of Lake Baikal is 1167 meters below the level of the World Ocean, and the surface of its waters is 453 meters higher.

    The water surface area is 31,722 km² (excluding islands), which is approximately equal to the area similar states, like Belgium, the Netherlands or Denmark. In terms of surface area, Baikal ranks sixth among the largest lakes in the world.

    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 terrain east coast- more flat (in some places the mountains retreat from the coast by 10 km).

    Depth

    Baikal is the most deepest lake planet Earth. Modern meaning 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 State University of Universities and Oceanography of the USSR Ministry of Defense at a point with coordinates 53°14’59’N. 108°05’11’E

    The greatest depth was plotted on maps in 1992 and proven in 2002 as a result of a joint Belgian-Spanish-Russian project to create the latest bathymetric map of Lake Baikal, when depths were digitized at 1,312,788 points in 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).

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

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

    Apart from Lake 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 we must take into account that this subglacial “lake” is not a lake in the sense to which we are accustomed, 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 the water in different parts of this “lake” differs by more than 400 meters. Consequently, the concept of “depth” for subglacial Lake Vostok is radically different from the depth of “ordinary” lakes.

    Water volume

    The water reserves in Baikal are huge - 23,615.39 km³ (about 19% of global fresh water reserves - all fresh lakes in the world contain 123 thousand km³ of water). In terms of the volume of water reserves, Baikal ranks second in the world among lakes, second only to the Caspian Sea, but in the Caspian Sea the water 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 drainage

    336 rivers and streams flow into Baikal, but this number only takes into account 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 clear. The main characteristics of Baikal water can be briefly described as follows: it contains very little dissolved and suspended minerals, very little 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 Lake Baikal rise to a record 22-23°C.

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

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

    By the end of winter, the thickness of the ice on Lake Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5-2 m. In severe frost, cracks, locally called “stanova cracks,” tear 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 crackling sound, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. To a person standing on the ice, it seems that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he at the moment will fall into the abyss. Thanks to cracks in the ice, fish on the lake do not die from lack of oxygen. Baikal ice, in addition, is very transparent, and through it sun rays Therefore, planktonic aquatic plants that produce oxygen rapidly develop in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal it is possible to observe ice grottoes and splashes in winter.

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

    In addition, in the spring of 2009, satellite images of various areas of Lake Baikal were widely distributed on the Internet, where dark rings were discovered. 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 is sought highest speeds, 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 more or less developed; the bed of the 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 - Academic 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 gravimetric survey, some of the lakes in Baikal are flooded highest mountains on Earth, at an altitude of more than 7000 m.

    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, area - 729 km², by other data - 700 km²), largest peninsula- Holy Nose.

    Seismic activity

    The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal Rift Zone) is one of the areas with the highest seismicity: earthquakes constantly occur here, most of which are one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. But strong ones also happen; So, in 1862, during the ten-magnitude Kudarin earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of ​​200 km² with 6 uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, went under water, and Proval Bay was formed. Strong earthquakes were also noted in 1903 (Baikal), 1950 (Mondinskoye), 1957 (Muyskoye), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Central Baikal earthquake was at the bottom of Lake Baikal near the village of Sukhaya (southeast coast). Its strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the strength of the head shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor destruction were observed in buildings and structures. Latest strong earthquakes on Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and February 2010 (6.1 points).

    Climate

    Baikal winds often raise a storm on the lake. The water mass of Lake Baikal influences the climate of the coastal area. Winter here is milder, but summer time- cooler. The arrival of spring on Baikal is delayed by 10-15 days compared to adjacent areas, and autumn is often quite long.

    The Baikal region is characterized by a long total duration of sunshine. For example, in the village of Gromnoye Goloustnoye it reaches 2524 hours, which is more than at the Black Sea resorts and is a record for the Russian Federation. There are only 37 days in the year without sun in the same populated area, and on the Olkhon Peninsula - 48.

    The special features of the climate are justified 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 estimate the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal unique natural object, because most lakes, some of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and later fill with silty sediments and become swampy.

    But there is also a version about the youth of Baikal, put forward by the physician of geological and mineralogical sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received indirect evidence during the second step of the “Worlds” expedition on Lake Baikal. Namely, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Baikal allows scientists to believe that the modern shoreline 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 the Hindustan. Be that as it may, the transformation of Lake Baikal continues to this day - earthquakes constantly occur in the districts of the lake. There are speculations that the subsidence of the depression is associated with the formation of vacuum centers due to the outpouring of basalts onto the surface (Quaternary period).

  • ru.wikipedia.org - article about Baikal on Wikipedia;
  • lake-baikal.narod.ru - Lake Baikal in questions and answers. Main numbers;
  • magicbaikal.ru - website “Magic of Baikal”;
  • shareapic.net - map of Lake Baikal.
  • Additionally on the site about lakes:

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  • Why don't lakes freeze to the bottom?
    • How many rivers flow into Lake Baikal?

      Baikal (Bur. Baigal Dalai, Baigal Nuur) is 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 aqueous fresh water. It contains about 19% of global freshwater supplies. The lake is located in the rift plain in Eastern Siberia on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. It flows into...

    In southeastern Siberia on the border between Buryatia and Irkutsk region The deepest freshwater lake in the world is located - Baikal.

    Geography and hydrography

    Has the shape of a crescent. Its length is about 630 km, its width ranges from 24 to 80 km. The surface area of ​​the lake is just over 31.7 thousand square kilometers, which is comparable to the area of ​​countries such as Denmark, Belgium or the Netherlands.
    The lake is located in a giant bowl-basin, surrounded in the west by rocky ridges and in the east by gentle hills. The maximum depth of the lake is 1642 m, the average is 745 m.
    Baikal is the most significant reservoir in the world in terms of fresh water reserves - 23.6 thousand cubic km. This lake is also the oldest on Earth. Its age, according to scientists, ranges from 25-30 million years. The most amazing thing is that the shores of the lake gradually diverge, expanding at a rate of 2 cm per year.
    The lake is fed by about 350 rivers and streams (the data has not been updated since the end of the 19th century), the largest of which are the Upper Angara, Selenga, Barguzin, Sarma, Snezhnaya and Turka. Only 1 river flows from Baikal - the Angara.
    The lake is located in a seismically active zone.

    Water, flora and fauna

    Baikal water, despite its complexity environmental situation region remains the cleanest in the world today. It contains very few dissolved minerals, organic matter and a lot of oxygen. Its composition is practically distilled. This is the only body of water on the planet from which today you can drink water without purifying or boiling.
    The water is so clear that in the spring, when the lake’s vegetation has not yet awakened, the bottom is clearly visible, as if through glass, at a depth of 40 m.
    The lake owes its purity to a microscopic crustacean - the Baikal epishura. The maximum size of 1 crustacean is no more than 1.5 mm; they are endemic and live exclusively in the waters of Lake Baikal. They are the most important component of the lake's ecosystem. Over the course of a year, they pass the entire gigantic mass of lake water through themselves, filtering and purifying it.
    The water temperature in the lake ranges from 0 to +20 degrees.
    The lake itself is home to more than 2,600 species of plants and animals, almost all of which are endemic, i.e. are not found anywhere else in the world - seal, omul, golomyanka, Baikal sturgeon, whitefish, grayling, yellowwing and others.
    The coastal zone is also extremely rich in a variety of flora and fauna - Siberian cedar, stilted trees, relict spruce trees, Barguzin sable, Olkhon vole, musk deer, Asian godwit and many other unique inhabitants.

    Mysteries of Lake Baikal

    The lake is unique in its characteristics natural habitat. Not only Russian, but also American, European and Japanese scientists are at a loss when faced with unusual phenomena:
    ice hills in the shape of hollow cones, characteristic only of Lake Baikal,
    migrating huge dark rings formed under thicker ice,
    Mirages are an optical illusion for which no satisfactory explanation has yet been found.

    The most, the most...

    Baikal is the most
    deep,
    full-flowing,
    old,
    clean,
    significant for fresh water reserves
    lake in the world.

    The main properties of Baikal water can be briefly described as follows: it contains very few dissolved and suspended minerals, negligible organic impurities, and a lot of oxygen.

    The water in Baikal is cold. 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 Lake Baikal rise to a record 22-23 degrees.

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

    Ice

    The average freeze-up period is January 9 - May 4. Baikal freezes entirely, except for a small, 15-20 km long section located at the source. The shipping period for passenger and cargo ships is usually from June to September; Research vessels begin navigation after the lake is cleared of ice and complete it with the freezing of Lake Baikal, that is, from May to January.

    By the end of winter, the thickness of the ice on Lake Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5-2 m. In severe frost, cracks, locally called “stanova cracks,” tear the ice into separate fields. The length of such cracks is 10-30 km, and the width is 2-3 m. Breaks occur annually in approximately the same areas of the lake. They are accompanied by a loud crash, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. To a person standing on the ice, it seems that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he is about to fall into the abyss. Thanks to cracks in the ice, the fish on the lake do not die from lack of oxygen. Baikal ice, in addition, is very transparent, and the sun's rays penetrate through it, so planktonic algae that produce oxygen rapidly develop in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal you can see ice grottoes and splashes in winter.

    Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. Thus, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal limnological station discovered unusual shapes ice cover, characteristic only of Lake Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 m high, hollow inside. Appearance they resemble ice tents, “open” in the direction opposite to the shore. The hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature “mountain ranges”. There are also several other types of ice on Baikal: "", "Kolobovnik", "Osenets".

    In addition, in the spring of 2009, satellite images of different areas of Lake Baikal were distributed on the Internet, in which dark rings were discovered. According to scientists, these rings arise 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) current is formed. In the area where the current reaches maximum speeds, 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 more or less developed; the bed of the three 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 two ridges - Academic and Selenginsky.

    The most expressive is the Akademichesky ridge, which stretches from the island to the Ushkany Islands (which are its highest part). Its length is about 100 km, maximum height above the bottom of Baikal is 1,848 m. The thickness of bottom sediments in Baikal reaches about 6 thousand m, and as established by gravimetric surveys, some of the highest mountains on Earth, with a height of more than 7,000 m, are flooded in Baikal.

    Islands and peninsulas

    Seismic activity

    The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal Rift Zone) is an area with high seismicity: earthquakes regularly occur here, most of which are one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, strong ones also happen; Thus, in 1862, during the ten-magnitude Kudarino earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of ​​200 km² with six uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, went under water, and a gulf of failure was formed. Strong earthquakes were also noted in 1950 (Mondinskoye), 1957 (Muyskoye), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Central Baikal earthquake was at the bottom of Lake Baikal in the area of ​​the village of Sukhaya (south-eastern Coast). Its strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude, the strength of the main shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor destruction were observed in buildings and structures. The last strong earthquakes on Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and February 2010 (6.1 points).

    Climate

    The water mass of Lake Baikal influences the climate of the coastal area. It is milder here and the summers are cooler. The onset of spring on Lake Baikal is delayed by 10-15 days compared to the surrounding areas, and autumn is often quite long.

    The Baikal region is characterized by a long total duration of sunshine. For example, in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye it reaches 2,524 hours, which is more than in the Black Sea resorts and is a record for Russia. Days without sun in the same year locality there are only 37, and on the island - 48.

    The special features of the climate are determined by the climate, which have their own names - sarma, verkhovik, kultuk.

    Origin of the lake

    The origin of Baikal is still a matter of scientific debate. Scientists traditionally estimate the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal a unique natural object, since most lakes, especially those of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then fill with silty sediments and become swampy.

    However, there is also a version about the youth of Baikal, put forward by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the “Worlds” expedition on Baikal. In particular, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to assume that modern coastline the lakes are only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-sea part is 150 thousand years old.

    What is certain is 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 suggest the presence of a mantle plume under Baikal, and others explain the formation of the depression 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 vicinity of the lake. There are suggestions that the subsidence of the depression is associated with the formation of vacuum centers due to the outpouring of basalts onto the surface (Quaternary period).

    Flora and fauna

    Origin of the toponym “Baikal”

    The origin of the name of the lake is not precisely established. Below are the most common versions of the origin of the toponym “Baikal”:

      Baigal(Yakut.) - large deep water; Sea

      Bai-Kul(Turk.) - rich lake

      Baigaal Dalai(Mong.) - rich fire

      Bay-Hai(Chinese) - northern sea.

    The first used the Evenki name “Lamu” (sea). From the second half of the 17th century, Russians switched to the name adopted by the Buryats (pronounced “Bayghel”). At the same time, they adapted it to their language, replacing the “g” characteristic of the Buryats with the “k”, which is more familiar to the Russian language, as a result of which the modern name was finally formed.

    Limnological studies

    The scientific field that studies lakes is called limnology. In there, studying Baikal. Independent people are also studying Baikal scientific organizations, such as the Baikal Research Center (ANO).

    Deep sea drilling

    In the 1990s, a joint project was carried out on Lake Baikal by Russian, American and Japanese scientists. international project deep-sea drilling of Lake Baikal. The drilling was carried out in winter, from a research vessel frozen in ice. Drilling made it possible to study the section of sedimentary strata at the bottom of the lake and detail its history. Drilling results are especially valuable for reconstructing climate changes in Eurasia.

    Neutrino telescope

    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, a neutrino telescope NT-200+ is being created with an increased effective volume, the construction of which is expected to be completed no earlier 2017.

    "Paysis" on Baikal

    The first dives of manned vehicles on Lake Baikal were made in 1977, when the bottom of the lake was explored on the Canadian-made Paisis deep-sea vehicle. In Larch Bay, a depth of 1410 m was reached. In 1991, "Pysis" on the eastern side sank to a depth of 1637 m.

    "Worlds" on Baikal

    In the summer of 2008, the Foundation for Assistance to the Conservation of Lake Baikal conducted a research expedition "". 52 dives of the deep-sea manned vehicles "Mir" were carried out to the bottom of Lake Baikal.

    Scientists delivered to the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences samples of water, soil and microorganisms raised from the bottom of Lake Baikal.

    Eastern oil pipeline

    The Transneft company is constructing an oil pipeline Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean", taking place in the Baikal region. It was originally planned that the pipeline route would pass in close proximity to the shore of the lake, and then in the event of an oil spill, Baikal would be under threat environmental disaster. Numerous protests took place, including a protest meeting of many thousands held in Irkutsk on March 18, 2006. On April 26, 2006, during a meeting with Siberian governors in Tomsk, V.V. Putin announced the need to revise the project in order to build an oil pipeline no closer than 40 kilometers from the northern coast of Baikal. As a result, Transneft abandoned the original plan and moved the oil pipeline route outside the Baikal catchment area so that its thread would run no closer than 350-400 km from the lake.

    Baikal is a World Natural Heritage Site.

    In 1996, Baikal was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

    Attractions

    On and around Lake Baikal there are many natural and cultural monuments, as well as historical and archaeological sites. Below are just a few of them.

    1. Rock
    2. Cape Burkhan on the island
    3. Chersky Peak - 2,090 m above sea level.

    Myths and legends about Baikal

    There is a legend that Father Baikal had 336 son rivers and one daughter, the Angara, all of them flowed into her father in order to replenish his waters, but his daughter fell in love with the Yenisei River and began to carry her father’s waters to her beloved. In response to this, Father Baikal threw a huge piece of rock at his daughter and cursed her. This rock, called the Shaman Stone, is located at the source of the Angara and is considered its beginning.

    Another variation of the legend says that Baikal had an only daughter, Angara. She fell in love with Yenisei and decided to run away to him. Baikal, having learned about this, tried to block her path by throwing the Shaman-stone to the source, but Angara ran further, then Baikal sent his nephew Irkut in pursuit of her, but he took pity on Angara and turned off the path. The Angara met the Yenisei and flowed further along with it.

    Songs about Baikal

    Films about Baikal

    In 1992, the Lennauchfilm film studio released the popular science film “Baikal Legends” (directed by cameraman V. Petrov). The film tells about geographical and natural features lake, as well as the history of the peoples living on its shores.

    Baikal is located almost in the center of Asia within 51°29′–55°46′ N. w. and 103°43′–109°58′ E. d. The length of the lake is 636 km, maximum width 81 km, coastline length is about 2000 km. Area 31,500 km2. In terms of area, Baikal ranks 7th among the lakes in the world after the Caspian, Victoria, Tanganyika, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world - 1637 m, its average depth is 730 m.

    Scheme map of the Baikal Basin

    In addition to these generally accepted lake parameters, there are others. So, according to bathymetric data electronic card lake Baikal, compiled by an international team of authors, there are some differences in the morphometric characteristics of the lake. By volume water mass(23,000 km 3) Baikal ranks 1st among freshwater lakes in the world, containing 20% ​​of the world's and 80% of Russia's water reserves. There is more water than in all of 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 in 383, and to fill the bowl of Baikal with all the rivers globe it would take over six months (about 200 days). The lake level, after its regulation by the Irkutsk reservoir, is maintained at 456–457 m above sea level. u. m. 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% in Mongolia.

    Source: Baikal Studies: textbook. allowance / N. S. Berkin, A. A. Makarov, O. T. Rusinek. – Irkutsk: Irkutsk Publishing House. state University, 2009.

    Baikal passport

    Geological age of Lake Baikal:

    Pre-rift (pre-Baikal) stage (Cretaceous – late Eocene) – 70–25 million years

    Rift stage – 25 million years before modern times.

    Baikal coordinates: 51°29’ – 55°46’ N. and 103°43’ – 109°56’ E.

    Lake area – 31,570 km 2

    Drainage basin area – 588,092 km2,

    including:

    in Russia – 53.6%

    in Mongolia – 46.4%

    Lake length – 636 km

    Maximum width (Ust-Barguzin village – Onguren village) – 79.5 km

    Minimum width (delta of the Selenga River - Buguldeika) - 25 km

    Coastline length – 2100 km

    Maximum depth – 1637 m

    Average depth – 758 m

    Water volume – 23,000 km 3

    Lake bottom relative to sea level – 1183 m

    Thickness of bottom sediments (according to geophysical data):

    Southern Baikal – 700 m

    delta river Selenga – 8500 m

    Northern Baikal – 4500 m

    Sediment accumulation rate – 0.42 mm/100 years

    Thickness earth's crust:

    under the Siberian platform – 36–42 km

    under the mountain ranges of the Baikal region - 45–55 km

    The smallest thickness to the base of the crust in the center of the Baikal depression is 34 km

    Thinning of the earth's crust under the Baikal rift - 3–7 km

    The highest height of the ridges surrounding Lake Baikal (Barguzinsky ridge) is 2,840 m

    The amplitude of the rift gap (between the highest height of the ridges and the basement of the depression)

    dines of Baikal) – 12,977 ( greatest depth ocean ( Mariana Trench in the Pacific

    ocean) – 11,022 m)

    The magnitude of the vertical displacement of pre-rift strata along faults along the shores:

    For Southern Basin– 8–8.5 km, for the Central basin – 9 km, for the Northern

    basin – 5–5.5 km

    Amplitudes of horizontal displacements of strata (spreading) surrounding Baikal – up to 100–150 km

    The speed (observed) of tectonic divergence of the shores of Lake Baikal is 0.7–2 cm/year

    Transparency (Secchi disk) – up to 40 m

    The average water level at the Pacific mark after flow regulation is 456.41 m

    Average water level before flow regulation – 455.67 m

    Average amplitude of intra-annual changes in water level:

    after flow regulation – 0.94 m

    before flow regulation – 0.82 m

    Time of minimum level in the annual cycle:

    after flow regulation – May

    before flow regulation – April

    Time maximum level in the annual cycle:

    after flow regulation – October

    before flow regulation – September

    Water surface temperature:

    in bays and litters – from 0°С to +23–24°С

    Water temperature in the 0–50 m layer (Southern Baikal) – +3.8–6.5°С

    Water temperature at a depth of more than 50 m – +3.5°С

    The number of Epishura in the layer 0–50 m (Southern Baikal) is 310–1000 thousand specimens/m2

    Average annual biomass of Epishura in the 0–50 m layer (Southern Baikal) – 5.2–11 g/m2

    Average annual air temperature:

    Southern Baikal – –0.7°С

    Middle Baikal – –1.6°С

    Northern Baikal – –3.6°С

    Date of freezing (in full) – 12/14/1877 – 02/06/1959

    Date of autopsy (in full) – 04/17/1923–05/26/1879

    Source: Baikal: nature and people: encyclopedic reference book/ Baikal Institute of Nature Management SB RAS; [rep. ed. Corresponding member A.K. Tulokhonov] – Ulan-Ude: ECOS: Publishing House BSC SB RAS, 2009. – 608 pp.: color. ill.

    Literature

    1. Atlas of Baikal // ed. G.I. Galazia. M.: Federal service on Geodesy and Cartography of Russia (FSG and KR SB RAS), 1993. - 160 p. Atlas of Baikal. - M.: Publishing house. GUGK, 1995.
    2. Vikulov V. E. Regime of special environmental management (experience of organization in the territory of the Lake Baikal basin): dis. . doc. geogr. Sciences / V.E. Vikulov. -Ulan-Ude, 1983.
    3. Public administration natural resources Baikal region. - M.: Publishing house NIA Priroda, 1999. - 244 p.
    4. Grushko Ya.M. Around Baikal: a guide / Ya.M. Grushko. Irkutsk, 1967. -252 p.
    5. Kozhov M.M. Baikal and its life / M.M. Kozhov. Irkutsk: Vost.-Sib. book publishing house, 1963.
    6. Logachev N.A. Relief and geomorphological zoning. - In the book: Baikal region and Transbaikalia / Series: History of the development of the relief of Siberia and the Far East. - M.: Nauka, 1974.-
    7. Ainbund M.M. Currents and internal water exchange in Lake Baikal Text. / MM. Ainbund. L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 19888. - 247 p.
    8. Kozin A.Z. Geological and geographical description of Baikal Electronic resource. / A.Z. Kozin.
    9. Votintsev K.K. Hydrochemistry of Lake Baikal. // M.: Publishing house. USSR Academy of Sciences, 1961. - p. 311.
    10. Grafov S.V., Kolotilo L.G., Potashko A.E. Location of Lake Baikal. Admiralty No. 1007. - St. Petersburg: GUNIO, 1993.
    11. Gusev O.K.,