Lake Baikal is located in a deep tectonic basin. How did Baikal form? Characteristics of Lake Baikal
The mystery of the origin of Baikal has long haunted people. Where did this sea of pure water come from, surrounded by 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 a continuous fire, then the earth collapsed and became the sea. The well-known hypothesis of the creation of all these miracles in seven days, which easily explains everything and even more, however, has significant chronological difficulties and does not correspond well to archaeological data.
And so there were people to whom both theories seemed insufficiently convincing, and they began to invent their own. Back in the 18th century, German scientists Peter Simon Pallas and Johann Gottlieb Georgi, members of the Siberian expedition of the St.
Yes, yes, there were times when "brains" "flowed" here, to us, and not in the opposite direction, and foreign scientists considered it an honor to work at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. A serious study of Baikal began with the studies of German scientists invited by Catherine II.
Pallas believed that the Baikal basin arose as a result of a land failure caused by a natural disaster. A similar point of view was shared by another member of the Siberian expedition - Georgi, but he detailed the picture. According to Georgi, the reason for the failure of the land was an earthquake, and before it, on the site of present-day Baikal, the Upper Angara flowed, which flowed into the Yenisei, taking in all the tributaries of the still unborn Baikal.
A century later, a former soldier of a fortress battalion, a political exile, a Pole Jan Chersky, a man whose determination could only compete with his iron will, on his own, in the barracks, having mastered the wisdom of science, put forward a new theory of the formation of Baikal. Based on his own observations during travels, or, as he called them, excursions around the Baikal region, Chersky suggested that Baikal and its mountainous surroundings were formed as a result of very slow horizontal compression of the earth's crust.
Many scientists had their own opinion about how Baikal arose. It makes no sense to list all the numerous, often differing only in details, views. Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev (1863-1956) came close to the modern understanding of the method of formation of the Baikal basin, who suggested that the emergence of Baikal is closely connected with the formation of the mountain system of Siberia as a whole. Baikal, according to Obruchev, arose as a result of subsidence of a part of the land along two vertical fracture surfaces. “The Baikal depression was created by the same young movements, the evidence of which is distributed over a large area from the middle of the Khangai highlands in the Mongolian People's Republic to the river. Uchura on the Aldan plateau, i.e. over 2400 versts. During this period, the earth's crust began to swell during the Tertiary period, of course, very slowly and gradually in the form of a long and wide swell, called the Baikal domed uplift. This uplift, which engulfed the foundation, consisting of the most ancient Precambrian rocks, was broken by longitudinal and transverse cracks into separate wedges, which, in their upward movement, lagged behind one another, and some even sank down. Raised wedges formed mountain ranges - Khamar-daban, Tunkinsky and Kitoi Alps, Onotsky and Primorsky ridges, Olkhon Island, Chivyrkuysky, South and North Muya ridges, Delyun-Uran, Kodar and Udokan, and sank formed deep valleys, the deepest of which were filled with water and formed lakes - Kosogol, the Small Sea and Baikal”, - this is how V.A. Obruchev. The system of faults along which the blocks of the earth's crust settled, forming the Baikal basin, is now called the Obruchev fault.
Scientific achievements of the second half of the 20th century made it possible to make significant progress in studying the problem of Baikal formation. Of great importance was the discovery of a global fault system - the world rift system. It turned out that the emergence of Baikal is a consequence of a process on a planetary scale; there were many depressions in the earth's crust that have a similar origin. For example, lakes Khubsugul, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Red Sea. At the end of the last century, geologists and geophysicists from the USSR, the USA, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Mongolia, and China were engaged in studying the Baikal basin and its surroundings.
The Baikal basin is the central link of the so-called Baikal rift, which stretches for 2.5 thousand kilometers and is located on the border of two continental lithospheric plates - the Eurasian and Indo-Australian. At first, it was believed that the Baikal rift owes its existence to the collision of these plates, but after receiving a number of new scientific data, a point of view appeared that the emergence and development of the Baikal rift cannot be explained only by the interaction of lithospheric plates. In particular, some researchers believe that the Baikal rift arose much earlier than the beginning of the interaction of the mentioned lithospheric plates. To explain the observed picture, these scientists assign an important role to the anomalous heating of the mantle under the Baikal Rift.
Paleogeographic reconstruction of the evolution of the Baikal basin (based on the work of V.D. Mats and I.M. Efimova “Paleogeographic scenario of the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic of the central part of the Baikal region”, 2011)
The Baikal basin consists of three independent depressions - the South Baikal, the Middle Baikal, separated by an uplift in the area of the Posolskaya Bank, and the North Baikal, separated from the Middle Baikal by the underwater Academic Ridge, crossing Baikal along the line Olkhon Island - the Ushkany Islands archipelago.
Without delving into the details, regarding which there is still no consensus in the scientific community, the process of formation of the Baikal basin can be very simplified as follows. The earth's crust, lifted by the heated mantle matter floating up and spreading to the sides, formed the mountain ranges surrounding the lake. At the same time, the horizontal spreading of the mantle substance caused the formation of faults and the subsidence of blocks of the earth's crust, which ultimately led to the formation of the Baikal depression. It is hard to imagine molten granite or rock masses behaving like plasticine, but science assures us that this is not only possible, but actually occurs. This process has been going on for tens of millions of years, and continues to this day.
With the development of geophysical methods and the accumulation of knowledge, certain details of the chronological sequence of the formation of Lake Baikal began to appear. Three stages can be distinguished in the geological history of the Baikal Rift: Archaeo-Baikal, Proto-Baikal, and Paleo-Baikal.
Archeobaikalian stage covers the time interval 70-30 million years ago. Initially, large mountain ranges are absent. The climate is tropical, the average annual temperature is + 20 ° -23 °, while the temperature in winter is not lower than + 15 ° - + 20 ° (this is in Siberia!) Several large lakes are already located on the site of the South Baikal and Middle Baikal depressions. It was at this time that the formation of the Baikal rift began. Rifting is associated with stretching of the lithosphere, the probable cause of which is the heating of the upper mantle.
Proto-Baikal stage, 30.0-3.5 million years ago. It got colder to a subtropical climate with an average annual temperature of +15° - +20°. At this time, vertical movements and the formation of the rift as a whole, provoked by the collision of the Eurasian and Indo-Australian lithospheric plates, intensified. The formation of mountain ranges and the deepening of lake depressions began. In the South and Middle Baikal depressions, a single lake was formed, the depth of which could reach 500 m. Into this lake, in the area of the modern Upper Head of the Holy Nose, forming a giant delta, the Upper Praangara flowed along the eastern border of the North Baikal depression he almost guessed it!). In the second half of the Proto-Baikal stage, about 10 million years ago, water from the lake that occupied the South and Middle Baikal depressions began to flow through the formed passage in the Akademichesky ridge into the North Baikal depression. By the end of the proto-Baikal stage, the lake reached a depth of 1000 meters.
Paleobaikalian stage, from 3.5 million years ago to the present. With the beginning of the stage, large vertical movements became more active - the mountains became higher, the depressions deeper, the river network began to be rebuilt. In the first half of the stage, the depth of Paleobaikal was about 1000 meters. Modern deep-water zones were formed at the end of the Paleo-Baikal stage - 150-120 thousand years ago. 2.82-2.48 million years ago the climate became noticeably cooler, the average annual temperature dropped to +5°. After another million years, it got colder again, this time it came to glaciation in the Baikal mountains. Glaciers have had a significant impact on the mountain landscape. As time went on, glaciations were replaced by interglacials. During glaciations, the level of the lake decreased, sometimes to such an extent that Paleobaikal became drainless for some time. The flow stopped for no more than 10 thousand years. The runoff from Paleobaikal occurred along the Pramanzurka River, which flows into the Lena. The source of Pramanzurka was located slightly north of the modern delta of the Goloustnaya River. Approximately 1 million years ago, due to the rise of the Primorsky Range, the runoff channel along the Pramanzurka River was broken. As a result of this event, the waters of the lake rose to the level of a new runoff along the Paleoirkut, which flowed from Baikal in the area of the Kultuk Bay and carried its waters to the Yenisei River basin. Finally, about 60 thousand years ago, due to the lowering of the Larch block, the source of Baikal formed through the Angara. By this time, Baikal acquired its modern shape.
The described picture of the emergence of the basin and the mountainous environment of Baikal is based on the paleogeographic reconstruction carried out in the study by V.D. Mats and I.M. Efimova in 2011. This is just one look at the problem of the formation of Baikal. Other researchers are ready to dispute almost everything, from the age of the Baikal Rift to the existence of a runoff in the Irkut in the past. One thing is certain: Baikal is an incredibly generous gift of Nature, and we need to work hard to prove that we are worthy of such a gift.
The origin of Lake Baikal is tectonic. It is in Siberia; is the deepest in the world. The lake and all adjacent territories are inhabited by quite diverse and unique species of animals and plants. An interesting fact is that in the Russian Federation Baikal is called the sea.
At the moment, there are disputes about how old the reservoir actually is. As a rule, everyone adheres to the framework: 25-35 million years. However, it is precisely about the exact calculations that discussions are underway. Such a "lifespan" for the lake is very uncharacteristic, as a rule, all lakes become swampy after 10-15 thousand years of existence.
General geographic information
Lake Baikal is located in the center of Asia, it stretches from the southwest to the northeast. Its length is 620 km, the minimum width is 24 km, and the maximum width is 79 km. The coastline stretches for 2 thousand km. The hollow of the lake is surrounded by hills and mountain ranges. In the west, the coast is steep, rocky. In the east, the coastline is gentle.
This body of water is the deepest in the world. The total area of Lake Baikal is 31 thousand km2. The average depth of the reservoir is 744 meters. Due to the fact that the basin lies 1 thousand meters below the level of the World Ocean, the basin of this lake is one of the deepest.
Fresh water supply - 23 thousand km 3. Among the lakes, Baikal ranks second in this figure. It yields, however, the difference is that the latter has salty waters. An interesting fact is that the reservoir has more water than the entire system
In the 19th century, it was found that 336 water streams flow into Baikal. At the moment, there is no exact figure, and scientists constantly give different data: from 544 to 1120.
Climate and waters of Baikal
The description of Lake Baikal makes it possible to understand that the water of the reservoir contains a lot of oxygen, few minerals (suspended and dissolved) and organic impurities.
Due to the climate, the waters here are quite cold. In summer, the temperature of the layers does not exceed 9 degrees, less often - 15 degrees. The highest temperature was +23 degrees in some bays.
When the water is blue (as a rule, it becomes blue in the spring), the bottom of the lake is visible if its depth in this place does not exceed 40 meters. In summer and autumn, the pigment that colors the water disappears, the transparency becomes minimal (no more than 10 m). There are also few salts, so you can use water as distilled.
Freeze up
Freezing lasts from the beginning of January to the first decade of March. The entire surface of the reservoir is covered with ice, except for the one located in the Angara. From June to September Baikal is open for navigation.
The thickness of the ice, as a rule, does not exceed 2 meters. When severe frosts appear, cracks break the ice into several large pieces. As a rule, gaps occur in the same areas. At the same time, they are accompanied by a very loud sound that resembles shots or thunder. The problems of Lake Baikal are not entirely obvious, but this one is the main one. Thanks to the cracks, the fish do not die, as the water is enriched with oxygen. Due to the fact that the ice transmits the sun's rays, algae grow well in the water.
Origin of Lake Baikal
Questions about the origin of Baikal still do not have an exact answer, and scientists are discussing this issue. Now there is evidence that the current coastline is no more than 8 thousand years old, while the reservoir itself has existed much longer.
Some researchers admit the idea that the origin of Lake Baikal is associated with the presence of a mantle plume, others - with a transform fault zone, and still others - with a collision of the Eurasian plate. At the same time, the reservoir is still changing due to constant earthquakes.
What is known for certain is that the depression in which Baikal is located is a rift one. Its structure is similar to that of the Dead Sea basin.
The origin of the basin of Lake Baikal fell on the Mesozoic period. However, some are of the opinion that this happened 25 million years ago. Since the reservoir has several basins, they all differ both in the time of formation and in structure. Currently, the emergence of new ones continues. Due to a strong earthquake, a section of the island went under water and a small bay was formed. In 1959, due to the same natural disaster, the bottom of the reservoir sank several meters down.
Underground, the subsoil is constantly heating up, this greatly affects the origin of the Baikal basin. It is these areas of the earth that are capable of lifting the earth's crust, breaking it, deforming it. Most likely, it was this process that became decisive in the formation of the ridges that surround the entire reservoir. At the moment, tectonic depressions surround Baikal from almost all sides.
Many people know the fact that every year the shores of the lake move away from each other by 2-3 cm. The origin of Lake Baikal influenced the seismic activity in this area. Now there is not a single volcano in the reservoir zone, but volcanic activity is still present.
The relief of the lake developed under the influence of the Ice Age. In some moraines, their influence is observed. Blocks up to 120 meters in size fell into the reservoir. It is also possible that the origin of Lake Baikal was associated with the melting of ice floes. But what is known for sure is that the reservoir is not covered with ice for a long time, thanks to which life is preserved in it.
Flora and fauna
Baikal is rich in fish and plants. 2 thousand species of marine animals live here. Most of them are endemic, that is, they can live only in this reservoir. Such a large number of inhabitants of the lake is due to the fact that there is a sufficient oxygen content in the water. Often found They play an important role in the life of the entire Baikal, as they perform a filtering function.
Stages of studying and settling the lake
According to the documents that were found as a result of the inspection of Lake Baikal, until the 12th century, the adjacent territories were inhabited by the Buryats. They first mastered the western coast, and later reached Transbaikalia. Russian settlements appeared only in the 18th century.
Ecological situation
Baikal has a unique ecology. In 1999, official regulations were adopted that protect the reservoir. A regime has been established that controls all human activity. The problems of Lake Baikal are associated with cutting down trees, which has a strong impact on the environment. People doing such things are prosecuted by law.
origin of name
This question is still unclear, and the data provided by scientists vary greatly. To date, there are more than ten explanations and conjectures. Some are based on the version, which lies in the origin of the name from the Turkic language (Bai-Kul), others - Mongolian (Bagal, also Baigal Dalai). Those people who lived on the shore of the lake itself called it completely differently: Lamu, Beihai, Beigal-Nuur.
Baikal can be reached from any direction. As a rule, tourists visit it in Severobaikalsk, Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude.
A few kilometers from Irkutsk is Listvyanka - a village near the reservoir itself. It is he who leads in the number of tourists. Here you can spend your vacation quite actively and enjoy the beauty of the lake.
Khakusy resort is located on the northern shore of Lake Baikal. In addition, you can meet
The largest freshwater lake on the planet, Baikal is the largest pearl of Russia's natural wealth. Local residents have long called Baikal the sea and treat it with reverence, as a powerful, but not always kind to people, living being.
A huge number of legends and legends are associated with this lake, both created by local peoples and those of a more modern origin.
What does the name of Lake Baikal mean?
In fact, the title "Baikal" still leaves a lot of questions: scientists have not reliably established from which language this word was taken and what it means. One of the versions says that it came from the Turkic "bay-kul" - "rich lake" , but this is most likely not entirely true.
The Russian Cossacks, who were the first to come to its shores, called it the way they heard from their Evenk guides - Lama. Only then did the lake begin to be called Baikal, apparently borrowing the name from the Buryats. 
It is possible that this name, which sounds like “Baigal”, got into the Buryat language from an older language of the local people, which was not destined to survive to this day.
The history of Baikal before the advent of Russian pioneers
The first mentions of Baikal are found in Chinese chronicles of the 2nd century BC. The chronicle itself has not survived to this day, but it is described in the notes of the Russian ambassador to China N.Ya. Bichurin. Archaeological excavations show that primitive people appeared on the shores of Lake Baikal in the Late Neolithic, and already in the Bronze Age this territory was densely populated by numerous tribes.
It is reliably known that until the 12th-13th centuries, the Baikal region was inhabited by the Mongolian people of the Barguts, who were replaced by the Buryats who expelled them. What is characteristic is that all the peoples living on the shores of Lake Baikal for quite a long time treat it as a sacred, animated place. Even the Russian people have the song "Glorious Sea, Sacred Baikal".
Discovery of Baikal
It is believed that the first Russian person to set foot on the shores of Lake Baikal was a Cossack from Tobolsk Kurbat Afanasyevich Ivanov. In 1643, he arrived with his detachment to Baikal from Verkholensky Ostrog and annexed its coastal territories and Olkhon Island to the lands of the Russian state, together with the Buryats living in the Baikal region, who became subjects of the Russian Tsar. 
The mission of Kurbat Ivanov was more of a military nature, so in 1646 Vasily Kolesnikov's expedition was sent to Baikal, which surveyed the eastern coast of the lake and the Barguzin River, drawing up a map and description of the surroundings. The following year, the merchant Ivan Pokhabov descended to Baikal along the Angara, and in 1653 the southern part of the lake was explored by the “son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov”, about which a report to the governor Afanasy Pashkov was preserved.
Beketov swam not only across Lake Baikal, but also along the Selenga and Khilka rivers flowing into it. And in 1667 Baikal for the first time - "Drawing of the Siberian land", compiled by order of the Tobolsk governor Peter Godunov.
Baikal research
The first scientific description of Baikal and its environs was made in 1675 by N.G. Spafariy, a Russian diplomat and scientist who was sent on an embassy to China and passed by the great Sacred Sea. He left quite detailed records about the nature of the coast of Lake Baikal and the peoples living on its shores, which for a long time remained practically the only source of information about this richest region in the European part.
A few years before him, in 1662, the exiled archpriest Avvakum visited Lake Baikal, who in his Life described everything he saw on his way.
In 1723, Tsar Peter sent the German naturalist D.G. Messerschmidt, accepted into the Russian service. Messerschmidt's expedition compiled a very accurate map for those times and a geographical description of the shores of Lake Baikal. From 1733 to 1743, the territory of Siberia and Kamchatka was explored by the expedition of V. Bering, who in 1735 reached Transbaikalia and compiled a detailed map of the region. 
Systematic studies of Baikal began to be carried out only from the middle of the 19th century by the Russian hydrobiologist B.I. Dybovsky, who founded a permanent scientific station on its shores. Since then, the unique lake has not gone out of sight of Russian scientists.
Date added: 02/04/2016, 00:00:00
The uniqueness of Lake Baikal is known to many, but not many understand how much attention should be paid to it. The bottom line is that this lake can be much more amazing than is commonly believed. Such a thought has very reliable and simply fantastic information.
Lake Baikal is located in the south of Eastern Siberia. This is the deepest lake in the world with unique features, and the largest fresh water reservoir on the planet. It has no equal in the world in terms of age, depth, reserves and properties of fresh water, diversity and endemism of organic life.
Since ancient times, it has been called the sacred sea, glorious, gray-haired and formidable. Among the many epithets, one can distinguish such as: "world source of drinking water", "blue eye of Siberia", "oasis of the virgin nature of the Earth", "sacred center of North Asia", "God-made creation", "sacred gift of nature", "natural monument with unique landscapes", "an invaluable treasury of the genetic wealth of the Earth", "a miracle of limnology, the focus of unique natural values".
Fascinating and accessible about Lake Baikal, its flora, fauna, as well as the geological structure and natural landscapes Baikal Museum in Listvyanka.
Let's start with the simplest knowledge that everyone should know. They in themselves are no less interesting than all the incredible events that regularly occur in this place. Moreover, in contrast to the unknown phenomena in the lake, the descriptive data known about it are accurately proven and are therefore even more interesting than anything else.
Riddles begin with the very name of the lake. No one can exactly answer the question where this word came from. And this is not a joke, but a very serious question. He was the subject of many scientific papers and even books. But no one has ever been able to provide any peremptory evidence in relation to at least one theory.
In the distant past, the peoples inhabiting the shores of Lake Baikal each called the lake in their own way. The Chinese in ancient chronicles called it "Tengis", "Tengis-dalai", the Buryat-Mongols - "Baigaal-dalai" - "big reservoir".
The most common version is that "Baikal" is a Turkic-speaking word, comes from "bay" - rich, "kul" - lake, which means "rich lake".
The first Russian explorers of Siberia used the Evenki name "Lamu". After Kurbat Ivanov's detachment came to 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 typical for the Buryats "g" with the more familiar "k" for the Russian language - Baikal.
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE BAIKAL
The lake has been known to local people since ancient times. However, information about him came to Europe rather late. The first mentions in the annals belong only to the II century. A complete description of the lake was made in general only in 1773 by Alexei Pushkarev.
In 1643, there are documentary references to Kurbat Ivanov, who went to "reconnaissance" of Baikal. As a result of the campaign of Kurbat Ivanov to Baikal in 1643, the Buryats of the Baikal coast and the population of from Olkhon Island.
After Kurbat Ivanov, ataman Vasily Kolesnikov went to Baikal with an expedition in 1646. His detachment explored the eastern coast of Lake Baikal and the Barguzin River. In 1647, Ivan Pokhabov sailed along the southern part of the lake. He followed to Baikal along the Angara River. Brief information about the southern part of Baikal is in the reply to "the Yenisei governor Afanasy Pashkov, son of the boyar Pyotr Beketov (June 1653) about his navigation along Baikal and along the Selenga and Khilka rivers."
The tsarist government at that time was very interested in information about distances, about the peoples of the Baikal coast, about silver ore and furs.
The authorities needed information about the wealth of the bowels and waters, about the possibility of developing agriculture.
Archpriest Avvakum, a representative of the Old Believers exiled to Siberia, spoke about his impressions of the "Siberian Sea" in 1656 in his book "The Life of Archpriest Avvakum".
At the beginning of the 18th century, at the direction of Peter I, exploration of Eastern Siberia, especially the Baikal region, began, headed by Messerschmidt.
Expeditions and studies of the first travelers with the goal of developing the richest territory of the Baikal region laid the foundation for the future study of the region.
AGE
Baikal is one of the oldest lakes on the planet. The lake was formed about 20-30 million years ago during tectonic processes in the earth's crust, which, by the way, are still ongoing and increase the width of the lake up to a centimeter per year, which is quite a lot on a general historical scale, for millions of years the lake can become a sea. If the specified age of Baikal is correct, then it is the oldest on Earth.
Most lakes, especially those of glacial and oxbow origin, live for 10-15 thousand years, and then they are filled with sediments 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, recent studies have allowed geophysicists to hypothesize that Baikal is a nascent ocean. This is confirmed by the fact that its shores diverge at a speed of up to 2 cm per year, just as the continents of Africa and South America diverge.
THE DEPTH OF BAIKAL
The lake is stretched for 636 km and has a width of up to 81 km. The length of the coastline is 1850 km, and the area of the water surface is about 31 thousand square meters. km (second Belgium). 336 rivers flow into it, and only the Angara flows out. But a completely different characteristic is unique - the depth, which is equal to 1637-1642 m.
This is the deepest lake in the world. Baikal is 200 meters ahead of the second deepest lake, African Tanganyika.
& On Earth, only 6 lakes have a depth of more than 500 m. The basin of Lake Baikal morphologically represents three independent basins - the Southern one with the greatest depth mark of 1430 m, the Middle one (1642 m) and the Northern one (920 m). The Baikal depression is asymmetric. Its western side is distinguished by a steep underwater slope (40-50 (steepness), the eastern side is more flat.
With a huge area and an average depth of more than 700 m, the lake holds an incredible amount of water - 23 thousand cubic meters. km.
Baikal is the largest storage of fresh water on the planet, which exceeds the volume of water contained in the five Great Lakes of North America - Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario combined, or 2 times more than in Lake Tanganyika. The Baikal basin contains about 20% of the world's fresh lake water reserves (excluding glaciers, snowfields and ice, where water is in a solid state) and 90% of all Russian fresh water.
No other place in the world has so much drinking liquid.
SEISMICITY
The Baikal region has a high seismicity - it is one of the most seismically active inland regions of the planet. Strong earthquakes occur with a frequency of 7 points - 1-2 years, 8 points - 5 years. In 1862, during a ten-point 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 a new Proval Bay was formed. Weak earthquakes with a magnitude of 1-2 points are recorded in the water area of Lake Baikal daily. Every year their number reaches 2 thousand or more. Scientists call Baikal "the ancient temechka of Asia".
WATER OF BAIKAL
Baikal is the cleanest natural reservoir of fresh drinking water on Earth.
The lake contains chemically pure and oxygen-rich water, which cannot be compared with the water of any other lake. Moreover, the water is so weakly mineralized that it is very close in its properties to distilled water. You can drink it without fear of anything. Moreover, it is much better than most of those quality waters brought from sources that are sold in bottles. Previously, Baikal water was used even for treatment.
The rare purity and exceptional properties of Baikal water are due to the vital activity of the flora and fauna of the lake. In a year, an armada of crustaceans (epishura) is able to clear the upper 50-meter layer of water three times. There are very few dissolved and suspended mineral substances in Baikal water, negligible organic impurities, and a lot of oxygen. An excess of oxygen is facilitated by active vertical water exchange in the periods before freezing and after liberation from ice. The mineralization of the lake's waters is 96.4 mg per liter, while in many other lakes it reaches 400 or more milligrams per liter. Weakly mineralized Baikal water is ideal for the human body. Analyzes carried out at the University of South Carolina (USA), at the Fresenchus Institute (Germany, 1995.), as well as in world-renowned laboratory centers in Japan and Korea, confirm that Baikal water has high quality indicators. According to the conclusion of the VSNTsSO RAMS, natural drinking water from Lake Baikal is recommended for the normalization of water-salt metabolism in diseases of the musculoskeletal system, hypertension, and also as drinking water in areas with high salt content.
There are no open freshwater reservoirs in the world suitable for bottling drinking water. The only exception is Baikal.
Baikal water has the highest transparency, reaching 40 meters. Sometimes you can see the bottom at a depth equal to the height of a 9-storey building, which is ten times more than in other lakes. For example, in the Caspian Sea, water transparency is 25 m, in Issyk-Kul - 20 m. A silver coin thrown into the water can be traced to a depth of 30-40 m. A piece of Baikal ice more than 15 cm thick retains transparency no worse than ordinary window glass.
FREEZING ON BAIKAL
Baikal freezes over every year. With the onset of cold weather at air temperatures below -20 C, in the first 3-4 days, ice grows by 4-5 cm per day. At the end of October, shallow bays freeze, on January 1-14 - deep-water areas. In the southern part Baikal is closed for 4-4.5 months, in the northern part - 6-6.5 months. In the waters of the lake, the ice thickness ranges from 70 to 113 cm, while a pattern has been revealed: the more snow, the thinner the ice. Hummocks reach 1.5-3 m in height. Some of them can reach 5 meters in height. Ice 50 cm thick can withstand a weight of up to 15 tons, so in winter you can move freely on the Baikal ice in cars.
The ice situation off the east coast is more complicated than on the west coast. The danger is cracks and crevices 0.5-2 m wide, extending for tens of kilometers. Many of these cracks do not freeze all winter, periodically narrowing or expanding. The appearance of cracks is often accompanied by a strong "artillery" crack, often frightening people on the ice.
In winter, winter roads are laid on the ice of Lake Baikal, which are sometimes marked with landmarks frozen into the ice.
In addition to cracks, the danger for vehicles is steam, which occurs at the exit points of underwater thermal springs and gases. The steams covered with snow are almost impossible to detect. Therefore, it is better not to leave the winter road, but in places where steam and cracks are possible, move with a local guide who knows the characteristics of the ice well.
Along the northwestern coast and in the Small Sea, transparent ice free of snow, more than 1 meter thick, is formed, through which the bottom can be very clearly seen in shallow water.
Smooth Baikal ice has recently attracted more and more fans to ride on iceboats.
Ice breaking begins at the end of April from Cape Bolshoi Kadilny, opposite which ice begins to melt under the influence of ascending flows of warm water from underwater sources. Lastly (June 9-14), the northern part of the lake is freed from ice.
sokui
This is one of the types of ice on Lake Baikal, which forms along the shores during the initial freezing phase of the lake in the form of a thin ice edge - shore, as well as ice formed in autumn from splashes of waves on rocks and stones.
The thickness of the ice on the rocks can reach several tens of centimeters. During a strong storm, windward rocks can be covered with splash ice up to a height of tens of meters.
Spectacular sokui are found on the rocks of the Ushkany Islands, capes Kobylya Golova, Kurminsky in the Small Sea and on the rocks of the northern tip of Olkhon Island. The ice shell binds the stones and decorates the branches of trees and shrubs close to the water with bizarre icicles.
Stanovaya gap
Through cracks on the ice of Lake Baikal, which are formed annually in the same places and persist throughout the winter. With daily fluctuations in air temperature, the ice expands or contracts. The width of the gap during the day can vary significantly. They most often have a width of 0.5 to 1-2 m and a length of up to 10-30 km.
They are most often found in the middle part of Lake Baikal between Olkhon Island, the Ushkany Islands and the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula. They pose a danger to vehicles. They overcome them with the help of thick boards or jump over at speed, which is more risky.
Ice thrusts
In March, the ice movement, enhanced by the wind, can squeeze the ice ashore at a distance of 20-30 m and rise to a height of 15-16 m.
Ice thrusts remain unmelted on the shore until the end of May, when the entire lake is already free of ice.
The history of Lake Baikal has its own characteristics, which is associated with its origin and location.
Scientists have established that the lake system is included in the rift zone, which is part of the global one, created by the Andes, the Himalayan mountains, the reefs of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.
Lake Baikal. History of origin: how the reservoir arose
The history of Lake Baikal began in the Paleozoic period of the development of our planet, when deepening and expansion of bays began in this region of the world. There were plains and hills, which began to rise under the influence of rivers descending from the mountains.
The convergence of the waters of the Angara, Irkut, Goloustnaya, and others caused the formation of a huge reservoir, which gradually increased in volume.
Lake Baikal history of origin is inextricably linked with the deflections of the earth's crust and the emergence of mountains and mountain ranges in the Baikal region. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions constantly occurred in this place. 
Scientists have discovered that at the very bottom of the lake (under the earth's crust) there are many crystals that could not come to the surface. It was earthquakes that determined the features of the lake bottom and the relief around the reservoir.
The history of Baikal became famous thanks to its detailed study, which began in the 17th-18th centuries. Geologists and hydrologists have established that the replenishment of the lake was due to the melting and convergence of glaciers.
The history of the discovery of Lake Baikal
The first people in the Baikal region appeared in the middle of the 17th century, thanks to the vigorous activity of Russian explorers. The most famous discoverers are M. Stadukhin and K. Ivanov.
According to numerous documents, Lake Baikal was opened gradually, about which history has preserved detailed information. These lands were actively studied by explorers who developed Yakutia.
Already in the early 1640s. Stadukhin conducted a study of the Yakut rivers - Moma and Indigirka, which were also not known at that time. Stadukhin, sailing on a ship in the Arctic Ocean, believed that the northern regions of the land were located beyond the ocean.
Such a belief prevailed for several years, although the explorer continued his voyages further. He founded several settlements where the Russians remained to live, gradually establishing contacts with the Buryats. 
In 1640, another explorer K. Myasin approached the lake very close. He had to overcome only one mountain range. In 1642, K. Ivanov went to the lake itself, the detachment of which had to fight with the local population.
For several years, the entire coast of Baikal was studied, cities and towns were founded in the nearest regions.
Ivanov managed to study more than six hundred kilometers of the lake, which allowed him to establish that a very large freshwater lake was discovered. Ivanov died in a battle with the Buryats, leaving behind a detailed map of Lake Baikal.
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