The length of the coastline of Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal - legends, natural phenomena, anomalies, interesting facts

The younger generation had a chance to write a comprehensive work “What is Lake Baikal famous for?” The 4th grade of high school left not so much information in our memory. This is the most in the world, - people over forty will say. But this is not the only indicator that brings Lake Baikal into the category of champions. Well, let's update our information about this gem of Russia. It is not for nothing that the lake is called the sacred sea! It is rightfully considered a unique creation of Mother Nature, the pride and national treasure of Russia.

As a natural site, Baikal was included in 1996, at the twentieth session of UNESCO, in the World Heritage List of Humanity (number 754). What is the uniqueness of this lake? We will talk about this in our article.

Where is Lake Baikal located and what is famous for (briefly)

This natural unique attraction is located almost in the center of Asia. On the map of our country, the lake is located in Eastern Siberia, in its southernmost part. Administratively, it serves as the border between the Buryat Republic and the Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation. Baikal is so big that it can be seen even from space. It stretches like a blue crescent from the southwest to the northeast. Therefore, the local population often calls Baikal not a lake, but a sea. “Baigal dalai” is how the Buryats respectfully call it. The coordinates near the lake are: 53°13′ north latitude and 107°45′ east longitude.

What is Lake Baikal famous for? Let's look at its different parameters.

Depth

Let's start with common truths. Baikal is not only the deepest lake on the planet, but also the most impressive continental depression. This title was confirmed by scientific research conducted in 1983. The deepest place in the lake - 1642 meters from the surface of the water surface - has the coordinates of 53°14′59″ north latitude and 108°05′11″ east longitude. Thus, the lowest point of Baikal lies 1187 meters below sea level. And the lake has a height of 455 meters above the oceans.

The average depth of Baikal is also impressive: seven hundred and forty-four meters. Only two lakes in the world have an indicator of a kilometer between the water surface and the bottom. These are (1025 m) and Tanganyika (1470 m). The deepest - that's what Lake Baikal is famous for.

In English, in Google, a certain East is among the top three record holders. This lake was found in Antarctica. It has a depth of more than 1200 meters, and another four kilometers of ice rises above the water surface. Thus, we can say that the distance between the surface of the earth and the bottom of the East is more than five thousand meters. But this body of water is not a lake in the usual sense of the word. Rather, it is an underground (subglacial) reservoir of water.

Dimensions

The area of this reservoir is 31,722 square kilometers. That is, the size of the lake is quite comparable with such European countries as Switzerland, Belgium or the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The length of Lake Baikal is six hundred and twenty kilometers, and the width varies between 24-79 km. At the same time, the coastline stretched for two thousand one hundred kilometers. And that's not counting the islands!

Dimensions - this is what Lake Baikal is famous for, although this indicator does not make it the largest on the planet. But the reservoir takes an honorable eighth place among the giants. Ahead are the Caspian (which is also a lake, although salty), the Upper in America, Victoria, Huron, Michigan, the Aral Sea and Tanganyika.

honorable age

Baikal is a lake of tectonic origin. This explains its record depth. But when did the tectonic fault occur? This question is still considered open among scientists. Traditionally, the age of Baikal is determined at 20-25 million years. This number seems fantastic. After all, lakes “live” on average about ten, in extreme cases, fifteen thousand years. Then alluvial deposits, silty sediments accumulate and change everything turns into a swamp, and it, after centuries, into a meadow. But Siberians are famous for their centenarians. And what Lake Baikal is famous for is its venerable age.

It should be said that the Siberian giant is also unique in other respects - hydrological. Baikal feeds about three hundred rivers, and only one flows out of it - the Angara. And one more uniqueness: seismic activity during a tectonic fault. From time to time, earthquakes occur at the bottom of the lake. In fact, the sensors record about two thousand of them annually. But sometimes there are large earthquakes. So, in 1959, from the shock, the bottom of the lake sank fifteen meters.

The Kudara earthquake of 1862 was the most memorable for the local residents, when a huge piece of land (200 sq. km) with six villages, in which one thousand three hundred people lived, went under water. This place in the delta is now called Proval Bay.

Unique fresh water tank

Despite the fact that the pearl of Siberia occupies only the eighth place in the world in terms of size, in terms of the volume of water it reaches the record. What is Lake Baikal famous for in this regard? Most of the water is in the Caspian. But it's salty in there. Thus, Baikal can be called the undisputed leader. It contains 23,615.39 cubic kilometers of water. This is about twenty percent of the total reserve of all lakes on the planet. To demonstrate the significance of this figure, let's imagine that we managed to block all three hundred rivers flowing into Baikal. But even then it would take Angara three hundred and eighty-seven years to drain the lake.

Unique fauna and flora

It is also strange that, despite the enormous depth of Baikal, there is benthic vegetation in the lake. This is due to seismic activity under the tectonic depression. Magma heats the bottom layers and enriches them with oxygen. Such warm water rises, and cold water sinks. Half of the 2600 species of animals and plants inhabiting the water area are endemic. Biologists are most surprised by the only mammal of the lake that lives 4 thousand kilometers from its marine counterparts and has adapted well to fresh water.

It is difficult to say which fish Lake Baikal is most famous for. Maybe it's a golomlyanka. She is viviparous. Her body contains up to 30 percent fat. She also surprises scientists with her daily migrations. Schools of fish rise for food from the dark depths to shallow water. The Baikal sturgeon, omul, whitefish, and grayling also live in the lake. And the bottom is covered with freshwater sponges.

Purity and transparency of water

With such an area of the water surface and the presence of industrial enterprises nearby, it would be logical to think that Lake Baikal would become polluted. It wasn't there! The water here is not only drinkable, but close to distilled. You can drink it without fear. And it helps the lake to cleanse itself. This endemic one and a half millimeters in size acts as a natural filter: it passes water through itself, assimilating all the dirt. As a result, the pebbles at the bottom are clearly visible. Water transparency up to forty meters is what Lake Baikal is famous for. The photo of this unique reservoir demonstrates the majestic pristine beauty of nature. It depends on us whether we save it for posterity.

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater body of water in the world. More than 23,000 km³ of clean water is stored in its depths for future generations, which is 4/5 of the Russian reserves of the most important liquid on the planet and 1/5 of the world's. Its dimensions are amazing: the length from the southwest to the northeast is more than 700 km, the width is 25-80 km. Baikal is a unique holiday destination. There are many legends and songs about the reservoir. Hundreds of thousands of travelers from Russia and dozens of other countries of the world wish to come to him.

Where is Lake Baikal located?

It is located in the center of Asia, in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. The border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia passes along the water surface of the lake. The coordinates are as follows: 53°13′00″ s. sh. 107°45′00″ E e. The distance from the southern shore of the reservoir to the border with Mongolia is 114 km, to the border with China - 693 km. The city, which is located nearby, is Irkutsk (69 km from the reservoir).

Flora and fauna

The nature of Baikal pleasantly surprises travelers. The reservoir of water is a habitat for more than 2600 species of animals and birds. More than 50% of them can be found only on this lake. On the banks of the reservoir are found:

the Bears;
hares;
wolves;
wolverines;
foxes;
stoats;
tarbagans;
red deer;
proteins;
moose;
boars.

Of marine animals, only seals or seals, as the Buryats call them, adorn the natural necklace. The pond abounds with fish. In the depths of the lake float:

omuli (fish from the genus of salmon);
graylings;
roaches;
sturgeon;
burbots;
taimen;
lenki;
perch;
horned;
ide and pike;
golomyanki.

The last representatives of the fauna are unique in that they have special swimming feathers stretching over the entire length of their body. The tissues of their sirloin consist of a third of fat. Almost all of the above fish can be caught from Baikal if you have special equipment (rods, nets, etc.) and desire.

The fauna of the lake itself and its coast is also peculiar. Pine, spruce, cedar, fir, birch, larch, balsamic poplar and alder grow near the reservoir. Of the shrubs, bird cherry, currant and Siberian wild rosemary are common, which every spring delights people with a beautiful pink-lilac color and heady aroma.

At any depth in the lake, you can find freshwater sponges - animals that consist only of individual tissues and cell layers.

Lake Baikal has a large volume not due to the huge area. According to this indicator, the natural reservoir occupies only the 7th place in the world. The safety of water is ensured by the huge depths of the lake basin. Baikal is the deepest lake on the planet Earth. In one of the places the bottom is 1642 meters from the water surface. The average depth is 730 meters. To completely fill the bowl of the reservoir, it would be necessary to force all the rivers of the world to give up their flow within 200 days.

According to official data, more than 300 rivers flow into Lake Baikal. But most of them are very small. The width of the inflowing rivers does not exceed 50 meters. There are only 3 large streams that carry their waters to the lake. Only one river flows out of the lake - the Angara.

There are 36 islands scattered across the water surface. The area of the largest piece of land, Olkhon, is 730 km². On its banks there are 2 fishing villages: Yalga and Khuzhir.

Along the southern coast runs the Circum-Baikal Railway - the most complex engineering structure, during the construction of which several dozens of tunnels, viaducts and bridges were erected.

The main problem of the lake is the difficulty of protecting flora and fauna from poachers. Due to the large territory of the reservoir and the lands adjacent to it, the presence of many small bays and bays on the coast, it is very difficult to track down violators of the laws even with modern technical means of searching for boats and people.

Rest in 2019 on Lake Baikal

Dozens of resort towns and villages are scattered along the banks. The largest of them are:

Listyanka- a village located at the source of the Angara. It houses the only museum dedicated to the lake. Also in the village and its environs, tourists will like the St. Nicholas Church, built in the 19th century, and the Taltsy architectural and ethnographic complex, where you can learn birch bark weaving and clay modeling.
is a small town on the southwest coast. It is famous in Russia due to the presence of a railway station built of marble - the starting point of the Circum-Baikal Railway and the mineralogical museum.
Goryachinsk- the oldest resort of the lake. It was founded at the end of the 18th century by order of Catherine II. Its springs are great for healing, and the picturesque sandy bay is great for taking great photos. Pictures with images of this resort can be found in guidebooks published in the 19th century.
Big Cats- a village located at a distance of several kilometers from Listvyanka. It boasts the presence of an aquarium of the Institute of Biology and old vertical mines, in which gold was mined more than 100 years ago.
- a unique place, the only corner of the Mediterranean climate in Siberia. It is great for summer holidays with "savages" in tents, with bonfires and guitars.

Buses or commuter trains run regularly to these health resorts. The rest of the points can only be reached by car or fixed-route taxis. The remoteness of the resort from major transport hubs dictates the level of prices. So the highest cost of accommodation in guest houses and recreation centers is observed in Slyudyanka, the lowest - in settlements on the northeastern coast of the lake.

What to do on the pond and near it?

Drink mineral water. Some of the resorts of Lake Baikal (Goryachinsk, Khakusy, Dzelinda) are balneological. People with diseases of the musculoskeletal system, nervous, genitourinary, cardiovascular systems can take healing baths and drink mineral water in these places.

Visit excursions. Routes of several hundred excursions are laid along the shores of Lake Baikal. Conventionally, all walks that are conducted by guides from the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia can be divided into:

ethnographic;
local history;
historical;
natural history.

Most of the excursions are conducted by residents of the coast of the reservoir. They are happy to show travelers places where you can take great photos.

Go hiking. Hikes of all categories of difficulty are conducted along hiking trails, through forests and mountains located near Lake Baikal. They last from 2 to 30 days. Such trials provide an opportunity to see with your own eyes all the beauty of nature, get a lot of pleasant impressions and acquire some skills necessary for survival (learn how to make fires, cook food in the open air, cross rivers).

Have a good time on cruises. Several thousand cruises take place on the water surface of the lake every year. Some of them aim to show tourists the most beautiful places of the reservoir and sights that are located on the shores of Lake Baikal, and some are entirely devoted to fishing. Cruise routes of the first type are built so that travelers can survey the waters and bays, visit the most famous museums located near the reservoir. The cost of tours of the second type includes the rental of fishing equipment and the services of experienced rangers who know where to find the most valuable and delicious Baikal fish.

Buy and burn. The beaches of Lake Baikal are places that are great for swimming and getting an even tan. Most of the cozy corners of the coast are covered with fine-grained sand. In summer, when the water near the beaches warms up to + 17-19 ° C, everyone has the opportunity to swim and feel the purity and strength of this great lake with their own body.

Learn extreme sports. Baikal is one of the favorite places for Russian extreme sportsmen. In summer, amateurs train on the water surface of the lake:

surfing;
windsurfing;
kiting;
diving;
snorkeling.

Every year in March, competitions are held on the ice of the reservoir in:

karting;
motocross;
quadcross;
speedway
enduro.

Parachuting competitions are taking place in the skies over Baikal at this time.

The largest natural reservoir of fresh water is located in Russia, on the territory of Eastern Siberia. Its shores and waters belong to the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia.

The most convenient way to get to Baikal is from Irkutsk - there are many types of transport and only 70 km to the lake. Ulan-Ude is located much further away, and there are much fewer communication options.

The climatic zone in which Baikal is located is a temperate zone, however, due to the amazing and unique shape, bottom relief and coastline, the deepest lake on the planet is divided into three separate parts - Southern, Middle and Northern. Moreover, each of these zones has its own natural and climatic features, each is characterized by unique flora and.

The beauty of Baikal, the special energy of this place, the unique flora and fauna, as well as the opportunity to go diving, hunting, fishing, photography, etc., attract millions of tourists from all over the world.

The length of Lake Baikal from north to south is almost 600 km, and the maximum depth of the reservoir is 1620 m. This is the deepest lake on planet Earth.

There are two main ways to get to the lake: by plane or by rail. By air, you can fly from almost any major airport in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Vladivostok, etc.) and arrive in Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude on a direct flight or with a transfer.

Similarly, with rail transport: from almost any corner of Russia, regardless of the significance and size of the city or village, you can directly or by way of a relay to get to the administrative centers of the Irkutsk region or the Republic of Buryatia.

It is noteworthy that in Africa there is a "twin brother" of Baikal - Lake Tanganyika. It is also distinguished by the uniqueness of the ecosystem, it has a similar shape to the Siberian counterpart, only its semicircle is turned in the opposite direction.

The distance from Moscow to Irkutsk by rail is almost 5,200 km. A high-speed train overcomes it in 3.5-4 days.

Both Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk are located a few tens of kilometers from Lake Baikal, and from these cities you can get to the lake by taxi, electric trains and trains, by taxi or bus. In summer, from Irkutsk, from the pier "Rocket", yachts and motor ships go to the lake.

As the famous Russian song says, Baikal is sacred. Although this is the deepest lake of tectonic origin on the planet, it is often called the sea for its unusual size. However, it is wrong, because Lake Baikal has fresh water, being the largest natural freshwater reservoir.

Description of Lake Baikal

As already noted, Lake Baikal - the deepest lake on the planet. Its lowest elevation is 1 km 642 m, which was discovered in the course of scientific research in 1983. These figures were confirmed in 2002 during the implementation of the Russian-Spanish-Belgian project to study Baikal. Taking into account that the surface of Lake Baikal is located 455.5 meters above sea level, its lowest level goes 1186.5 meters below the ocean boundary! This makes it possible to classify Baikal as one of the deepest continental depressions.

The average depth of Lake Baikal also breaks records, as it exceeds the extremely low depths of most of the deepest lakes - it is 744.4 meters. In general, Baikal tops the three lakes that go down more than 1 kilometer - along with Tanganyika (maximum depth - 1 km 470 meters) and the Caspian (1 km 25 meters). It absorbs the waters of a total of 336 large streams and rivers (only permanent sources are taken into account), while only one single water source flows out of it - the Angara River.

The fresh water reserve of Lake Baikal is about 19 percent of the global freshwater lake reserves - 23,615.39 cubic meters. It has more water than the 5 great lakes of the world, which include Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Baikal also has several islands (27) of various sizes. The largest of them is Olkhon towering above the smooth surface (71 km x 12 km), located almost in the very central part. The largest peninsula of Lake Baikal is Svyatoy Nos.

Where is Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is located in the central zone of the Asian continent. It is located in Russia, on the border of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region. The shape resembles a giant crescent crescent, stretching for 620 kilometers from the southwest to the northeast. It varies in width from 24 km to 79 km. The surface area of Lake Baikal is (excluding the islands) 31722 sq. km. This figure is comparable to the total area of several countries in Europe - such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium combined. In general, Lake Baikal is located in a natural basin of natural origin, which is surrounded by hills and mountain ranges. From the west, its coast has a steep rocky relief, from the east it is gently sloping, with mountains indented from the coastal zone tens of kilometers deep into the continent.

Animals and fish of Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal, as well as its coastal zones, are distinguished by the presence of unique representatives of the animal and plant world, since most of them are endemic, that is, they are distributed precisely on this segment of the planet and are not represented anywhere else on the globe. Based on scientific information, about 2,630 species of animals and plants are found in Lake Baikal (endemic - two thirds of them). There are 27 species of fish that are not found anywhere else, which is explained by the presence of a considerable amount of oxygen in the water of Lake Baikal.

Small animals of Lake Baikal

The most famous endemic is epishura, a crustacean that forms about 80 percent of the biological mass of the local lake plankton, being the basic link in the food chain of all other inhabitants of Lake Baikal. In addition, it plays the role of a filtering "means", passing masses of water through itself and thereby making it much cleaner.

Oligochetes are oligochaetes, the next most important are endemic (84.5 percent of them). They form up to 70, and according to some data, up to 90 percent of the nutrient biomass for predatory invertebrates and Baikal fish. Oligochetes are also significant for self-purification of Lake Baikal - they are the most important component in the mineralization of organic matter and saturation of soils with oxygen (aeration).

Fish of Lake Baikal

The most unique representative of fish in Baikal is the golomyanka, a viviparous fish. Her body is 30 percent fat, and she is characterized by frequent food migration from the depths to shallow water (almost daily). In addition, Baltic sturgeon, pike, taimen, burbot, whitefish, grayling, and Baltic omul are found in abundance in the lake.

Birds of Lake Baikal

In general, about 236 species of birds are present on Lake Baikal, of which 29 species are waterfowl (they are mainly represented by ducks). Less often, but still there are whooper swans and geese living along the coastline. But most of all there are seagulls on Baikal. Their colonies occupy considerable territories in the mouths of the tributaries of the lake and on rocky solitary islands.

Often come across and black-throated loons, gray herons. And at the beginning of autumn and at the end of summer, over 30 varieties of waders walk along the Baikal shores, which stop at Lake Baikal during the migration period. In particular, there are many birds in shallow bays and in deltas of rivers flowing into a reservoir. However, the cult representative of Lake Baikal is an eagle. In the Baikal region, you can meet about 7 species of this powerful and unique bird: sea eagle (long-tailed and white-tailed), pygmy eagle, greater spotted eagle, steppe eagle, imperial eagle and golden eagle.

Animals of Lake Baikal

Among these representatives of the animal world, sables, which live in the Baikal forests, and seals, which have become endemic during evolution, are especially distinguished. Nerpa is a Baikal seal. It is believed that its ancestors were arctic seals, which in ancient times came here along the Yenisei and Lena rivers. Today it is the top of the trophic pyramid of the Baikal ecosystem.

Secrets of Lake Baikal

Due to its origin, deep water and the uniqueness of the animal world, Lake Baikal is considered one of the most mysterious on the planet. Riddles and mysteries are reflected mainly in the properties of water, the topography of the bottom and some other features associated with them. Thus, the fresh water of the large Lake Baikal in itself attracts the attention of scientists from all over the world, since it contains a lot of oxygen and very few organic impurities, suspended and dissolved mineral particles. Due to this, Baikal water is equated to distilled water. It is so transparent that boulders and various objects are freely visible at a depth of 40 meters.

The change in the color of the water in Lake Baikal is shrouded in mystery - from intense blue to deep green. Scientists attribute this mainly to seasonality and the development of microorganisms. With excellent visibility of the bottom, when Baikal is clear, it has a blue tint. Green appears simultaneously with the arrival of summer and the emergence of a mass of animal and plant organisms that begin active development.

Another secret of Lake Baikal is the highest sound propagation speed in water on the planet, which is why a special, separate formula was derived for Lake Baikal, which is not applicable to the propagation of sound in any other body of water. In addition, Baikal is always cold: even in summer, the temperature in the upper layers of water does not exceed plus 9 degrees, and at a depth of plus 4 degrees. The only exceptions are its individual bays, the temperature regime of which in summer reaches plus 15 degrees.

In winter, Lake Baikal freezes completely (except for a separate zone at the source of the Angara River), ice keeps on it until the first decade of May inclusive. However, he presents a lot of mysteries to the scientific world. Specialists have discovered an unusual ice cover, which is characteristic only of Lake Baikal. These are cone-shaped ice elevations 6 meters high. Inside - empty, very reminiscent of tents. Sometimes they are located singly, and sometimes they are heaped. There are also several other types of ice cover on Baikal - autumn, kolobovnik and sokuy, each of which has a unique appearance and its own special shape.

The dark rings recently discovered on the lake, appearing in its various parts, are also a mystery, which is clearly visible on satellite images. Researchers attribute them to the rise of cold deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the upper layer, resulting in anticyclonic currents. The edges of the rings have a darker tone due to the extremely high speed of the swirling water exchange.

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