Lake Baikal Totally Explained

Everything about Lake Baikal totally explained

Lake Baikal ( Buryat: Байгал нуур) is in Southern Siberia in Russia, located between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, near the city of Irkutsk. It is also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia". It's famous for holding a volume of water larger than that of all the great lakes combined., and the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, holding approximately twenty percent of the world's total surface fresh water. Like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed in an ancient rift valley and therefore is long and crescent-shaped with a surface area (31,500 km²) less than half that of Lake Superior or Lake Victoria. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Olkhon, the largest island in Lake Baikal, is the fourth-largest lake-bound island in the world. More than 25 million years old, it's the oldest such lake as well.

Geography and hydrography

Very little was known about Lake Baikal until the Trans-Siberian railway was built between 1896 and 1902. The scenic loop encircling Lake Baikal needed 200 bridges and 33 tunnels. As this railway was being built, a large hydrogeographical expedition headed by F.K. Drizhenko produced the first detailed atlas of the contours of Baikal's depths. The atlas demonstrated that Lake Baikal has as much water as all of North America's Great Lakes combined —, about one fifth of the total fresh water on the earth. However, in surface area, it's exceeded by the much shallower Great Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan in North America, as well as by the relatively shallow Lake Victoria in East Africa. Known as the "Galápagos of Russia", its age and isolation have produced some of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.
Lake Baikal is in a rift valley created by the Baikal Rift Zone, where the crust of the earth is pulling apart. At long and wide, Lake Baikal has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in Asia (31,494 km²) and is the deepest lake in the world (1,637 metres, previously measured at 1,620 metres). In fact, it holds a volume of water larger than that of all the great lakes combined. The bottom of the lake is 1,285 metres below sea level, but below this lies some of sediment, placing the rift floor some 8–9 kilometers (more than 5 miles) below the surface: the deepest continental rift on Earth.
The lake is completely surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are technically protected as a national park. It contains 22 islands; the largest, Olkhon, is long. The lake is fed by as many as three hundred and thirty inflowing rivers. an exchange program between U.S., Russian, and Mongolian scientists and university graduate students started in 1990.

Wildlife

The extent of biodiversity present in Lake Baikal is equaled by few other lakes. Lake Baikal hosts 1,085 species of plants and 1,550 species and varieties of animals. Over 80% of animals are endemic. Epischura baikalensis is endemic to Lake Baikal and the dominating zooplankton species there: 80 to 90 percent of total biomass. The Baikal Seal or nerpa (Phoca sibirica), is found throughout Lake Baikal. It is one of only 3 entirely freshwater seal species in the world, the other being the two subspecies of freshwater Ringed Seal. Perhaps the most important local species is the omul (Coregonus autumnalis migratorius), a smallish endemic salmonid. It is caught, smoked, and sold widely in markets around the lake.
Of particular note are the two species of golomyanka or Baikal oil fish (Comephorus baicalensis and C. dybowskii). These long-finned, translucent fish live in depths of 700 to 1600 feet and are the primary prey objects of the Baikal seal, representing the largest fish biomass in the lake. They are famous for disintegrating into a pool of oil and bones when withdrawn rapidly from the high pressures of the deep water. The Baikal grayling (Thymallus arcticus baicalensis), a fast swimming salmonid popular among anglers, and the Baikal sturgeon (Asipenser baerri baicalensis) are both important endemic species with commercial value. Bear and deer are common and hunted along Baikal shores.

Research

Several organizations are carrying out natural research projects on Lake Baikal. Most of them are governmental or associated with governmental organizations. The Baikalian Research Centre (External Link

) is an independent research organization carrying out environmental educational and research project at Lake Baikal.

Tourism

The lake called "the Pearl of Siberia" drew investors from the tourist industry since energy revenues sparked an economic boom. Viktor Grigorov's Grand Baikal in Irkutsk is one of the investors who planned to build three hotels creating 570 jobs. In 2007, the Russian government declared the Baikal region a special economic zone. The popular resort of Listvyanka has a seven-story Hotel Mayak. Baikal is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Rosatom plans to build a laboratory in Baikal, in conjunction with an international uranium plant and to invest $2.5bn in the region and create 2,000 jobs in the city of Angarsk. The alleged Lake Baikal Monster draws in tourists from across the world hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary creature.

Environmental concerns

Baykalsk pulp and paper mill

Baykalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM) was constructed in 1966 directly on the shore line. The BPPM bleaches its paper with chlorine and discharges the waste into Baikal. Despite numerous protests, the BPPM is still in production. Environmental activists are now struggling to make the pollution less harmful rather than end BPPM's production since a plant shutdown would destroy valuable jobs.

Planned East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline

Russian oil piplines state company Transneft was planning to build a trunk pipeline that would have come within of the lake shore in a zone of substantial seismic activity. Environmental activists in Russia, Greenpeace, Baikal pipeline opposition and local citizens were strongly opposed to these plans due to the possibility of an accidental oil spill that might cause significant damage to the environment. According to the Transneft's president, numerous meetings with ordinary citizens were held in towns along the route, especially in Irkutsk. However, it wasn't until Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the company to consider an alternative route to the north to avoid such ecological risks that Transneft agreed to alter its plans. Transneft has since decided to move the pipeline away from Lake Baikal so that it won't pass through any federal or republic natural reserves.
Work began on the pipeline two days after President Putin agreed to changing the route away from Lake Baikal.

Notes and references

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