Lake Baikal is called "the pearl of Russia", and this title is fully justified. They talk about him in excellent form: the purest, the most ancient, the deepest. With its interesting riddles, it attracts not only scientists, but also ufologists, esotericists and children.
Here are the top 10 short but interesting facts about Lake Baikal, or as the Buryats call it: Baigal Dalai.
10. This is the oldest lake in the world
With at least 25 million years of existence, Lake Baikal is the oldest lake in the world. It, like the surrounding mountains, was formed as a result of the destruction and movement of the earth's crust.
Probably, Baikal was originally a river bed, but tremors and cracks in the earth's crust increased its size and actually expanded the space between the banks.
Scientists believe that at first a series of lakes arose, similar to the Great ones, and then in the Pliocene era (from 5.3 to 2.58 million years ago) they combined into one giant lake.
There are several theories about what could have caused such a combination, including a meteorite fall, volcanic eruption, erosion, and earthquakes.
9. Baikal has a unique ecosystem
Under the water surface of one of the most beautiful lakes in the world active life rages. The age, isolation and oxygenated water of Lake Baikal have created one of the richest freshwater ecosystems in the world. Interestingly, about 80 percent of the more than 3,700 species found on Lake Baikal are endemic. That is, they are not found anywhere else on Earth.
Probably the best known of these species is the Baikal seal, the world's only exclusively freshwater seal. Scientists are not sure how the seal got to Lake Baikal and evolved, but they suspect the seals may have swum down the prehistoric river from the Arctic.
Other endemic species include the fatty fish golomyanka and Baikal omul.
In total, more than 50 fish species live in Lake Baikal, and aquatic invertebrate species include more than 100 species of flatworms, more than 700 species of anthropods (insects, arachnids and crustaceans) and more than 170 species of molluscs. These are scientifically proven facts.
8. Luminous balls are often seen over Baikal
Locals and fishermen have frequently reported unusual glowing balls appearing over the lake. Thanks to this phenomenon, Baikal became one of the most popular destinations for mystical tourism.
Locals believe that these balls are nothing more than spirits and that it is unsafe around them. And the scientific community believes that the emergence of these spheres may be caused by spontaneous combustion of methane released from the lake. However, no direct evidence of this theory has yet been found.
7. Baikal is one of the seven underwater wonders of the world
Fun fact: Lake Baikal was selected by the CEDAM Conservation Group in 1990 as one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World, along with:
- Galapagos Islands.
- Republic of Palau in Micronesia.
- Coral reef Ras Mohammed in the northern part of the Red Sea.
- Belize Barrier Reef.
- Great Barrier Reef.
- Deep ocean cracks found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
6. At the bottom of Lake Baikal there may be gas or mud volcanoes
In space photographs of Baikal, dark circles are visible on the frozen icy surface of the lake during the winter months. These rings with a diameter of 5 to 7 kilometers did not change their location, but they did not appear every year.
Scientists say that this is the result of the activity of gas or mud volcanoes at the bottom of the lake. When these volcanoes erupt, warm gas rushes to the surface and submarine cyclones are formed.
These cyclones are warmer than water, and when the gas reaches the ice surface, these dark circles form. This theory of underwater cyclones caused by gas volcanoes is credible because the ice within the circles is more water saturated and thinner than ice in other areas. In addition, the scientists identified micro-cracks in the ice within the circle, indicating that the gas was able to pass through them.
And in 2015, scientists from Irkutsk State University found a mud volcano in the underwater part of the Selenga River delta. It was given the name Telny, in honor of the nearest railway station.
Here is another interesting fact about Baikal: from the Buryat language, the word “Bai Gal” is translated as “standing fire”. Perhaps, in the old days, people watched torches of burning methane on Lake Baikal.
5. Baikal is a natural source of fuel
When deep-sea submersibles explored the lake, they found gas hydrates - solid compounds made of water and gas.
Fun fact: heating 1 cubic meter of gas hydrate can produce 160-180 cubic meters of natural gas. For this reason, the scientific community is considering gas hydrates as future fuel resources.
At the moment, Baikal is the only freshwater lake in the world that has both direct and indirect evidence of the presence of gas hydrates.
4. Baikal is the cleanest lake in the world
Stunning the purity of Baikal - the result of the purity of melted ice, the activity of microscopic crustaceans that feed on floating debris, and the lack of mineral salts and organic impurities in the lake. Under favorable conditions, you can see objects at a depth of 35 meters from the surface.
3. Only one river flows from Baikal
It is interesting that more than 330 streams and rivers flow into Lake Baikal, but the Angara River is the only way out of the lake. At the source of the Angara there is a rock - Shaman-stone. According to legend, the hero Baikal threw him after his daughter Angara, who, against the will of her father, fled to the handsome Yenisei.
2. Baigal Dalai - the sunniest lake in Russia
If you decide to spend your vacation at Lake Baikal, then you will make the right choice. Indeed, in a year the number of sunny days here is greater than at the popular Russian resort - the Black Sea coast. For example, there are about 50 cloudy days on Olkhon Island per year.
1. Baikal can turn into an ocean
Scientists put forward an interesting hypothesis that Lake Baikal is a gradually developing ocean. This hypothesis is based on the fact that the lake is located on the edge of the Siberian platform, and as the tectonic plates move, the boundaries of the lake gradually expand - by 2 cm per year. This is comparable to the speed at which Africa and South America are diverging.
Over time (in the very, very distant future), the lake can turn into an ocean.