What makes Lake Baikal unique?
Lake Baikal, Russia | WWF. So large that it is often mistaken for a sea, Russia’s Lake Baikal is the deepest and oldest lake in the world, and the largest freshwater lake by volume. Famous for its crystal clear waters and unique wildlife, the lake is under threat by pollution, poaching and development.
Why does Lake Baikal have so much biodiversity?
This is because cold surface water regularly flows deep into the lake, driven by strong winds and complex differences in water temperature. Baikal’s great age and stable deep-water environments created evolutionary conditions that led to the extraordinary numbers of endemic species found there today.
Why is Lake Baikal in Siberia unique?
It is the world’s deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft), and the world’s oldest lake, at 25–30 million years. It is among the world’s clearest lakes. Baikal is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, many of them endemic to the region.
What are 2 interesting facts about Lake Baikal?
Lake Baikal is the world’s largest freshwater lake in terms of volume. It is about 640 km (397 miles) long, and 80 km (50 miles) wide. It is also the deepest lake in the world, at 1,620 meters (5,314 feet). It contains 20\% of the world’s total unfrozen freshwater reserve.
What is unusual about the Baikal seal?
Like the Caspian seal, it is related to the Arctic ringed seal. The Baikal seal is one of the smallest true seals and the only exclusively freshwater pinniped species. At present, the species is not considered threatened.
Why is Lake Baikal so deep?
Lake Baikal is so deep because it is located in an active continental rift zone. The rift zone is widening at a rate of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) per year. As the rift grows wider, it also grows deeper through subsidence. So, Lake Baikal could grow wider and deeper in the future.
Why does Lake Baikal have seals?
Based on mtDNA haplotypes, Caspian seals were derived from the common ancient type of Pusa 60 million years ago and were subsequently isolated in the Caspian Sea. Baikal seals were derived from a ringed-seal-like ancestor in the Arctic Ocean and isolated in Lake Baikal 40 million years ago (Sasaki et al., 2003).
Is Lake Baikal water drinkable?
Baikal holds fully one-fifth of all the world’s liquid freshwater. If all the rivers in the world could somehow be diverted to drain Baikal at once, it would still take over a full year to empty, and the resulting deluge could provide the entire population of Earth with drinking water for fifty years.