Why is Lake Baikal such an important resource?

It’s one of the world’s largest repositories of unique species, home to nearly 2,000 animals and plants that live nowhere else, including the world’s only freshwater seal. And perhaps most astonishing of all is Baikal’s legendary water itself, among the cleanest and clearest anywhere.

How does Lake Baikal affect the environment?

Lake Baikal has undergone dramatic warming and ecosystem changes that could disrupt its biological systems. Since 1892, winter temperatures in the region around Lake Baikal have warmed by 0.5° F (0.3° C) per decade, making this one of the most rapidly warming regions in the world.

Why has Lake Baikal developed as the birthplace of environmental movement?

Baikal’s great age and stable deep-water environments created evolutionary conditions that led to the extraordinary numbers of endemic species found there today. Industrial development on the shores of the lake gave rise to Russia’s first environmental movement in the 1960s.

What is Russia’s most important river and why?

The Volga River is the most important river in Russia. Not only is it the longest river in Europe, but the Volga is also the cradle of Russian civilization. Approximately half of the country’s 20 largest cities are in the Volga basin, including the capital of Moscow.

Where is Lake Baikal located and why is it unique in terms of its microbial communities?

Overall, depth seems to be less relevant than salinity in configuring the microbial community. Lake Baikal, located in an intracontinental rift zone of southcentral Siberia, is the world’s deepest lake (1637m, average of 758 m), with the largest volume of fresh liquid water (23,000 km3) (Hampton et al. 2008).

How has tourism affected Lake Baikal?

One of the environmental consequences of tourism is the pollution of the shallow coastal area due to household waste and sewage. Now, every summer sees a massive proliferation of non-native algae, which displaces animal and plant species native to the Baikal region.

What kind of pollution has damaged Russia’s Lake Baikal?

Putin said the lake’s waters were now being polluted by household sewage and chemicals from farming, citing the need to “drastically cut down the volume of untreated water being discharged into the lake.”

Why do tourists visit Lake Baikal?

Most tourists go to Lake Baikal for the water-sports. Scuba-diving is particularly popular since the lake is known to be one of the clearest in the world and therefore fruitful for scuba-divers. You will find a wide range of sailing, speed-boating and water skiing opportunities in the most tourist-friendly areas.

What is Russia’s most important waterway?

Volga River
Volga River, Russian Volga, ancient (Greek) Ra or (Tatar) Itil or Etil, river of Europe, the continent’s longest, and the principal waterway of western Russia and the historic cradle of the Russian state.

Why are rivers important in Russia?

The country features a number of important rivers that drain into several bodies of water, including the Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Pacific Ocean. Rivers were the highways of ancient cultures, so Russia’s most important cities naturally sit on the banks of its main rivers.

Why is Lake Baikal so clear?

The huge volume of the lake and its extreme depth create a unique hydraulic situation which makes the waters of Lake Baikal stunningly clear (Rossolimo 1966, cited in Lubomudrov 1978). The lake is fed by a great number of tributary streams and rivers, the most significant being the Selenga River, which enters Lake Baikal from the southeast.

Is Lake Baikal the largest lake in the world?

Lake Baikal is also the world’s seventh-largest lake by surface area. Lake Baikal formed as an ancient rift valley and has a long, crescent shape, with a surface area of 31,722 km 2 (12,248 sq mi), slightly larger than Belgium.

Why is Baikal called the Glorious sea?

This prominent landmark juts dramatically out into the lake like a crooked beak and natives have long considered Holy Nose to be sacred. The well-known writer, Anton Checkhov, saw the “glorious sea” in the following way while traveling in 1890, “Baikal is surprising and it is not without reason that Siberians call it stately, not a lake but a sea.

How big is the Lake Baikal coastal protection zone?

The Lake Baikal Coastal Protection Zone, covering the lake and its environs (a total of 34,000 square miles [88,000 square km]), was created in 1987, and the same area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. Lake Baikal, southeastern Siberia, Russia.