Lake Baikal located in the southern region of the Siberian Region (one of the coldest parts of the earth) has the credit of being the deepest lake in the world (depth 1637 meters), it is 636 km long and 80 km wide and occupies a land area of about 23,000 sq. km. The size of this lake is mind boggling; it can be made understandable from the following way, suppose all the rivers of the world flow in to it (Amazon, Zambezi, Nile, Niagara, Ganges included); even then it will take one whole year to fill the lake! 

This giant among fresh-water lakes; that contains 20% of the world’s total fresh water stock; remained almost unknown under the iron curtain spread by the erstwhile Communist regime. It was the publicity stunts associated with the construction of the Baikal Amur Railway made the existence of such a magnificent lake –known as the bule eye of Siberia- under the public glare.

Characteristics of Lake Baikal: 

Lake Baikal is believed to be about 20 to 30 million years old and it is crescent shaped and extra deep; a usual phenomenon associated with rift lakes. These rift lakes are that formed when water fill a rift valley - rifts occurs on surface of land due to tectonic forces, Lake Tanganyika is another rift lake. The bottom of this lake is 1280 meters below sea level one may think it is that deep but not; seven km deep mud (sediments accumulated in its bottom occupy that depth –about 7 km.

This ‘mud’ that has been formed for about 25 30 millions of years, which would have many stories to tell; the events occurred on the mother earth for the last 25 million years, animals and plants born evolved during this time all!. In 1990 geologists of Russia and USA conducted a combined study by analyzing the sediments of the lake and detected the climatic variations undergone by the region and the developments undergone by the animals and plants of the area in the millenniums that have passed.

Origin word of Lake Baikal

The word ‘Baikal’ is said to have its origin from the Mongolian word baigal which means nature. It has 330 rivers flowing in to it from various surrounding Baikal Mountains of which River Selenga, Chilkoy and Uda are main ones. There is only one river to drain the water out the Angara River. In short Baikal is a monopolist of fresh water from a Communist haven.

Though the surface area of this lake is not as big as the other great lakes (23600 sq km), its great depth (1.637 km!) compensates more than enough as it holds water far greater than any of the other great lakes in the world, it contains 31494 sq km of fresh water (even the water of the great five lakes of US is put together it would not equal the Baikal water. Lake Baikal is a UNESCO approved World Heritage Site since 1996 mainly for the biodiversity within and it’s surrounding areas.

Known as Russian Galapagos

Lake Baikal is known as the Galapagos of Russia as both share a history of spending many years in isolation from external world for very long period; if it was ocean that isolated Galapagos, it was the hostile permafrost of Siberia that cut Baikal from outside world. The flora and fauna of both lands had to evolve independently being cut off from mainstream animals and plants.

Lake Baikal and its surroundings play host to more than 1700 (so far identified) species of plants and animals. About two thirds of them are quite exclusive of the region. The extreme climate of Siberia and unimaginable depths of this lake make exploration a tall order. The surrounding areas of this lake is where mammoths (elephant like animals but far bigger in size) roamed all around, fossils of many have been recovered from here and there in Siberia.

Other Information about Lake Baikal 

One of the most interesting animals in the lake is the Baikal seal, or nurpa, the world's only fresh water seal. Nurpas use their sharp claws to carve dens for their families while ice is still forming. Finding their dens is relatively easy: look for air bubbles trapped in the ice after being exhaled by nurpas. You can also look for small breathing holes poked into snowdrifts by the seals. For a diver to get into a den is another story.

First, a diving crew member must use a small metal saw to cut a small hole in the ice. Then a circular, manhole-size opening is cut with a chain saw, and long poles are used to push the round slab under the ice. To keep the hole from freezing over, it must be constantly raked. A team effort, indeed. Under the ice, the water is warmer than the air [36 degrees F], but it is still very cold for scuba diving. Every 30 seconds or so, divers must tug on safety lines attached to their wrists to let the crew above know that they are all right.

Seen from an underwater perspective, the seal's den is an intricate ice carving, complete with tunnels and an igloo-like canopy that functions as an air pocket. Nurpas are shy, and pups resting on a bunk bed of ice quickly dive into the water when startled by a visitor. In June, conditions at Lake Baikal are much different. Although the water temperature is about the same as it is in spring, the air temperature is usually in the 60s.

Visibility underwater is perhaps 200 feet, many times greater than that in most lakes. The "Great vis" at that time of year is caused by the water's relative lack of minerals and by countless small crustaceans eating the algae, plankton, and bacteria that can cloud fresh water and salt water alike. Clarity does not last long, however. By mid July, an algae bloom produces pea-soup conditions.

Except for the numbing cold that pains their ears, face, and fingers within minutes of entering the water, divers exploring the shallows of Baikal might feel as if they are hovering over a meadow on a sunny day. Looking up from a depth of 50 feet, they can see clouds in the sky. Looking down, they sea fields of fluffy green algae. The greens spires of three-foot-tall candelabra sponges poke through the algae.

Such large sponges, which get their color from algae living symbiotically in their tissues, are not rare in saltwater, but in other freshwater lakes they have no parallel. The sponges are homes for amphipods, alien-looking shrimplike creatures that are as small as specks or as large as human thumbs. And the waters of Lake Baikal hold 240 species of them. Hiding among the sponges and algae are sculpins, bottom-dwelling fish that are masters of camouflage, their patterned bodies blending in with their surroundings.

These ancient fish, like most cold-water species, don't move fast; it's just too cold here to make quick moves. So, the lake's 40 species of sculpins, comprising 80 percent of Baikal's fish biomass, rely on camouflage for protection against larger fish. Near the lakes northern and, at a depth of approximately 1,350 feet, a geothermal vent provides warmth for the community of sponges, snails, worms, and fish living in the pitch-dark environment.

 The existence of this vent confirms that Baikal is a place where continental masses are being pulled apart. Photographer Emory Kristof, who has visited the site for the National Geographic Society, explains: "The communities of life resemble organisms normally found in an ocean, which gives weight to the theory that Baikal is an ocean in the making." One rarely seen creature is the omul, a delicious fish endemic to the lake.

Its scarcity indicates Baikal is ecologically out of balance, a result of the destructive effects of industrial development and logging nearby. Vadim Fialkov, of the lake Baikal Limnological Institute, reports that "local environmental groups have put pressure on the government to reduce the amount of effluents that are dumped into the lake. With some luck, we'll get Baikal back to its pristine state and keep it that way.