Natural reservoirs filled with fresh water are becoming more and more valuable for humanity over time, as vigorous economic activity causes too much damage to the environment.
The more it becomes clear what a miracle Baikal is - the largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of clean drinking water reserves.
How to evaluate?
By what criteria should such a natural object as a lake be evaluated in order to give it the title of "The Biggest"? The main thing is the volume of fresh water that it contains. This is the meaning of a natural reservoir formed as a result of powerful forces that change the surface of the planet. In this aspect, Baikal is by far the largest freshwater lake in the world. In terms of mirror area, it is inferior to six reservoirs located in various regions of the planet, but even the largest of them, Lake Superior, located on the North American continent, has half the volume. This body of water, which is part of the Great American Lakes, is clearly visible fromspace, but even all together they contain less water than in Baikal.
Glorious Sea
Also clearly distinguishable by astronauts, it has long been called the sea by Siberians. Like a normal sea, Baikal has bays, straits and reef zones, peninsulas and island archipelagos (there are 27 islands in total), and the largest island, Olkhon, with a width of 12 km, stretches for 71 km.
Baikal is a unique ecological system created to store 20% of the world's fresh water (its volume is 23,600 m3). The giant crescent, about 620 km long, has a maximum width of 79 m, and the greatest depth measured with the most modern hydrological instruments is 1642 m. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of depth. Even the average depth of Lake Baikal - about 740 meters - is greater than the maximum for all the largest freshwater reservoirs of natural origin.
Volcanic activity that accompanied the formation of the Baikal depression raised the entire surrounding area to 455 m above sea level, and the bottom of this depression collapsed 1186.5 m below this level, so among all the earth's continental depressions there are very few that surpass it.
Finely tuned system
The unique ecological system that is the largest freshwater lake in the world is a well-thought-out and balanced composition of several elements not found anywhere else. Chief ofof them - Epischura baicalensis - Baikal epishura - a planktonic crustacean animal about one and a half millimeters in size, passing Baikal water through itself, removes organic matter, makes it exceptionally clean and rich in oxygen.
The water is especially transparent in spring, when it contains a minimum of algae, and then only poor eyesight can interfere with distinguishing a coin at a depth of 30 meters.
Cold and clear water that fills the largest freshwater lake in the world is a habitat for unique fish species, most of which are endemic, that is, they live only in Baikal, the most famous of which is the legendary omul. Endemics also make up the majority among numerous birds and mammals.
History
Research of the rocks that make up the Baikal bowl did not resolve the dispute of scientists about the time of the birth of Baikal. Some argue that the largest freshwater lake in the world was formed about 20 million years ago, others say that lakes do not live for so long - after tens of thousands of years they are inevitably filled with silt deposits and turn into a swamp. Opponents see this as another reason to talk about the exclusivity of this natural object.
The version about the "adolescent" age of Baikal at 5-8 thousand years is no less actively put forward, such statements are substantiated by the fact that active seismic activity continues in the Baikal region.
Local tribes, from which the name "Barguts" remained, were the first to startsettle on the Baikal shores. They were replaced by the Buryats, from whose language the word came, which is now called the largest freshwater lake in the world. The name Baikal is the Buryat "baigal" ennobled by the Russian Cossacks, who went to the Siberian Sea in the 17th century. Among the many meanings of this word are “mighty stagnant water”, “rich fire”, “divine, supreme reservoir”, etc.
The main thing is to save
Even in Soviet times, the problem of pollution of the great lake began to take on rampant proportions. The paper mill built on its shore became not only a source of waste polluting the purest Baikal water, but also the cause of cutting down cedar forests on its banks, which entailed more serious problems for the vegetation and animals of the Baikal region.
Another problem is the presence among more than 330 permanent tributaries of Baikal of such large rivers as the Selenga, which carry wastewater from large cities in Mongolia and the Baikal region to Baikal.
The main threat is the habit of extracting all sorts of momentary benefits from natural resources that are considered free, without thinking about the future. Without defeating such an attitude towards the environment, it is impossible to hope for a better future. Baikal is too pure a precious diamond given to Russia and the world not to try to save it.
