Baikal is the pearl of Russia. Lake Baikal - sewage or drainage lake?

Lake Baikal is very famous notonly within our country, but also in foreign countries. Thanks to the fruitful work of specialists and scientists Baikal was listed as a World Natural Heritage site by UNESCO. Those who are interested in this natural object, there are many questions, for example, about the origin of Lake Baikal, its depth, what kind of inhabitants it is possible to see in it, and so on.

Lake Baikal: general characteristics

The total area of ​​the Baikal territory isabout 386 thousand square kilometers, all this far exceeds the area of ​​all other national parks and reserves of our country, as well as a number of other foreign countries. Geographically Baikal natural territory is located in the center of Asia. The length of the famous lake is 636 kilometers, and the width is 79.5 kilometers (with the smallest section of 25 kilometers). Lake Baikal is rightfully considered to be the deepest in the world, since its depth is 1637 meters. Formation of the reservoir supposedly began more than 30 million years ago, and therefore this handsome man is considered one of the oldest lakes in the world. Baikal is located among the fractured parts of the earth's crust that formed a hollow. It expands every year by 2 cm.

Characteristics of a mountain lake

By nature, Baikal refers to mountain lakes. Its level rises above the level of the world's ocean by 445 meters, and the bottom is below it by 1200 meters. According to the majority of historians and geographers, the deposits of the lake territory contain information about the features of climate change in the territory of Asia over the last tens of millions of years.

In this Asian lake moretwenty percents of fresh water of the whole globe, which fully meet all quality criteria - microbiological, organoleptic, hydrochemical. The water of Lake Baikal is distinguished by its extraordinary purity, transparency, freshness. To prove the purity of this lake, the Secchi diagnostic disk is used, which is immersed in water to a level of increased transparency. In Lake Baikal, this level corresponds to 40 meters, and, for example, in Lake Sevan, the disk sinks only 20 meters. A surprising fact: Alpine lakes are also inferior to Baikal for the transparency of waters.

Lake Baikal - sewage or drainage lake? Features of lake waters

Dimensions of the basin, or hollows, where theThe lake waters are so great that it can accommodate the entire contents of the Baltic Sea or the five Great Lakes of America. Lake Baikal receives 336 streams and small rivers in its waters. The largest tributaries are the Upper Angara, Turka, Snezka, Sarma. However, only one river flows from the lake waters - the Angara, which is why many scientists hold the opinion that Lake Baikal is a sewage. Due to the only river flowing from the lake, it has a connection with the world's oceans.

There are three types of lakes - sewage, drainage,flowing. Sewage lakes - those from which rivers flow out, circulate in flowing water lakes - flow in and out, and in the drainage water is without movement. Since the river Angara flows out of the Baikal, and a huge number of small rivers come to it, the question of whether Lake Baikal is a sewage or without a lake is always a matter of debate. One of the main evidence in the dispute is the availability of fresh water, which is typical only for flow and sewage lakes. Lakes of a drainless type often form in an arid climate, where the amount of precipitation is minimal. Also to this type are the drying seas, for example, the Caspian Sea.

Main features of Lake Baikal

Based on all of the above, we can distinguish such features of the lake:

• Contains 20 percent of fresh water from the entire world stock.
• One large river flows out - the Angara.

Thus, the eternal discussions about whether Lake Baikal is a sewage or without a lake, can be completed. And it is safe to say that it belongs to the category of sewage.

Endemic features of Lake Baikal

Another distinctive feature is thevariety of plants and animals living in the thickness of the waters of Lake Baikal. At the moment, scientists register more than 2565 species of animals and more than a thousand species of plants of the water element.

Some of these plants, about two thirds, areendemic for the region, so they no longer grow anywhere. According to research, the rich heritage of Lake Baikal has no analogues even among the Great Lakes of the World. With each new year for Lake Baikal (a sewage or drainless lake, we dismantled above) describes a new 20 species of invertebrate animals. Specialists come to the conclusion that at least 1500 new species of hydrobionts of this lake will appear.

At the top of the trophic pyramid of Baikal is the Baikal seal, or seal, whose ancestor was supposedly an Arctic seal, which moved centuries ago along the Yenisey or Lena.