Natural reservoirs filled with fresh water become increasingly valuable to mankind over time, since too much damage to the environment is caused by active economic activity.
Moreover, it becomes clear how miraculous Baikal is, the largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of its reserves of clean drinking water.
How to evaluate?
What are the criteria for evaluating such a natural object as a lake in order to assign it the title "Biggest"? The main thing is the volume of fresh water that it contains. This is precisely the meaning of the 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. By the area of the mirror, 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 reservoir, which is part of the Great American Lakes, is clearly visible from space, but even together they contain a smaller volume of water than in Lake Baikal.
Glorious sea
Also well distinguished by astronauts, it has long been called the Siberians by the sea. Like the normal sea, in Baikal there are bays, straits and reef zones, peninsulas and island archipelagos (27 islands in total), and the largest island - Olkhon - with a width of 12 km extends for 71 km in length.
Baikal is a unique ecological system created to store 20% of the world fresh water supply (its volume is 23,600 m 3 ). The giant crescent moon with a length of about 620 km has a maximum width of 79 m, and the greatest depth, measured using the most modern hydrological instruments, is 1642 m. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world in depth. Even the average depth of Lake Baikal - about 740 meters - is greater than the maximum at all the largest freshwater reservoirs of natural origin.
Volcanic activity, accompanying the formation of the Baikal basin, elevated the entire surrounding area at 455 m above sea level, and the bottom of this basin fell 1186.5 m below this level, therefore, among all the Earth's mainland basins, there are very few that exceed it.
Finely tuned system
The unique ecological system, which is the largest freshwater lake in the world, is a well-designed and balanced composition of several elements that are not found anywhere else. The main one is Epischura baicalensis - the Baikal epishura - a planktonic crustacean animal about one and a half millimeters in size, passing Baikal water through itself, removes organics, making it extremely pure and rich in oxygen.
Water is especially transparent in the spring, when it contains a minimum of algae, and then only poor vision can interfere with distinguishing a coin at a 30-meter depth.
Cold and clear water that fills the largest freshwater lake in the world is a habitat for unique species of fish, most of which are endemic, that is, they live only in Baikal, the most famous of which is the legendary omul. Endemics make up the majority among numerous birds and mammals.
History
Studies of the rocks that make up the Baikal bowl did not resolve the scholar's dispute over the time of the birth of Baikal. Some argue that the largest freshwater lake in the world was formed about 20 million years ago, while others say that the lakes do not live for so long - after ten thousand years they inevitably fill with muddy sediments and turn into a swamp. Opponents see this as another reason to talk about the exclusivity of this natural object.
No less actively put forward the version of the "teenage" age of Lake Baikal in 5-8 thousand years, substantiated by such allegations that active seismic activity continues in the Baikal region.
Local tribes, from which the name "Barguts" remained, were the first to settle 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 a Buryat “Baigal” ennobled by Russian Cossacks who came to the Siberian Sea in the 17th century. Among the many meanings of this word are “mighty stagnant water”, “rich fire”, “divine, supreme body of water”, etc.
The main thing is to save
Back in Soviet times, the problem of pollution of the great lake began to take on rampant proportions. The boom plant built on its shore became not only a source of waste polluting the purest Baikal water, but also the cause of deforestation on its banks of cedar forests, 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 Lake Baikal of such large rivers as the Selenga, which carry sewage to large cities of Mongolia and the Baikal region to Lake Baikal.
The main threat is the habit of extracting all sorts of momentary benefits from the considered free of charge natural resources, 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, donated to Russia and the world, so as not to try to preserve it.