Russian scientists announced that the depth of Lake Baikal is still increasing and has now reached 1,637 meters. The depth of
has exceeded that of many oceans, and is truly unfathomable in inland areas.
The scenery of Lake Baikal
Why does the depth of a lake continue to increase? What exactly determines the depth of Lake Baikal?
This starts with the formation of Lake Baikal.
Walking on the ice of Lake Baikal
The unfathomable Lake Baikal
If human beings are in the end of the world, where should they run? Some people will say Lake Baikal, because if you escape there, you will never be short of water.
This is not an exaggeration at all. The water storage capacity of Lake Baikal exceeds
Even if the world's population exceeds 8 billion, can still drink for 30 years.
This lake doesn’t look very big, so why is there so much water?
Lake Baikal used to be called the sea.
The amount of water in a lake is not determined by its area. This must be considered comprehensively.
The average depth of Lake Baikal is 730 meters, and the deepest place is 1637 meters. Let's just cite some ocean data to intuitively feel the depth of Lake Baikal.
The average depth of in the Azov Sea is only 8 meters, and the deepest is only 14 meters. . Many ships dare not drive in.
The average water depth of my country's Bohai Sea is 18 meters, and the deepest point is 85 meters. The average water depth of my country's Beibu Gulf is only 42 meters.9.
Even the Caspian Sea , which is also a lake, has a maximum depth of only 1025 meters .
In short, Baikal said that even cannot fight !
The unfathomable Lake Baikal
As a freshwater lake, the water of Lake Baikal comes from rivers. A total of
Of course, Baikal was not able to accommodate so many rivers at the beginning. Even when it was born, some rivers had no trace, and they co-evolved with Lake Baikal . The data of
1,637 meters was measured in 2015. Russian hydrologists said that Lake Baikal is deepening. This data may be changed in the future.
Why does the depth of Lake Baikal continue to deepen?
The rivers around Lake Baikal
The mystery of their formation
About the formation of Lake Baikal, there are two hypotheses on geology.
During the former Soviet Union, scientist Vereshchagin believed that Lake Baikal originated from the ocean. He speculated that around the Jurassic period, the area where Lake Baikal was located was a "Sea of Baikal".
Due to subsequent changes in the earth's crust, especially the impact of the Indian subcontinent on the Eurasian continent , Lake Baikal finally took shape.
According to Vereshchagin's hypothesis, the formation process of Lake Baikal was very long, spanning more than 100 million years . During this process, it was always connected with the sea, and many sea creatures swam into it .
Until the lake finally formed, they were completely left in the lake, such as Baikal seals and sharks.
Satellite map of Lake Baikal
However, the geological expedition team conducted an exploration of the strata of Lake Baikal and found that the age of the rock formations was in the Cenozoic era rather than the Mesozoic era.
This shows that Lake Baikal has never been an ocean at all, it has always been land..
The age of the rocks shows that Lake Baikal was formed about
The earth has six relatively large plates, which are mixed with some small plates, such as Arabian plate, Nazca plate , etc.
Geologists speculate that there is an Amur plate to the east of the Eurasian plate, and Lake Baikal is exactly the junction of the two plates.
The approximate position of the Amur Plate
There are generally two states between the plates. The first is that mutually squeezes , which will form a mountain , such as the Himalayas ; the other is that the two plates mutually Stay away from , so tear wounds will be formed between the plates, such as the Great Rift Valley .
Lake Baikal belongs to the latter, it is also a wound, formed by water pouring into it.
As for the seals in Lake Baikal, they swam against the Yenisey River into the Angara River , and then entered Lake Baikal .
Through genetic comparison, they are indeed and the Arctic ringed seal have a genetic relationship .
Baikal seals
It is precisely because Lake Baikal is a big crack formed between tectonic plates, these two plates are still moving away from , which has also caused Lake Baikal to be torn bigger and bigger, the wounds are getting bigger and bigger. Come to .
Unfortunately, the Amur Plate is still in a state of speculation , and there is no direct geological evidence to prove that it does exist.
The deepening of Lake Baikal may become important evidence for future studies of the existence of the Amur Plate.
So, what impact will the deepening of Lake Baikal have on the surrounding environment?
The frozen Lake Baikal
The impact of the deepening
As the lake becomes deeper, what everyone is most worried about is naturally the creatures in the lake. Asthe deepest lake in the world, the ecology of Lake Baikal is like a miniature version of the ocean, 80% of the creatures inside are unique to Lake Baikal.
Such as freshwater seals, freshwater sharks, viviparous fish, etc. The time they live here can be traced back to the formation period of Lake Baikal.
We all know that there is pressure in water. Every time you go 10 meters deep, the pressure will rise by 1 atmosphere.
The deepest point of Lake Baikal is 1637 meters, the pressure has reached the level of the deep sea.
So there are some peculiar deep-water animals living at the bottom of Lake Baikal. They are different from deep-sea creatures and are unique to the inland. Two-thirds of these animals are invertebrates.
Underwater creatures of Lake Baikal
If Lake Baikal continues to deepen, the pressure at the bottom of the lake will rise, which will be a change for these deep-water animals.
Will they be greatly affected or even extinct?
The answer is no, because of this geological change, the progress time is based on ten thousand years . It is very likely that tens of thousands of years have passed and Lake Baikal has deepened by 1 meter. With the speed of change of
, can gradually adapt to for organisms.
During their long evolution, will be selected by the environment of Lake Baikal. will accumulate from generation to generation, and there will always be organisms that are most adapted to the current lake depth.
Fish in Lake Baikal
And if this kind of tearing lake continues to tear, eventually the earth's crust will be completely torn apart , and the asthenosphere under the earth's crust is also known as magma emergence come out.
At the bottom of Lake Baikal, a ridge will gradually rise, similar to the geological structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge .
The lake bottom environment will be changed, new deep-water species may be born in the lake.
For life, this natural change of the earth's crust will cause a wave of species extinction, but it will not completely wipe out . There will always be organisms that find the direction of evolution.
However, the impact of human beings is not certain, because artificial changes in the environment occur too quickly .
Plate tearing
A worrying future
Lake Baikal is not only rich in biological resources, but also rich in mining resources. It was once a source of industrial raw materials for the Soviet Union.
Even now, it accounts for 8.1% of Russia's coal production, 6.9% of electricity and 4% of crude oil production .
As long as industry is developed, it will inevitably be inseparable from pollution. The area around Lake Baikal is vast and sparsely populated, several factories surround the lake , forming a city.
Industrial wastewater is discharged into the lake and into surrounding rivers.
These rivers basically flow into Lake Baikal, which causes the originally clear lake water to gradually become turbid..
Cities around Lake Baikal
In addition to industrial pollution, domestic pollution caused by tourism is also eroding the water quality of Lake Baikal..
Lake Baikal has beautiful scenery and pleasant scenery, coupled with local legends and culture, giving it a mysterious background.
Tourists from all over the world come here to travel, many B&Bs have been built beside the lake.
These B&Bs directly use water from the lake, and then discharge domestic wastewater into Lake Baikal.
The garbage generated by tourists is either discarded nearby or picked up by surrounding animals, and then falls into forests and lakes.
In short, Lake Baikal is no longer an isolated wonderland. It is stained with the fireworks of the world and it is also stained with industrial waste gas.
The environment of Lake Baikal
The pollution of Lake Baikal is becoming increasingly serious. Originally, the purpose of many tourists coming here was to take a sip of the water of Lake Baikal themselves, but now, many tourists say they dare not drink it.
In several big cities around the lake, such as Bratsk, Sayansk, Kiliansk, etc., residents have suffered from severe respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and kidney diseases .
These are common diseases caused by industrial pollution, and they are obviously related to the pollution of Lake Baikal.
Russia has promulgated an 8-year protection plan in 2011 to build 3 protected areas and 2 national parks around Lake Baikal, with the purpose of protecting this lake.
The tranquil Lake Baikal
In the future, fresh water resources will be precious strategic materials, and no one has any reason to face a smelly Lake Baikal at that time.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-