The beautiful Lake Baikal has composed many popular songs and stories and has been praised by generations.
At present, the deepest point of Lake Baikal is 1637 meters . It is called the world's deepest lake . It is deep enough, and its depth is still increasing every year. Why?
Lake Baikal
The world's deepest lake
Lake Baikal is located in the southern region of Eastern Siberia. The lake is 636 kilometers long, 48 kilometers wide, and covers an area of approximately 31,500 square kilometers. Its average depth is 780 meters, and its deepest point is 1,626 meters.
With such a large area of water, more people are willing to call it "sea" than the name lake.
In ancient times, Lake Baikal was indeed known as " North Sea " .
The Chinese classic "The Biography of Su Wu in the Book of Han" points out that Su Wu once shepherded sheep in the North Sea, and the North Sea mentioned here is Lake Baikal.
Su Wu Shepherd Picture
The people living near Beihai are also called Huns by us.
Lake Baikal as a whole looks like a crescent embedded in the earth. In 2015, data returned by the Russian satellite showed that the water storage capacity of the lake reached
The shape of Lake Baikal
You may not have any idea of such a number. For example, our country has a population of 1.4 billion, and the annual water consumption is about 592 billion cubic meters. The water of Lake Baikal is enough for everyone to drink for 40 years.
Moreover, Lake Baikal is replenished with a large amount of water every year, so it is not easy for people to drink it all.
In winter, Lake Baikal will freeze into a thick layer of ice, and even cars can drive on it.
Lake Baikal during the freezing period
This also adds a beautiful scenery to the local area.
However, it is extremely cold near Lake Baikal in winter. In the event of a snowstorm, visibility is extremely low, making it impossible to travel.
Lake Baikal has a temperate continental climate. It begins to freeze in January every year, taking away a lot of heat from the surroundings. At this time, the surrounding temperature is about minus 35 degrees Celsius, and it does not begin to melt until May.
Temperate air temperature and precipitation of red lotus root
Although Lake Baikal is full of poetry, it is not an easy thing to settle here permanently.
The most famous thing about Lake Baikal is its depth. Even the deepest point of the world's largest lake Caspian Sea is only 1,000 meters, but Lake Baikal has a terrifying 1,637 meters, which even exceeds the depth of some sea areas. What is the reason for
to create its lake depth ? This has to start with its formation.
The world's deepest lake
According to scientists, the geological structure of Lake Baikal is very similar to the African Great Rift Valley. About 20 to 30 million years ago, the Eurasian plate and the Indian Ocean plate collided violently, resulting in a major earthquake.
Lake Baikal appeared during this earthquake.
Lake Baikal
In order to further study the emergence process of Lake Baikal, scientists from the former Soviet Union searched for evidence in paleontological fossils and found that earlier, there was a more vast outside Lake Baikal.
What we see now is actually Lake Baikal shrinking from the inside during geological activities.
The formation of Transbaikal Lake is even older, and can be traced back to the Cambrian period when organisms appeared.
About 3.9 billion years ago, atmospheric water vapor returned to the surface and formed the ocean. At that time, the ocean covered the entire earth, and all continents were submerged under the ocean, with an average depth of 12 kilometers.
Scientists who insist on the earth's expansion theory point out that about 500 million years ago, the earth ruptured due to expansion, and a large amount of seawater poured into the earth's crust. Coupled with the uplift of the continent, the original "Pangaea" appeared.
Earth Expansion Theory
Because the terrain of Transbaikal Lake is relatively low, it is similar to a closed basin structure, and a large amount of seawater also flows into it.
At the same time, some marine animals have also been preserved on the mainland, which explains why there are a large number of marine animals in Lake Baikal today.
With the continuous inflow of freshwater rivers, the water in Lake Baikal continues to desalinate, and the marine life in it gradually adapts to the environmental conditions of the lake.
In order to verify the formation process of Lake Baikal, biologists compared the genes of seals in the lake with seals in Europe and found that the two have very similar characteristics.
This shows that they belonged to the same species many years ago, but differentiated into different genetic characteristics in different environments.
A subsequent major earthquake created the basic prototype of Lake Nebaikal. At that time, deep cracks appeared in Lake Nebaikal, and all the lake water poured into it, and the water area of Transbaikal Lake gradually shrank.
The reason why the depth of Lake Baikal continues to deepen is that it is at the junction of two plates. Under the action of stretching, the cracks continue to deepen and expand.
Location of Lake Baikal
It is different from the seven major plates we are familiar with. It is a small plate movement, and its force is not very obvious. It often takes hundreds or thousands of years to see its effect.
Therefore, the growth rate of Lake Baikal depth is also extremely slow.
However, the theory of plate stretching is still in the demonstration stage, and there is not enough evidence to prove that there is indeed such a plate tearing this crack.
In this regard, scientists have made breakthrough progress and believe that the mystery of the depth of Lake Baikal will soon be confirmed in the near future.
Lake Baikal Depth Comparison
Future Depth
Due to the stretching of the plate, many scientists believe that Lake Baikal will deepen to more than 3,000 meters in a few hundred million years.
By then, all the fresh water will flow into the earth's crust, and Lake Baikal will become another dry "African Rift Valley."
Some scientists have also put forward the opposite view. As the saying goes, the continents will reunite into "Pangaea" after hundreds of millions of years.
Pangaea
The deepest point of Lake Baikal reaches the critical point of 2000 meters. A convergence effect will occur between the plates, causing Lake Baikal to rise.
By then, the deep crack is likely to turn into a towering mountain, dividing Lake Baikal into two.
No matter what, what scientists are most worried about is the biodiversity in Lake Baikal.
The lake is like a freshwater ocean, with an independent and complex ecosystem, in which a large number of organisms are unique to Lake Baikal.
The only Baikal seal living in fresh water
Once the terrain changes dramatically, it means changes in climate and temperature. If organisms cannot adapt to the environment, they will face extinction.
is a huge loss for both biology and archeology .
However, before that, people were most worried about the over-exploitation of Lake Baikal.
The Crisis of Lake Baikal
After 1945, trees around Lake Baikal were cut down on a large scale, causing the land to decline and a large amount of sand to invade the lake.
The clarity of Lake Baikal is world-renowned. Now it is mixed with sediment, and the lake is quietly changing.
The key is that with the reduction of vegetation, the regulatory effect of water cycle is no longer significant, and Lake Baikal is likely to be unable to receive effective water supply in the future.
Water cycle in nature
In addition, industrial pollution has made the environment around Lake Baikal worrying. According to statistics, 5 of the 40 cities with the most serious industrial pollution in Russia are located near Lake Baikal.
They rely on Lake Baikal's own purification capabilities to deal with various pollutants. The levels of sulfites , magnesium hydroxide and nitrates in the lake water are constantly rising.
Finally, people's large-scale fishing in Lake Baikal has also reduced the biodiversity in it.
Lake Baikal today is worrying.
It is difficult for humans and nature to live in complete harmony
The natural environment is closely related to human life. Only by protecting the natural environment can humans survive for a long time.
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