Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

Lake Baikal is located in the southern part of eastern Siberia in Russia and is the oldest and deepest freshwater lake on Earth. Containing approximately 20 % of all fresh water at Earth’s surface, it is also the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. The lake was formed approximately 25 million years ago in an ancient rift valley in the Baikal Rift Zone and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Lake Baikal is characterized by a very high biodiversity, hosting many plant and animal species that exist nowhere else in the world, such as the Baikal seal or nerpa. In winter, the surface of the lake becomes completely frozen.

Information source: Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Wikipedia

Image: Shamanka, or Shaman’s Rock, along the shores of Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, Russia. Credit: Виктория Шерина, Wikimedia Commons.