What lies at the bottom of Lake Baikal?

What lies at the bottom of Lake Baikal? Giant mats of bacteria, sponges, limpets, fish, and amphipods (small shrimp-like creatures) live at the bottom of Lake Baikal. Indigenous people of Siberia claim the lake is home to a giant dragon called Lusud-Khan, but researchers have only found these small deepwater creatures, which are still pretty fascinating.

How deep is the bottom of Lake Baikal?

The bottom of the lake is 1,186.5 m (3,893 ft; 648.8 fathoms) below sea level, but below this lies some 7 km (4.3 mi) of sediment, placing the rift floor some 8–11 km (5.0–6.8 mi) below the surface, the deepest continental rift on Earth.

How did seals get to Lake Baikal?

The ringed seals is considered the ancestor of the Baikal seal, and are thought to have reached the lake by traveling up the river system and drainage that runs from the lake to the Arctic Ocean some 400,000 years ago during the Pleistocene.

What creatures are in Lake Baikal?

Unique Wildlife Among these interesting creatures are the Baikal omul fish, Baikal oil fish and most notably, the Baikal seal or nerpa as they are called in Russian. This is one of the only seal species to live entirely in fresh water.

Can you swim in Lake Baikal?

Not only is Lake Baikal safe to swim in, but it also boasts some of the purest water in the world. The only drawback is the temperature - even during the warmer months, a dip in the lake is pretty invigorating.

What is the deepest body of water not an ocean?

Other lakes are so big that they are called seas. The Caspian Sea, in Europe and Asia, is the world's largest lake, with an area of more than 370,000 square kilometers (143,000 square miles). Lakes also vary greatly in depth. The world's deepest lake is Lake Baikal, in Russia.

Why is the water in Lake Baikal so clear?

Why is the Baikal water so transparent? The Baikal water contains small amounts of dissolved and suspended substances, that is why, its transparency exceeds all lacustrine waterbodies in the world and is almost equal to transparency of ocean waters.

What is the unique fish in Lake Baikal?

The Baikal oilfish combines two sculpin fish species only found in Lake Baikal. The Baikal oilfish combines two sculpin fish species only found in Lake Baikal. This unique fish has a translucent body with no scales and appears dull when dead.

What is the shallowest lake in the United States?

Lake Erie. The fourth largest out of the five Great lakes, Erie is also the shallowest and the smallest in volume. In terms of surface area, Erie takes thirteenth place in the world. Niagara River is its biggest natural outflow, providing a huge amount of hydroelectric power to both the United States and Canada.

Is there a lake that is a mile deep?

The Great Lakes aren't all that great, in terms of depth anyway. At over a mile deep (1,642 meters or 5,387 feet) Lake Baikal in the Russian region of Siberia is the deepest lake in the world.

Is Lake Baikal larger than Lake Superior?

However, when it comes to the amount of space its surface takes up, Lake Baikal isn't even in the top 5. The largest lake in the world by surface area is Lake Superior. The surface of Lake Superior covers 31,700 square miles!

What is planted beneath the ice in Lake Baikal in Russia?

Video footage has emerged showing a trio of Russian ice divers planting an artificial fir tree in the world's deepest lake.

What is the largest animal in Lake Baikal?

The largest species is the Siberian sturgeon, which sometimes measures more than 6 ¹/₂ feet (2 meters) long. The only mammal is the Baikal seal. The first hydrothermal vents, or hot-water springs, ever discovered in a freshwater lake were found at the bottom of Lake Baikal in 1990.

What is the deepest lake in America?

At 1,943 feet (592 meters), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world. The depths were first explored thoroughly in 1886 by a party from the U.S. Geological Survey. Their primitive sounding device consisted of a lead pipe attached to piano wire.