You can find entire volumes of information about Baikal, both on the Internet and in various magazines and book publications. The lake is not deprived of attention from tourists, researchers and politicians. From year to year, stunning scientific discoveries are associated with Baikal; expeditions are constantly being equipped for thorough research. I decided to devote this topic to the most interesting facts and events related to Lake Baikal. I will try to save you from boring geographical terms; only the most interesting things will be here. Most of the photos in the topic are clickable (open by clicking)
– one of the oldest lakes on the planet and the deepest lake in the world. Baikal is one of the ten largest lakes in the world. Its average depth is about 730 meters, the maximum is 1637 meters. In 1996, Baikal was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List
Scientists disagree about the origin of Lake Baikal, as well as about its age. Scientists traditionally estimate the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal a unique natural object, since most lakes, especially those of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then fill with silty sediments and become swampy
There is also a version about the relative youth of Baikal, put forward by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Alexander Tatarinov in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the “Worlds” expedition on Baikal. In particular, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to assume that modern coastline the lakes are only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-sea part is 150 thousand years old
Baikal contains about 19% of the world's reserves fresh water. There is more water in Baikal than in all five Great Lakes combined and 25 times more than, for example, in Lake Ladoga
The water in the lake is so clear that individual stones and various objects can be seen at a depth of 40 m. The purest and clearest water Baikal contains so few mineral salts (100 mg/l) that it can be used instead of distilled 
Baikal is home to 2,630 species and varieties of plants and animals, 2/3 of which are endemic, that is, they live only in this body of water. This abundance of living organisms is explained by the high oxygen content in the entire thickness of Baikal water 
Photo of Baikal from space 
The most interesting fish in Baikal is the viviparous golomyanka fish, whose body contains up to 30% fat. She surprises biologists with her daily feeding migrations from the depths to shallow waters 
The second, after the golomyanka, is a miracle of Baikal, to which it owes its exceptional purity, the crustacean epishura (there are about 300 species). Baikal epishura is a copepod, 1 mm long, a representative of plankton, found throughout the entire depth (it is not found in bays where the water warms up). Baikal would not be Baikal without this copepod, barely noticeable to the eye, amazingly efficient and numerous, managing to filter all the Baikal water ten times or even more in a year 
A typical marine mammal lives here - the seal, or Baikal seal. 
Baikal's water reserves would be enough for 40 years for the inhabitants of the entire Earth, and at the same time 46 x 1015 people could quench their thirst
Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. Thus, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal limnological station discovered unusual shapes ice cover, characteristic only of Lake Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 meters high, hollow inside. In appearance, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the direction opposite to the shore. Hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature “mountain ranges”
Satellite images clearly show dark rings with a diameter of 5-7 km on the ice of Lake Baikal. The origin of the rings is unknown. Scientists believe that rings on the ice of the lake may have appeared many times already, but it was impossible to examine them due to their enormous size. Now, with the use of the latest technologies, this has become possible, and scientists will begin to study this phenomenon. Such rings were first discovered in 1999, then in 2003, 2005. As you can see, rings do not form every year. The rings are also not located in the same place. Scientists were especially interested in the reason for the shift of the rings to the southwest in 2008, compared to 1999, 2003 and 2005. In April 2009, such rings were discovered again, and again in a different place than last year. Scientists suggest that the rings are formed due to the release of natural gas from the bottom of Lake Baikal. However, the exact reasons and mechanisms for the formation of dark rings on the ice of Lake Baikal have not yet been studied and no one knows their exact nature
The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal Rift Zone) is an area with high seismicity: earthquakes regularly occur here, most of which are one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, strong ones also happen, so in 1862, during the ten-magnitude Kudarin earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of 200 km went under water? with 6 uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, and Proval Bay was formed
A unique deep-sea neutrino telescope NT-200, built in 1993-1998, was created and operates on the lake, with the help of which high-energy neutrinos are detected. On its basis, the NT-200+ neutrino telescope with an increased effective volume is being created, the construction of which is expected to be completed no earlier than 2017
The first dives of manned vehicles on Baikal were made in 1977, when the bottom of the lake was explored on the Canadian-made Paisis deep-sea vehicle. In Larch Bay, a depth of 1,410 meters was reached. In 1991, "Pysis" on the eastern side of Olkhon sank to a depth of 1,637 meters.
In the summer of 2008, the Foundation for Assistance to the Conservation of Lake Baikal conducted a research expedition “Worlds” on Lake Baikal. 52 dives of the deep-sea manned vehicles “Mir” were carried out to the bottom of Lake Baikal. Scientists delivered water samples to the Research Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after P. P. Shirshov. soil and microorganisms raised from the bottom of Lake Baikal
In 1966, production began at the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM), as a result of which the adjacent bottom areas of the lake began to degrade. Dust and gas emissions negatively affect the taiga around the BPPM, and the forest becomes dry and dry. In September 2008, the plant introduced a closed water circulation system designed to reduce the discharge of wash water. According to the source, the system turned out to be inoperative and less than a month after its launch, the plant had to be stopped 
There are many legends associated with. The most fascinating of them is connected with the Angara River:
In the old days, mighty Baikal was cheerful and kind. He deeply loved his only daughter Angara. There was no more beautiful woman on earth. During the day it is light - brighter than the sky, at night it is dark - darker than a cloud. And no matter who drove past the Angara, everyone admired it, everyone praised it. Even migratory birds: geese, swans, cranes - descended low, but the Angaras rarely landed on the water. They said: “Is it possible to blacken something light?”
Old man Baikal took care of his daughter more than his heart. One day, when Baikal fell asleep, Angara rushed to run to the young man Yenisei. The father woke up and splashed his waves angrily. A fierce storm arose, the mountains began to weep, forests fell, the sky turned black from grief, animals scattered in fear throughout the earth, fish dived to the very bottom, birds flew away to the sun. Only the wind howled and the heroic sea raged. The mighty Baikal hit the gray mountain, broke off a rock from it and threw it after the fleeing daughter. The rock fell right on the beauty's throat. The blue-eyed Angara begged, gasping and sobbing, and began to ask:
“Father, I’m dying of thirst, forgive me and give me at least one drop of water.”
Baikal shouted angrily:
- I can only give you my tears!
For thousands of years, the Angara has been flowing into the Yenisei like tear-water, and gray, lonely Baikal has become gloomy and scary. The rock that Baikal threw after his daughter was called the Shaman Stone. Rich sacrifices were made there to Baikal. People said: “Baikal will be angry, it will tear off the Shaman’s stone, the water will gush and flood the whole earth.” Currently, the river is blocked by a dam, so only the top of the shaman stone is visible from the water 
There is a legend among the people about the creation of Baikal: “The Lord looked: the earth came out unkindly... as if she would not take offense at him! And, so as not to hold a grudge, he took and waved for her not some kind of bedding for her feet, but the very measure of his bounties, with which measured how much to be from him. The measure fell and turned into Baikal." 
For most people, Lake Baikal is somewhere very far away. The origin of Lake Baikal is shrouded in legends about great catastrophes on a planetary scale, about gods and their deeds. Scientific point vision also exists - of course there is no mysticism in it.
Lake Baikal is located on the territory of the Irkutsk region and Buryatia. It is considered a lake of tectonic origin. The age of Lake Baikal is estimated differently. Some scientists put it at 35 million years. But Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009 put forward the version that the deep-sea part of Lake Baikal was formed 150 thousand years ago, and the modern coastline is only 8 thousand years old. Tatarinov justified such results with the results of the “Mirov” expedition on Lake Baikal. So, with the age of Lake Baikal, everything is also very ambiguous.
Lake Baikal is also called the Siberian Sea.
Lake Baikal contains 19% of the world's fresh water. How much water is in Lake Baikal - estimated at 23,615 km³. There is only one lake in the world, the displacement of which is greater than that of Lake Baikal - the Caspian Sea (not everyone knows, but there is a lake on this sea).
Despite the fact that Baikal is located in, there is a lot of sun here. The climatic conditions on Lake Baikal have their own unique characteristics: either the sun is mercilessly hot, but cold winds blow, then fierce storms blow in, then in the summer the weather is calm and hot and tens of thousands of tourists flock to Lake Baikal for a beach holiday. In terms of the number of sunny days, Lake Baikal surpasses many resorts on the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts.
The maximum depth of Lake Baikal is 1642 m. Many people write that Lake Baikal is shaped like a crescent. Rather, sorry if something is wrong, a banana. But very big. The length of Lake Baikal is 620 km (about the same as from Moscow to St. Petersburg), the width reaches 80 km. The length of the coastline is 2100 km.
Lake Baikal has 27 islands, the largest of which is . Many islands are sacred to local residents and are protected by law. There are generally many sacred places on Baikal, the history of which is shrouded in mystery and legends. The predominant religion here is rather Buddhism, at least Buddhist symbols and objects of worship are found everywhere.
Lake Baikal water
The water temperature in Baikal is a phenomenon. In summer, only the upper layer of water and shallow coastal bays warm up in the lake. But at depth the temperature is always constant - about +4 °C.
The waters of Baikal are generally a separate mystery. Lakes of this age do not have such crystal clear water, but in Baikal it is very clean. Usually, over time, lakes silt up, and after 10-15 thousand years there are swamps in their place. Baikal not only does not become shallow, but also contains clean water that can be drunk directly from the lake without fear. In addition, the water of Baikal is saturated with oxygen to a very high degree compared to other freshwater bodies.
Lake Baikal owes its purity largely to a tiny (1.5 mm in length) crustacean called epishura. There are a lot of these crustaceans in the water of the lake. They both clean the water and provide food for the famous Baikal omul and predatory invertebrates.
The transparency of the water in Lake Baikal is also very high. In good weather, you can see the bottom of the lake through the 40-meter layer of water! In winter, Lake Baikal also has surprisingly clear ice. You just need to find a place not covered by snow, and so to speak - feel like God - walk on the water. The water above is really frozen, but below there is still the same picture - the bottom, the fish, and you are walking above them. 
Baikal is fed by the waters of more than 300 rivers, and only one river flows out of Baikal -.
Ice of Baikal
Lake Baikal freezes unevenly in winter. Bays and bays, as well as Northern part The lake freezes in November - December. And in the south, ice appears only in February, and if the winter is warm, then at the end of February.
The thickness of the ice on Baikal by the end of winter reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5–2 m. On Baikal there is a phenomenon that the locals call “stanova cracks”. This is when cracks appear in the ice in severe frost. They tear the ice into separate large fields. The length of these cracks is amazing - from 10 to 30 km, and the width is only 2-3 m. As you understand, it is better not to be in such a place at the time of the rupture. Breaks occur every year and in approximately the same places in the lake. Sound effect like gun shots.
Such breaks save fish in the lake from lack of oxygen. This is such a mysterious, but necessary natural mechanism for the lake. And due to the transparency of the ice, sunlight penetrates through it, due to which planktonic algae, which produce oxygen, develop rapidly in the water even in winter.
Another amazing ice phenomenon on Lake Baikal is the ice hills. These are hollow, cone-shaped ice hills that reach a height of 5-6 meters. In some of them you can find an “entrance”, and it is usually located in the direction opposite to the shore. It looks like an ice tent. Sometimes such tents stand alone, but often they are grouped together, resembling mountain ranges, only in miniature.
Another mysterious phenomenon was discovered using space photography - dark rings. 
The rings have a diameter of up to 7 km. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the rings are formed due to the rise of water from the depths of the lake. Due to the difference in temperature, a clockwise flow occurs, reaching different speeds in certain zones. As a result, the ice cover is destroyed, and the shape of the destroyed areas is ring-shaped.
Shores of Lake Baikal
The coastal landscape is very diverse. The largest part is occupied by taiga, and in some places it is swampy. There are many difficult to pass places where there are no roads or settlements. But there are also many areas that look quite hospitable, sand, pine trees, cedars, wild rosemary. But from the side of the Tazheran steppe, in the surrounding area and on the island, the landscapes of the Baikal region are different - steppes, cliffs with forests of Siberian larch. 
The terrain on the coast of Lake Baikal is generally mountainous and the transport infrastructure suffers greatly because of this. In many places, in order to travel by road from one settlement located on the coast to another located on the coast, you need to make a long detour of tens of kilometers. The fourth part of the coast of Lake Baikal has no public roads at all and is practically uninhabited (there is somewhere for the Chinese to settle, I think they would be happy).
Bottom relief
Lake Baikal is also unique in its bottom topography. It has its own underwater mountain ranges, the largest of which are Academichesky and Selenginsky. These ridges divide the lake into three basins.
Earthquakes are also possible on Lake Baikal. More precisely, this is a common thing. But tremors usually do not exceed 2 points. But there were other cases:
- in 1862, a magnitude 10 earthquake was recorded, as a result of which a section of land in the northern part of the Selenga delta went under water
- there were points about 9 points in 1903, 1950, 1957 and 1959
- in 2008 - 9 points
- in 2010 - 6 points
Fauna and flora of Baikal
The flora and fauna here are unique. The lake serves as a reliable shelter for almost three thousand species of animals and thousands of plants. Many species are found only here. And this despite the fact that, as scientists suggest, of the living organisms living in the lake, more than 20% are still unknown to science. Fishing lovers will have a good time on Lake Baikal (if the bite goes well, of course). Common species include grayling, taimen, whitefish, sturgeon, omul, lenok, and golomyanka. There are about sixty species in total.
The top of the biosphere on Lake Baikal is occupied by the Baikal seal. There are no other mammals in this body of water. There are still heated debates about how the Baikal seal, a purely marine mammal, got to Baikal and comfortably took root here. It is assumed that it came here in the distant times of the Ice Age, moving from the Arctic Ocean along the Angara and Yenisei. Now tens of thousands of animals live here.
Many animals and birds live along the shores of Lake Baikal. Here you will meet seagulls, goldeneye, razorbills, mergansers, white-tailed eagles, and other birds. You can see mass swimming of brown bears (just be careful!). In the mountainous part of the Baikal taiga lives musk deer - the smallest deer on Earth.
Where does the name Baikal come from?
Researchers are still arguing about the origin of the name of the lake. There are several assumptions:
- Bai-Kul - translated from Turkic means “rich lake”;
- Baigal - from the Mongolian “rich fire”;
- Baigal Dalai - in the same Mongolian means “big lake”;
- Beihai - means "north sea" in Chinese;
- Baigal-Nuur - Buryat name;
- Lamu - that’s what the Evenki called the lake.
It is believed that the first explorers who appeared here in the seventeenth century eventually adopted the Buryat name, but softened the letter “g”, giving the name the sound that now exists.
Tourism and recreation on Lake Baikal
There are a lot of beautiful places on Lake Baikal. On my website you will find many stories from our tourists about trips and holidays on Lake Baikal (see the “Stories” section). A peculiarity of tourism on Lake Baikal is that the places that one would like to see are often located at large distances from each other. So if you want to see not all, but many of the beauties of Lake Baikal, you need to work out a competent route. If you feel that you cannot do it yourself, contact private guides or buy a comprehensive tour to Lake Baikal.
In any case, you won’t be able to see everything on Lake Baikal at once. Baikal is so big that it would take more than one vacation to travel around it all.
The largest number of tourists visiting Lake Baikal occurs, of course. in summer. The most popular places are the village of Listvyanka, Maloe More and Olkhon Island. People with a small budget, and even the most demanding ones will find a place for themselves. Lake Baikal is visited not only by Russians, but by many tourists from all over the world. The latter sometimes pay exorbitant amounts of money for such a vacation, but they still go.
In general, judging by the reviews, a holiday on Lake Baikal is not one of the cheapest, especially if you need to travel from places other than nearby cities. But nevertheless, Baikal sets records for attendance - the number of tourists reaches seven figures per year.
In summer, people relax on the beaches, go on bicycle and car excursions, and go hiking along the coast. There are rafting trips on the rivers flowing into Baikal, and much more.
Climbing cliffs, mountains and descents into grottoes and caves are popular in all seasons.
Fishing
There is a lot of fish in Baikal and lovers find a variety of places in the hope of catching omul or other fish on their own. For the most adventurous, there are specialized bases with varying levels of comfort. They go fishing on rented boats.
The most popular places for fishing on Lake Baikal are Chivyrkuisky Bay, Mukhor Bay, shallow bays of the Small Sea and, of course, the rivers flowing into the lake.
Lake Baikal in winter
Despite the severity of the Siberian climate, there are people who like to come to Baikal in winter. The fantastic ice world of Baikal is mesmerizing. Snowmobiling and dog sledding are popular.
Most Popular Attractions
Baikal is home to many historical and architectural attractions, and even more natural and cultural monuments.
One of the most famous attractions is Shaman stone. These are a couple of boulders rising above the water at the source of the Angara. Locals have been worshiping these stones since time immemorial and consider them endowed with special powers.
Another rock, the photo of which is unusually widespread on the Internet for the search “Baikal” and “Olkhon Island” - Shamanka rock. Also a sacred place for the Buryats, access here for tourists was not always open. 
There are also many other religious and historical places on Olkhon Island. The good thing about Olkhon is that in the summer you can sunbathe there, swim, visit a bunch of excursions, or travel around the island on your own.
Holiday seasons on Lake Baikal
Baikal is beautiful at all times of the year. Summer, as throughout Russia, is the most popular season. The warmest weather is from the second half of July to the beginning of August. From November it becomes not very hospitable here until the ice stops. In March and early April, tourists flock to Lake Baikal, especially those who like to take photos. The reason for this is the sparkling, transparent ice of Baikal. There is another one - ice fishing. In spring, Baikal is also very beautiful, there are no longer severe frosts and winds. Fans of winter holidays find the combination of weather conditions and the beauty of the scenery very attractive. 
Relax on Baikal, enjoy its nature and energy. Take care of Lake Baikal, don’t leave landfills behind, don’t organize logging. This lake is thousands of years old and in many, many more years it needs to be as beautiful and attractive as it is now.
Baikal is one of the wonders of Russia. The depth of Lake Baikal is a record. The next African lake, Tanganyika, has a depth of 200 meters less. The reservoir is popular among tourists and researchers. Until now, the secrets of Lake Baikal have not been fully revealed and excite scientists.
Where is
Located almost in the center of Eurasia, in Western Siberia, on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Buryat Republic, Baikal has the shape of a huge crescent. In area it is equal to the Netherlands, Belgium or Denmark. Surrounded by mountains and hills, the reservoir occupies a huge pit. A very interesting question is how deep Lake Baikal is. We'll talk about this later, but now we'll describe the coastline. In the eastern part it is relatively flat, the mountains are tens of kilometers away. West Bank mountainous lakes.
The area where Lake Baikal is located is seismically active. Earthquakes of small magnitude occur regularly; there are also strong ones, the echoes of which are felt even in Irkutsk. Thus, in the second half of the 19th century, an earthquake with a magnitude of 10 occurred. As a result, an area of land of 200 square meters was flooded. km, where 1300 people lived. Strong tremors were noted in 1959 (9 points), in 2008 (9 points) and 2010 (6 points).
History of the lake and its name
For a long time it was believed that the age of Baikal is 25-30 million years. But recent studies of the topography of the lake bottom with its mud volcanoes have shown that it is up to 150 thousand years old. In this regard, Baikal is also unique, because the average age of lakes of similar origin is 10-15 thousand years.
The rift basin in which Baikal is located is similar in structure to the Dead Sea basin. Its depth is the depth of Lake Baikal. Scientists have different opinions on the formation of the basin.
There are 3 versions:
- The depression is the result of a transform fault.
- The depression arose as a result of the action of a hot mantle flow located under the lake.
- The depression was formed as a result of minor collisions of Hindustan and the Eurasian plate.
It is obvious that as a result of seismic activity, the topography of the bottom of Lake Baikal is changing and is still subsiding.
The origin of the name of the lake is unclear, but all four points of view reflect the greatness of the reservoir and indirectly indicate the depth of Lake Baikal: Japanese - “ great water”, Turkic - “rich lake”, Mongolian - “rich fire” and Chinese - “northern sea”. In our country, the modern name began to be used in the 17th century, it was borrowed from the Buryats (Beighel): in the Russian language the word was assimilated and the usual pronunciation was established - Baikal.
Landscape and climate features
The record depth of Lake Baikal and the vast area of the watershed determine the local climate. Mild winters, but fairly cool summers, long autumns and long springs - these are the climatic characteristics of the areas adjacent to the lake. Also, the weather of Baikal is influenced by local specific winds, such as Barguzin or Kultuk. Due to the current winds, Baikal is considered one of the most restless lakes in the world.
Another remarkable property of the climate is mirages, which appear up to 7 times a year and last for 5-6 hours. They arise due to the difference in air temperature on the surface of the water and the space above it. Mirages occur due to the refraction of rays. Landscape objects can be visually raised above the surface of the water so that the horizon is visible. Another type of mirages is when natural objects that are thousands of kilometers distant optically come closer.
Waters of Baikal: features and currents
Since ancient times, the water of the lake has fascinated local residents: they idolized it and used it for treatment. It is saturated with oxygen, close in composition to distilled water, and due to the action of microorganisms it is practically devoid of minerals. The volume of Baikal water makes up 90% of Russia's fresh water reserves and 20% of the world's. To put it into perspective, there is more water in our great lake than in the 5 largest American lakes combined.
The transparency of Baikal water is surprising: visibility reaches 40 meters. True, this figure can drop to 10 meters during the flowering period of plants. Depending on the time of year and the activity of plants and microorganisms, Baikal water changes its color from bright blue in cold weather to green in summer and autumn.
Baikal is saturated with 336 rivers and streams that constantly flow into it. Turka, Snezhnaya, Upper Angara, Sarma are the largest of them. The Angara is the only river flowing from Lake Baikal.
Depth indicators
What is the depth of Lake Baikal? It is determined by the origin and parameters of the depression in which the lake is located. The last depth studies were carried out in 1983, they were confirmed in 2002. The lake is mesmerizing: with an average of 730 meters, the maximum depth of Baikal is 1630 meters. There are two more lakes on Earth that have a depth of more than 1000 meters: Tanganyika and the Caspian Sea. Moreover, in the latter the water is salty, not fresh. Even the average depth of Baikal is amazing - few lakes on Earth can boast a value of 730 meters.
There are currents on the surface of Lake Baikal, encircling its shores and the largest islands. In certain places (the western coast of the Small Sea) the current is quite strong, so even in calm weather the ships drift. The decrease in the intensity of water movement is influenced by the depth of Lake Baikal in a given place and the distance from the coastline.
Flora and fauna
Baikal is unique for its flora and fauna: two thirds of animal representatives live exclusively here. Oxygenated water provides a favorable environment for species to reproduce. Scientists have discovered only 70% of the fauna of Lake Baikal. The basis of the lake's food chain is made up of epishura crustaceans; in addition, they perform an important function of purifying water - passing it through themselves. The Baikal fauna includes 56 species of fish. Among them, a unique species is the golomyanka. The fish is interesting because it does not lay eggs, but gives birth to live fry. The golomyanka consists of 43% fat; in search of food, it migrates from great depths to shallow ones.
The seal is the only mammal that lives on Lake Baikal.
Among the flora, sponges can be noted, which grow at great depths and are the oldest inhabitants of Lake Baikal.
The uniqueness of the lake is recognized throughout the world. Not only the depth of Lake Baikal is taken into account, but also its unique ecosystem. The climate and geographical features of the lake attract tourists and scientists from all over the world.
The shores of Lake Baikal diverge by 2 centimeters annually
Features of the lake
The lake is located in a seismological zone; several hundred earthquakes occur in its vicinity every year. Mostly with an intensity of 1–2 on the MSK-64 scale. The predominant part of tremors can be detected only by highly sensitive equipment. The transformation of Lake Baikal continues to this day.
The Baikal winds give the local climate distinct features. They often whip up a storm on the lake and have memorable names: barguzin, sarma, verkhovik and kultuk. Water mass affects the atmosphere of coastal areas. Spring here comes 10–15 days later than in neighboring areas. Autumn lasts for a long time. Summers are usually cool, and winters are not very frosty.
Two large lakes and many streams create the main stream flowing into Baikal. The Selenga River, originating in Mongolia, provides most of the inflow from the southeast side. The second large influx is from the eastern bank, from the Barguzin River. The Angara is the only river flowing from Lake Baikal.
The purest waters of Lake Baikal make up 19% of the world's fresh water reserves
The water contains a minimal amount of mineral salts and is abundantly saturated with oxygen to the very bottom. In winter and spring it is blue and becomes most transparent. In summer and autumn it acquires a blue-green hue and is maximally heated by the sun. IN warm water Many plant and animal species are formed, so its transparency decreases to 8–10 m.
In winter, the surface of the lake is covered with a thick layer of ice, riddled with multiple, many-kilometer-long cracks. Explosions occur with a piercing crack, similar to gun salvos or peals of thunder. They divide the ice surface into separate fields. The cracks help fish avoid dying due to lack of oxygen under the ice. The sun's rays penetrate through the transparent ice. This promotes the development of planktonic algae that produce oxygen. Baikal freezes almost completely, not counting the area at the headwaters of the Angara.
Baikal as an ecosystem
More than 3,500 species of animals and plants live in water and on land. Numerous studies often discover new species, and the list of inhabitants continues to grow. About 80% of the fauna are endemic, found exclusively in Lake Baikal and nowhere else on earth.
The banks are mountainous and covered with forests; All around there is impenetrable, hopeless game. An abundance of bears, sables, wild goats and all sorts of wild things...
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
In Baikal a large number of valuable fish: sturgeon, burbot, pike, grayling, taimen, whitefish, omul and others. 80% of the lake's zooplankton biomass is the epishura crustacean, which is endemic. It passes through itself and filters water. The golomyanka, a viviparous fish that lives on the bottom, looks unusual and contains more than 30% fat. Biologists are surprised by its constant movements from the depths to the shallows. Freshwater sponges grow at the bottom.
According to the stories of local residents, until the 12th–13th centuries the Baikal region was inhabited by the Mongol-speaking Bargut people. Then the Buryats began to actively settle on the western coast of the lake and in Transbaikalia. The Russian discoverer of Baikal was the Cossack Kurbat Ivanov. The first Russian-speaking settlements appeared at the end of the 17th – beginning of the 18th centuries.
Mysteries of Lake Baikal
The crystal waters of Lake Baikal are fraught with many mysteries. Often legends and stories about the lake maneuver on the verge of mysticism and real stories. Researchers have discovered a lot of meteorite debris and inexplicable linear arrangements of underwater rocks at the bottom of Lake Baikal. Some believe that the waters of the lake contain Pandora's casket and the magic crystal of Kali-Ma. Others claim that Kolchak’s gold reserves and Genghis Khan’s gold reserves are hidden here. There are witnesses who claim that a UFO route passes over the lake.
The ice cover hides many secrets, forcing scientists to make speculative conclusions. Unique shapes ice cover, unique to Lake Baikal, was found by specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station. Among them: “juice”, “kolobovnik”, “autumn”. The ice hills are shaped like tents and have an opening on the back side of the shore. Dark rings were discovered on satellite imagery. Scientists believe that they are formed due to the rise of deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the water surface.
There is still scientific debate about the origin of Baikal. According to one version put forward by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, after the second stage of the “Mirov” expedition, the lake is considered young. Scientists have studied the activity of mud volcanoes on the bottom surface. After this, they made an assumption: the age of the deep-sea part is 150 thousand years, and the modern coastline is only 8 thousand years old. The oldest lake on earth does not show any signs of aging, like other similar reservoirs. According to the results of recent research, some experts are inclined to conclude that Baikal can become a new ocean.
Recreation and tourism on Baikal
Favorable time for a holiday on Lake Baikal is from mid-July to mid-August. At other times, it becomes cold on the coastal area, and the conditions are more suitable for fans of extreme recreation. But even in the summer, sometimes a cyclone comes with a cold wind and sharp temperature changes between day and night. An important condition for a safe holiday is a detailed study of the travel route.
The most visited vacation spots are the Circum-Baikal Railway, Sandy Bay, the village of Listvyanka, the coast of the Small Sea, Sandy Bay, the western coast of Olkhon, the coast near the city of Severobaikalsk. Other places that can be reached by SUV are also popular.
Baikal, it would seem, should suppress a person with its grandeur and size - everything in it is large, everything is wide, free and mysterious - but on the contrary, it elevates him. You experience a rare feeling of elation and spirituality on Baikal, as if, in view of eternity and perfection, you were touched by the secret seal of these magical concepts, and you were doused with the close breath of an omnipotent presence, and a share of the magical secret of all things entered into you. You are already, it seems, marked and highlighted by the fact that you stand on this shore, breathe this air and drink this water. Nowhere else will you have such a complete and so desired feeling of unity with nature and penetration into it: you will be intoxicated by this air, whirled and carried away over this water so quickly that you will not have time to come to your senses; you will visit such protected areas that we never dreamed of; and you will return with tenfold hope: there, ahead, is the promised life...
Valentin Grigorievich Rasputin
Posted Sun, 12/10/2014 - 08:27 by Cap
What boy, since his vagabond childhood, has not dreamed of visiting this Glorious Sea! From school geography lessons we all knew that fate had not harmed our Motherland, giving Lake Baikal!!!
And so, the long-standing dream of the Nomads came true - after the walking and water part.) - We spent 4 days on the shores of the legendary Baikal, approximately between the villages of Slyudyanka and Listvyanka.
I’ll repeat myself a little and tell you about our journey along the shores of blessed Baikal!
We spent the night in the Ministry of Emergency Situations camp on the shore of Lake Baikal in Slyudyanka.
From Slyudyanka we went along the Circum-Baikal Railway - the Trans-Siberian Railway used to pass along the Circum-Baikal Railway, but then the line from Irkutsk was straightened and led directly to Slyudyanka. And the Circum-Baikal Railway is now a tourist single-track road! We recommend everyone to ride it!
Sergey Karpeev
The miracle of Russia and the glorious sea!
There is no limit to your shores!
The wind rejoices in the endless space,
Sluds ascend across the islands.
Waves caress careless stones,
A forgotten volcano lies dormant for centuries.
In the ethereal haze of forest ridges
The Khamar-Daban chain stretches.
Rocks, backwaters, taiga distances,
The hills have a cedar slope.
An ancient Buryat sanctuary beckons
Wonderful, mysterious island of Olkhon.
Storms, winds, buckets, bad weather -
What does the shaman foretell to us with his tambourine:
In a frenzied dance he conjures under the power
The spirit that everyone calls Burkhan.
Pink-delicate sunset blush
The clouds are drowning in your mirrors.
Melting, blue, evening fog
Hidden on the other side of the shore.
The water is like crystal, deep and transparent.
The fisherman throws his line.
Yarburst, burning like fire,
Pulls the crimson boundary in the sky.
The night begins full of stars:
The ladle sparkled with its seven stars.
With a heart and vision surpassed
You will shout: Our Baikal is beautiful and great!
Train around Baikal
The train runs along it 4 times a week, and also back. The windows of the carriages offer wonderful views of Lake Baikal and the surrounding mountains!
It is advisable to arrive at the station an hour before the train, but we did not do this. There were no more tickets for the train - I had to go to the carriages, where I could negotiate with the conductors to ride the train while standing.
The train itself consists of several comfortable carriages, where everything is decorated for a foreign tourist, and there are also TVs that show films about Lake Baikal, and also minibars with drinks!
For ordinary tourists, there are other carriages, ordinary Sovkov ones, but we were very happy with them, since in the cool carriages the price was more than 700 rubles. per person, and in a simple carriage we agreed on the same price, but for the entire Team!
Moreover, we managed to successfully navigate the train - so that almost everyone got seats! The carriage was packed almost to capacity! In the crowd, no one bothered to figure out who had what seats, and we rolled along Lake Baikal!
However, we didn’t have to sit for long; after Kultyk, the train stopped near the Roerich Museum. There was also a Pure Water Museum there! The viewing cost literally 10 rubles! We looked at the pictures with interest and listened to the lecture!
The train was moving quite slowly, the road was old, but very interesting; in addition to views of the lake, the train passed through a whole system of tunnels that pierced mountain ranges, and then again took us to the steep and picturesque shore of the sacred Lake!
The train stopped a couple of times so that passengers could get out of the cars and take pictures on its shore!
At the same time, Baikal souvenirs were sold, usually made from local gems.
Lake Baikal 
On the way, we met one woman and got into conversation with her - she was going to visit one of the stops. She advised us to go down with her, as it was a very beautiful place! I think it was km 146, and there were several houses there. There was a valley in this place - a stream flowed out of the mountains, and there were houses, barns and vegetable gardens. Mostly pensioners lived there. Lake Baikal 
The place was really worth it! From here there was a picturesque view of Lake Baikal, 500 meters from the stop there was a good tourist stop with a fire pit and a table, and also an excellent view of the Lake. The descent to the water was quite steep, you had to either go down the steep slope using a wire (that someone had strung) or go around through the lower parking area.
But the main thing is real natural silence, even though there was a railway station nearby, the trains ran here once a day, and you can only hear the splashing of waves and the cries of seagulls!
Lake Baikal- sunset 
LAKE BAIKAL - THE MIRACLE OF RUSSIA
Baikal. An amazingly beautiful lake, a unique creation of nature, crystal clear water... Probably every person has, to a greater or lesser extent, heard about the deepest lake on our planet. What else do you know about Baikal?
Baikal is located almost in the very center of Eurasia, among the high ridges of the Baikal mountain region. The lake stretches 636 km in length and 80 km in width. Baikal's area is 31,470 km2, which is comparable to the area of Belgium (almost 10 million people live in this European country with large cities and industrial centers). The maximum depth of the lake - 1637 km - rightfully allows us to call Baikal the deepest in the world (average depth - 730 m). African Lake Tanganyika, one of the deepest lakes on the planet, is 200 m behind Lake Baikal. Of the thirty islands, Olkhon is the largest.
Baikal is filled with three hundred and thirty-six permanent rivers and streams. One flows out of the lake. To estimate the volume of Lake Baikal, imagine that under ideal conditions (assuming not a single drop falls or evaporates from the surface), the Angara, which carries out 60.9 km3 of water annually, will need 387 years of continuous operation to drain the lake!
In addition, Baikal is the oldest lake on our planet; its age, according to various estimates, is 20-30 million years.
Clean, transparent Baikal water, saturated with oxygen, has long been considered healing. Thanks to the activity of living microorganisms living in it, the water is slightly mineralized (almost distilled), which explains its crystal transparency. In spring, water transparency reaches 40 meters!
Baikal is the repository of 20% of the world's and 90% of Russia's fresh water reserves. For comparison, this is more than the water reserves of the five Great American Lakes combined! The Baikal ecosystem produces about 60 km3 clean water in year.
The flora and fauna of Lake Baikal is amazing and diverse, which makes it unique in this regard among other freshwater lakes. Who hasn't heard of the famous Baikal omul? In addition to this, the lake is home to whitefish, lenok, and taimen - representatives of the salmon family. Sturgeon, grayling, pike, carp, catfish, cod, perch - this is not the entire list of fish families living in Baikal. It is impossible not to mention the Baikal seal, which is the only representative of mammals in the lake. In autumn, on the rocky shores you can see numerous breeding grounds of these Baikal seals. The seal is not the only inhabitant of the coasts; many gulls, mergansers, goldeneyes, scoters, scorches, white-tailed eagles, ospreys and other birds nest along the coasts and on the islands. In addition to all of the above, on Lake Baikal you can observe a massive emergence of brown bears onto the shores.
The flora and fauna of Baikal is endemic. 848 species of animals (15%) and 133 species of plants (15%) are not found in any body of water on Earth.
The uniqueness and beauty of Baikal every year attracts an increasing number of tourists, including foreign ones. This is also facilitated by developing infrastructure. Therefore, the main task is to preserve the integrity of the lake’s ecosystem. Lake Baikal 
BAIKAL - THE MIRACLE OF RUSSIA
A narrow blue sickle thrown into the mountains Eastern Siberia, looks like geographical map One of the amazing wonders not only of Russia, but of the entire globe is Lake Baikal.
People composed many songs and legends about him. The Yakuts named the lake Baikal, which means “rich lake”. It splashes in a huge stone basin, surrounded by mountain ranges overgrown with taiga. The lake extends from northeast to southwest for 636 km, which is approximately equal to the distance between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The greatest width of Lake Baikal is 79 km. In terms of its area (31.5 thousand sq. km), it is approximately the same as the Western European countries of Belgium or the Netherlands, and ranks eighth in size among the lakes of the globe.
Baikal is a truly unique lake. Its coastline and surrounding mountains with their unique fauna, flora and microclimate, as well as the lake itself with rich supplies of clean fresh water are an invaluable gift of nature.
You, of course, know that Baikal is the deepest lake on our planet. Its depth reaches 1620 m and exceeds the depth of some seas on the globe. However, as reported in 1991, hydrologists made an amendment, finding a deeper level of 1657 m.
It contains 20% of the fresh water reserves on the globe (23 thousand cubic km). To desalinate the same amount of moisture from sea water, it would be necessary to spend 25 times more money than the cost of gold mined up to that time on Earth.
Imagine: the Baikal bowl can contain all the water of the Baltic Sea, although its area is approximately 10 times larger than the area of the lake.
The water of 92 seas such as the Azov Sea or the water of all five American Great Lakes, the total area of which is 8 times larger than the area of Baikal, can be poured into the Baikal basin.
According to the latest information, 1123 rivers carry their waters here, the largest of which are Barguzin and Verkhnyaya Angara, and flow out.
The lake level rises 378 m above the mouth of the Angara, which creates a large fall energy. A cascade of powerful power plants has been built here. There are 27 islands on the lake, all of them small. Only Olkhon, which is located almost in the middle of the lake, has an area of 729 square meters. km.
Olkhon Island Lake Baikal 
Such a high-water reservoir cannot but influence the climate of the surrounding area. In summer, Baikal moderates the heat, and in winter there are severe Siberian frosts. Therefore, the climate here is milder than in neighboring areas. For example, Peschanaya Bay is the only area in Eastern Siberia where the average annual air temperature is about 0 degrees C (more precisely +0.4 degrees C). Baikal freezes only in January. However, even in hot weather the water is no more than +12 degrees Celsius.
Since the difference between air temperatures and atmospheric pressure above the surface of the lake and in the surrounding mountains is very large, storms often occur on Lake Baikal. There are more sunny days a year here, for example, than in some resort areas of the Black Sea region.
There is no lake on the globe whose water is clearer than Lake Baikal. The white disk, lowered here to determine the transparency of the water, is visible from a depth of about 40 m.
In addition, lake water tastes very pleasant. “Whoever has taken a sip of Baikal water at least once,” say the Siberians, “will definitely return for another sip.”
Baikal is the oldest lake on Earth. Its basin began to form 25-30 million years ago. The age of the modern outlines is over a million years. Scientists have recently studied the origin and structure of the lake bottom, as well as the processes that occur there, using the Paisis deep-sea apparatus. Unique photographs of the bottom of Lake Baikal were taken at a depth of 1410 m. The increased seismicity of the basin and the associated change in the shoreline of the lake were proven.
It has been established that every year the shores of the lake move apart by an average of approximately 2 cm, and its area increases by 3 hectares.
Earthquakes, and sometimes there are up to 2000 of them a year, are mostly small. Quite noticeable ones also happen, such as in 1862, when part of the coast collapsed and a bay called Proval was formed. And during the 1958 earthquake, the bottom of the lake near Olkhon Island dropped by 20 m.
The active life of the subsoil is evidenced by the presence on the shores of the lake and in the adjacent mountains of numerous hot springs with temperatures from +30 degrees. up to + 90 degrees C. And at the same time, the age of the rocks in the mountainous area around Lake Baikal is approximately 2 billion years.
And Lake Baikal 
One of the amazing features of the lake is its truly unique wildlife. It has more than 1,500 species, and 75% of them live only on Lake Baikal. There are more fish here than in some seas - 49 species, and almost all are indigenous “Baikalians”, for example, the famous omul. “There is no Baikal without omul” - this is the local saying. The viviparous golomyanka fish is very interesting. It is so fat that washed ashore by a storm, it almost completely melts under the sun's rays. Its fat contains many medicinal organic compounds and vitamins, which is why it is also called “medicinal fish”.
Of the other species of Baikal fauna, there are 80 crustaceans alone, among which the epishura crustacean is very valuable for the ecology of the lake. Small in size (the mass of a thousand crustaceans is only 1 mg), this baby, while obtaining food, works tirelessly for the benefit of the lake. It filters water through a special organ, purifying it from various bacteria and algae. Over the course of a year, these microscopic “orderlies” manage to filter about 1,500 cubic meters several times. km of water to a depth of 5-10 m, which is 10 times more than what enters the lake from all the rivers, and the annual flow of the lake through the Angara is only 60 cubic meters. km. It is thanks to the tireless activity of the epishura crustacean that the unusual purity of Baikal waters is maintained.
A variety of berries, mushrooms, flowers and herbs grow in the coastal taiga forests. The decoration of the animal world is the famous Barguzin sable.
Unfortunately, due to the development of industry in Siberia, including in areas adjacent to Lake Baikal, the construction of a number of large enterprises in the woodworking, forest chemical and other industries, as well as non-ferrous metallurgy, often with gross violations of the environmental situation, a mortal threat loomed over the unique lake. Saving Lake Baikal from pollution is an urgent task of our time. 
GEOGRAPHY OF LAKE BAIKAL
Baikal (Bur. Baigal Dalai, Baigal Nuur) is a lake of tectonic origin in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, the deepest lake on the planet, the largest natural reservoir of fresh water.
The lake and coastal areas are distinguished by a unique diversity of flora and fauna, most of the animal species are endemic. Local residents and many in Russia traditionally call Baikal the sea.
Baikal is located in the center of the Asian continent on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia in Russian Federation. The lake stretches from northeast to southwest for 620 km in the form of a giant crescent. The width of Lake Baikal ranges from 24 to 79 km. The bottom of Lake Baikal is 1167 meters below the level of the World Ocean, and the surface of its waters is 455.5 meters higher.
The water surface area of Lake Baikal is 31,722 km² (excluding islands), which is approximately equal to the area of countries such as Belgium or the Netherlands. In terms of water surface area, Baikal ranks sixth among the largest lakes in the world.
The length of the coastline is 2100 km.
The lake is located in a kind of hollow, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. At the same time, the western coast is rocky and steep, the relief of the eastern coast is flatter (in some places the mountains recede tens of kilometers from the coast).
Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth. Modern meaning the maximum depth of the lake - 1642 m - was established in 1983 by L. G. Kolotilo and A. I. Sulimov during the performance of hydrographic work by the expedition of the Main Directorate of National Research and Oceanography of the USSR Ministry of Defense at a point with coordinates 53°14′59″ N. w. 108°05′11″ E. d. (G) (O).
Tributaries and drainage of Lake Baikal
According to research in the 19th century, 336 rivers and streams flowed into Baikal; this number took into account only constant tributaries. There are no more modern data on this issue, but sometimes figures are given as 544 or 1123 (which are the result of counting valleys, not permanent watercourses). It is also believed that due to anthropogenic impact and climate change on Lake Baikal from the 19th century to modern times, about 150 watercourses could have disappeared.
The largest tributaries of Lake Baikal are the Upper Angara, Barguzin, Turka, Snezhnaya, and Sarma. It flows out of the lake. There are 336 permanent watercourses in total. Lake Baikal 
ICE OF LAKE BAIKAL
During the freeze-up period (on average January 9 - May 4), Baikal freezes entirely, except for a small section of 15-20 km in length located at the source of the Angara. The shipping period for passenger and cargo ships is usually open from June to September; Research vessels begin navigation after the lake is cleared of ice and complete it with the freezing of Lake Baikal, that is, from May to January.
By the end of winter, the thickness of the ice on Lake Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5-2 m. In severe frost, cracks, locally called “stanova cracks,” tear the ice into separate fields. The length of such cracks is 10-30 km, and the width is 2-3 m. Breaks occur annually in approximately the same areas of the lake. They are accompanied by a loud crash, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. To a person standing on the ice, it seems that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he is about to fall into the abyss [source not specified 539 days]. Thanks to cracks in the ice, the fish on the lake do not die from lack of oxygen. Baikal ice, in addition, is very transparent, and the sun's rays penetrate through it, so planktonic algae that produce oxygen rapidly develop in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal you can see ice grottoes and splashes in winter.
Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. Thus, in the 1940s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station discovered unusual forms of ice cover, characteristic only of Lake Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 m high, hollow inside. In appearance, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the direction opposite to the shore. The hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature “mountain ranges”. There are also several other types of ice on Baikal: “sokui”, “kolobovnik”, “osenets”.
In addition, in the spring of 2009, satellite images of different areas of Lake Baikal were distributed on the Internet, in which dark rings were discovered. According to scientists, these rings arise due to the rise of deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the central part of the ring structure. As a result of this process, an anticyclonic (clockwise) current is formed. In the zone where the current reaches maximum speeds, vertical water exchange increases, which leads to accelerated destruction of the ice cover.
Oltrek Island, Small Sea, Baikal 
Islands and peninsulas
There are 27 islands on Baikal (Ushkany Islands, Olkhon Island, Yarki Island and others). The largest of them is Olkhon (71 km long and 12 km wide, located almost in the center of the lake on its western coast, area - 729 km², according to other sources - 700 km²). Largest peninsula- Holy Nose.
Seismic activity
The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal Rift Zone) is an area with high seismicity: earthquakes regularly occur here, most of which are one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, strong ones also happen; Thus, in 1862, during the ten-magnitude Kudarin earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of 200 km² with 6 uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, went under water, and Proval Bay was formed. Strong earthquakes were also noted in 1903 (Baikal), 1950 (Mondinskoye), 1957 (Muyskoye), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Central Baikal earthquake was at the bottom of Lake Baikal in the area of the village of Sukhaya (southeast coast). Its strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the strength of the main shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor destruction were observed in buildings and structures. The last strong earthquakes on Lake Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and February 2010 (6.1 points).
schematic map of Lake Baikal 
Origin of the lake
The origin of Baikal is still a matter of scientific debate. Scientists traditionally estimate the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal a unique natural object, since most lakes, especially those of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then fill with silty sediments and become swampy.
However, there is also a version about the youth of Baikal, put forward by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A.V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the “Worlds” expedition on Baikal. In particular, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to assume that the modern shoreline of the lake is only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-water part is 150 thousand years old.
What is certain is that the lake is located in a rift basin and is similar in structure, for example, to the Dead Sea basin. Some researchers explain the formation of Baikal by its location in the transform fault zone, others suggest the presence of a mantle plume under Baikal, and others explain the formation of the depression by passive rifting as a result of the collision of the Eurasian plate and Hindustan. Be that as it may, the transformation of Baikal continues to this day - earthquakes constantly occur in the vicinity of the lake. There are suggestions that the subsidence of the depression is associated with the formation of vacuum centers due to the outpouring of basalts onto the surface (Quaternary period).
Borg-Dagan grottoes, Olkhon island 
Flora and fauna
Baikal is home to about 2,600 species and subspecies of aquatic animals, more than half of which are endemic, that is, they live only in this body of water. These include about 1000 endemic species, 96 genera, 11 families and endemic subfamilies. 27 species of fish from Lake Baikal are found nowhere else. This abundance of living organisms is explained by the high oxygen content in the entire thickness of Baikal water. 100% endemism is observed among nematodes of the family Mermitidae (28 species), worms Polychaeta (4 species), sponges Lubomirskiidae (14), Gregarinea, isopod crustaceans Isopoda (5), stoneflies Plecoptera. Almost all species and subspecies of amphipod crustaceans (349 out of 350, 99%) and scorpionfish (31 out of 32, 96%) are endemic to the lake. 90% of the species of turbellarian worms (130 out of 150) and barnacle crustaceans (132 out of 150) are endemic. Many fish are endemic to Baikal: 36 out of 61 species and subspecies (59%), 2 families (13.3%) and 12 genera (37.5%).
One of the endemics, the epishura crustacean, accounts for up to 80% of the zooplankton biomass of the lake and is the most important link in the food chain of the reservoir. It performs the function of a filter: it passes water through itself, purifying it.
Baikal oligochaetes, 84.5% of which are endemic, constitute up to 70-90% of the biomass of zoobenthos and play an important role in the processes of self-purification of the lake and as a food supply for benthophagous fish and predatory invertebrates. They participate in soil aeration and mineralization of organic matter.
The most interesting fish in Baikal is the viviparous golomyanka fish, whose body contains up to 30% fat. It surprises biologists with its daily feeding migrations from the depths to shallow waters. Fish in Baikal include Baikal omul, grayling, whitefish, Baikal sturgeon (Acipenser baeri baicalensis), burbot, taimen, pike and others. Baikal is unique among lakes in that freshwater sponges grow here at great depths.
Origin of the toponym “Baikal”
The origin of the name of the lake is not precisely established. Below are the most common versions of the origin of the toponym “Baikal”:
From the name of the nationality and country Bayyrku (bayegu, bayirku, bayurku)
From the Buryat bay - “stand” and gal “fire” (according to legend, Baikal was formed on the site of a fire-breathing mountain)
From Buryat “mighty standing water”
From the Buryat baikhaa “natural, natural, natural, existing”
From Buryat “rich fire”]
From Yakut baai “rich” and kyyol “lake”]
From Yakut baykhal, bayg'al "sea", "big, deep water"]
From the Arabic Bahr-al-Bak "the sea that gives birth to many tears", "the sea of horror"
From the Buryat “Baygaal-dalai”, “a vast, large body of water, similar to the sea”, where dalai also means “immense, universal, supreme, supreme”.
From Yukaghir Vayguol “fin: forest washed ashore by water”
The first Russian explorers of Siberia used the Evenki name “Lama” (sea). From the second half of the 17th century, Russians switched to the name adopted by the Buryats - Bur. Baigal. At the same time, they adapted it to their language, replacing the “g” characteristic of the Buryats with the “k”, which is more familiar to the Russian language, as a result of which the modern name was finally formed.
Neutrino telescope
A unique deep-sea neutrino telescope NT200, built in 1993-1998, was created and operates on the lake, with the help of which high-energy neutrinos are detected. Since 2010, construction has been underway on the NT1000 neutrino telescope with an effective volume of 1 km3, the construction of which is expected to be completed no earlier than 2017.
"Worlds" on Baikal
In the summer of 2008, the Foundation for Assistance to the Conservation of Lake Baikal conducted a research expedition “Worlds on Baikal”. 52 dives of the Mir deep-sea manned submersibles to the bottom of Lake Baikal were carried out.
Scientists delivered to the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences samples of water, soil and microorganisms raised from the bottom of Lake Baikal.
The expedition was continued in 2009 and 2010.
Lake Baikal, Cape Khoboy 
Tourists on Baikal
You can get to Baikal in different ways. As a rule, those who want to visit it first go to one of the nearest large cities: Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude or Severobaikalsk, in order to plan their route in more detail from there. Traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway between Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, you can spend hours admiring the views of the lake stretching right outside the train window.
70 km from Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal near the source of the Angara, the village of Listvyanka is located - one of the most popular tourist destinations on Lake Baikal. Get here from regional center You can travel by bus or boat in just over an hour. Holidays in Listvyanka are valued because huge amount excursions and active recreation, this is where most sea-lake cruises originate. The most popular routes run from the village to Bolshie Koty, to the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula, Olkhon Island and other places.
Also on the shores of Lake Baikal are the cities of Slyudyanka and Baikalsk. In Slyudyanka there is a railway station built entirely of marble. There is a ski slope in Baikalsk, and a ski lift operates in the summer; in sunny weather you can see the opposite side of the lake with the spurs of the Baikal ridge.
On the eastern shore, Barguzinsky Bay is especially popular, next to which the construction of the Baikal Harbor tourist and recreational zone continues. In the village of Maksimikha you can take a tour with a visit to the Holy Nose Peninsula. Horseback riding and hiking tours are available. To the south are the villages of Novy Enkhaluk, Zarechye, and Sukhaya. Here, private individuals organized receptions for guests, including in yurts, and comfortable holiday homes appeared. Between Enkhaluk and Sukha there is hydrogen sulfide thermal source Zagza.
, which is rich in picturesque bays, mysterious islands, and healing springs. Good view The bay opens from the tops of the Holy Nose, which can be reached from the village of Ust-Barguzin.
Thirty kilometers south of the mouth of the Selenga River is Posolsky Sor Bay, where two tourist camps are located - Kultushnaya and Baikalsky Surf. Many camp sites provide tourist services there.
Almost in the very north of the lake there is a resort called Khakusy, which can only be reached by boat from Nizhneangarsk or Severobaikalsk or in winter on ice.
The Great Baikal Trail, a system of ecological trails and one of the most wonderful ways for tourists to see unique nature and enjoy breathtaking views and panoramas of Lake Baikal, passes through various sections around the lake.
Attractions
On and around Lake Baikal there are many natural and cultural monuments, as well as historical and archaeological sites. Below are just a few of them.
Northern Baikal
Rock Shaman-stone
Barguzinsky Bay
Ushkany Islands
Peschanaya Bay
Cape Skala Shamanka on Olkhon Island
Cape Ludar
Cape Ryty
Chersky Peak - 2090 m above sea level
Circum-Baikal Railway
Frolikha (tract)
port Baikal 
Interesting Facts
If all the water contained in Baikal (23,615.390 km³) is divided among all Russian citizens (141,927,297 people), then each will have about 166.4 thousand cubic meters of water, which is approximately 2,773 railway tanks of 60 tons each.
According to the estimates of the famous lake researcher Ph.D. L. G. Kolotilo “The Price of Baikal”, the utilitarian value of water in the lake is 236 trillion dollars. His article aroused some interest, including from Greenpeace Russia, and its main provisions were announced on November 27, 2012 (without reference to the author) in an interview with V.V. Zhirinovsky on the Vesti 24 TV channel.
Myths and legends about Baikal
There is a legend that Father Baikal had 336 son rivers and they all flowed into his father in order to replenish his waters, but his daughter fell in love with the Yenisei River and began to carry her father’s waters to her beloved. In response to this, Father Baikal threw a huge piece of rock at his daughter and cursed her. This rock, called the Shaman Stone, is located at the source of the Angara and is considered its beginning.
Another variation of the legend says that Baikal had an only daughter, Angara. She fell in love with Yenisei and decided to run away to him. Baikal, having learned about this, tried to block her path by throwing the Shaman-stone to the source, but Angara ran further, then Baikal sent his nephew Irkut in pursuit of her, but he took pity on Angara and turned off the path. The Angara met the Yenisei and flowed further along with it.
Bolshoi Kyltygei Island (Shaggy) 
Circum-Baikal walking trail
Information for tourists
Section 1: village. Kultuk - st. Marituy - port Baikal, 84 km, 22 hours of net time, average speed - 4 km/h.
There is no such place on Baikal anymore - there are no slopes on it, and from the very beginning, the 156th kilometer to the port and Baikal station at the 73rd kilometer, the traveler theoretically does not rise a single meter. It was about this site that Irkutsk resident P. Taimenev spoke in his travel notes “A few words about the Siberian Railway,” published in the magazine “Nature” and People in St. Petersburg in 1890: “In our deep, unshakable conviction, the Siberian Railway is an indestructible monument culture of the 19th century, this is a manifestation of Russian national greatness, this is the fulfillment of the moral duty of contemporaries in the face of future generations, this is one of the best pages of modern Russian history, this is the entry into the twentieth century."
Surprisingly, the tourist boom on this section of the Circum-Baikal Railway began only after its “discovery” by a number of newspaper publications in Irkutsk regional newspapers in the seventies. This is partly due to the development of rock climbing on the shores of Lake Baikal. Previously, this was the most exotic section of the Trans-Siberian Railway only for train passengers, especially those traveling to the east, for whom at the Baikal station the sacred lake suddenly and immediately opened up, in all its gigantic beauty and power. Of course, this is still unlikely to be seen anywhere, not only here, but also abroad: on one side, the rearing aquamarine waves of the surf literally lick the carriage wheels, on the opposite side, no matter how hard you try, you will not see the top of the vocal cliff from the window. And every now and then the train plunged into the darkness of endless tunnels; at short stops at numerous stops there was a brisk trade in the no less exotic “scented” omul.
The builder, who came here in 1899 along the Angara valley, encountered extraordinary technical difficulties. The Olkhinskoye Plateau breaks off like a wall into the lake throughout the entire section; the shore has largely preserved its tectonic relief. Composed of very strong crystalline rocks - granites, gneisses, crystalline schists - it has undergone relatively few changes over millions of years, is little rugged in configuration and has practically no deep and convenient bays for receiving and settling ships. Nevertheless, harsh climatic conditions, which contribute to intense processes of physical weathering, and high seismic activity favor the development of rock falls and screes.
That is why the line had to be laid on shelves carved into the rocky slopes, sometimes with the reinforcement of mountain slopes to great heights with stone facing. Often this required such a significant amount of work that it was more profitable to lay the route on embankments using high-height retaining walls, sometimes on bridges over bays and valleys, and most often it was necessary to build these structures in combination. Often the construction of a tunnel was the only way out(the route was created from both ends). They were built for two tracks at once, using natural stone cladding, and today the circular arches of the tunnel portals with key stones, on which the dates of construction are forever inscribed, amaze with the care of finishing and beauty, fused in harmony with the surrounding wild nature. Rockfall areas caused a lot of trouble - the roadbed was then protected by reinforced concrete or stone galleries. The destructive work of waves was also taken into account - breakwaters and wave-breaking walls follow the contours of the coast almost along their entire length.
Ust-Anga Bay, Lake Baikal 
Sometimes not only in one place - in one cut! - up to ten structures had to be built. There is just such a place in front of the Marituy station: the watercourse had to be drawn over the structures and taken to Lake Baikal, but this is not easy to do on a cliff. And today, when you approach from the port of Baikal to this puzzle, brilliantly embodied in stone and concrete from an engineering point of view, with involuntary admiration you trace the path of the stream: high above, where not only to place building structures, materials and mechanisms - there seems to be nowhere to stand - he was sent into a concrete bypass, then he fell into a stone water well, from where, behind the tunnel portal, he was enclosed in a flume bypass, then placed in a canal, and since there were high retaining and then wave-breaking walls on the way, he had to be carried over them into cantilever reinforced concrete spillway.
Weekend hikes are the great future of the Circum-Baikal Road. In the meantime, good transport connections make it accessible mainly to residents of the cities of Shelekhov, Irkutsk, Angarsk, Usolye-Sibirsky, as well as Cheremkhov and Sayansk. If you use Friday evening for access, then in two days you can make both short trips starting from stations and stopping points of the pass section (Rassokha, Orlenka, Taezhny, Podkamennaya, Pereezod, Andrianovskaya, Angasolka, etc.), and transitions crossing Olkhinsky plateau and access to the coast. In winter, ski travel comes down to a very popular one-day “family” route from Moving along the valley of the Bolshaya Krutaya Guba river to the Temnaya Pad stopping point or to the city of Slyudyanka, crossing Baikal in its southern part. The tradition of Irkutsk residents firmly includes one-day throw-transitions (running and skiing on ice) from the source of the Angara to Slyudyanka (to the Staraya Angasolka stop) over a distance of 70 - 80 km.
So, no matter what type of tourism we choose, the task before us on a weekend hike is the same - the need to cover the site in two days. It is advisable to start at the port of Baikal. It is connected with Irkutsk by numerous means of communication (motor ships, hydrofoils, buses to Listvenichny), and from Kultuk it is convenient to travel to Irkutsk by train in the evening (stop point "Strawberry"). It remains to add that a boat trip provides an excellent opportunity to look at the panorama of coastal structures from an unusual perspective. Particularly impressive are the magnificent arched bridges across the Shumilikha, Bolshaya Polovinnaya, Marituy, Bolshaya Krutaya Guba, and Angasolka rivers, their outlines reminiscent of Roman aqueducts. As for the organization of bivouacs, here in any place at almost any time you can organize “both a table and a house” - there are many convenient sites within the roadbed. You can also count on the truly Siberian hospitality of the local population at numerous posts and villages, which, by the way, we had to use more than once. On a hiking trip, this will eliminate the need to carry a tent and sleeping gear with you for two nights. Apparently, the administration should take into account the mass interests and build huts and shelters.
It’s worth staying a little longer at the port of Baikal, the final point of the route, marked by the kilometer post “73” (for the Circum-Baikal Road, the same kilometer, starting from Irkutsk, has been preserved). It was from here that the construction offensive against the rocky “fortifications” of Baikal unfolded in 1898; here began the famous ferry crossing across Baikal, which had no equal in the whole world and which was designed to ensure uninterrupted train service throughout the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok during the construction of the route to Kultuk. For this purpose, two icebreakers were ordered in England and assembled in Listvenichny; for transportation of goods - "Baikal" and passengers - "Angara".
In terms of its size, the icebreaker-ferry "Baikal" was considered the second in the world: its length was 100 m and its width was 16 m, with a crew of 200 people. Three railway tracks housed 27 two-axle freight cars and a steam locomotive. Three main steam engines and 20 auxiliary engines served two stern and special bow propellers; it covered the distance from Baikal station to Mysovaya station, 72 km, in 4.5 hours and was able to break ice a meter thick. During the five years of operation of the ferry crossing, only once, in the severe frosts of January 1904, the icebreaker was unable to cope with its duties. We had to build an ice railway. The carriages were moved along it by horses, which were mobilized together with the owners from the villages of Transbaikalia and the Irkutsk province. "Baikal" was lost in the civil war at a combat post, "Angara" has survived to this day: by decision of the Irkutsk regional committee of the Komsomol it was proposed to create a museum of military and revolutionary glory on it.
Cape Maly Kolokolny, Baikal 
Natural monuments
The White Recess is a wonderful geological natural monument, the object of excursions of the 27th International Geological Congress, located at 105 km. It is simply impossible to pass by it without noticing: especially on a sunny day, its slopes dazzle with a powerful glow, the marble bottom is not immediately lost in the blue of the depths. For ease of study and inspection, all exploration excavations and wells are numbered with red paint; in recent years, it has become increasingly known to lovers of mineralogy due to the presence of numerous crystals of precious spinel, a hard mineral, reaching several centimeters in length. Located at 104 km of the Circum-Baikal section of the East Sib. railway An outcrop of marbles with a rare combination of rocks and minerals in the coastal part of the lake, a place for excursions of the International Geological Year (IGY), monuments of all-Russian significance.
Bird Bazaar - this is how it was decided to call this zoological natural monument, the only nesting site of the herring gull on a steep 300-meter cliff in the southern half of the lake, located at 133 km. For local residents, the arrival of seagulls in May is a sure sign that Baikal will soon disperse (that is, the ice on it will melt). From a boat or kayak, you can clearly see from May to August how the entire cliff, from the water’s edge to the wooded top, is dotted with white columns of birds, their hubbub deafening at a great distance. And naturally, during the period of nesting and growing chicks, the colony cannot be disturbed by visits. Located near the station. Sharyzhalgai Circum-Baikal section (133 km) East Sib. and. e. A place of permanent mass nesting of herring gulls, the only place in southern Baikal where nests are located on the coastal walls.
In recent years, due to restrictions on shooting, flocks of seals often appear along the coast. And although this is a sure sign that everything is fine with the composition of the water here, and the factor of concern is small, one should not be deluded by this (the mass death of animals in 1987 leads to disappointing thoughts).
On February 25, 1985, among 26 natural objects, by decision of the Irkutsk Regional Executive Committee, the source of the Angara River, the only watercourse that drains all the water entering Baikal, was approved as a natural monument.
The source of the Angara is a natural monument of republican significance. The width of the river here reaches a kilometer, and it is here, at the exit from the lake, that there is a peculiar ledge in the form of a rocky threshold, above which the water depth is on average only 3.5 m and the water speed is 12 - 15 km/h. The relatively warm bottom waters of Baikal, entering the threshold, do not allow the surface of the source to freeze in winter. At the same time, the source is a kind of wind chimney, serving as a place for cold northwestern air currents to invade the lake, while in the opposite direction the cooled air of the Baikal basin flows through it. This climatic feature of the source noticeably restrains the development of phenological phenomena here. However, it is included in the section “Zoological Natural Monuments”, and this was made possible by the only mass permanent wintering of lamellar beaks in all of Northern Asia, numbering annually 8 - 12 thousand waterfowl. In the huge polynya, which stretches for 3 - 5 km and exists thanks to high speed and constant positive water temperature, mergansers and ducks predominate, and dippers constantly winter. Harsh winters can significantly reduce the size of the polynya (winter 1983), but only once in 200 years has its short-term complete freezing been abolished. The rarest wintering area in North-East Asia for lamellar beaks, with climatic features different from their surroundings at all times of the year. All-Russian significance.
According to scientists, the wintering of waterfowl is the same historically ancient phenomenon as the presence of the polynya at the source, and the peculiar behavior of the birds wintering here suggests that a special species winters here. environmental group, which has long been adapted to extreme living conditions (it has been established, for example, that ducks spend the night in hummocky ice). That is why scientific interest in this wintering is exceptional.
Output of marbles in the port of Baikal. Located in the port of Baikal, on the coastal cliff of the Olkha plateau. Outcrops of marbles in the oldest Precambrian complexes of the world, 3.4-3.7 billion years old. The object of excursions of international and all-Union geological forums.
Krutogubsky outcrop. Located at the mouth of the river. Big Krutaya Guba on the Olkha plateau. Petrographic-mineralogical object.
Shaman's Stone - a tiny rocky island at the source of the Angara, a geomorphological natural monument, the top of a rocky threshold, is tightly connected with the poetic Buryat legend of the hero Baikal and his beautiful daughter Angara. Located at the source of the river. Hangars. The only ledge of the Angarsk threshold protruding above the water is known from a colorful Buryat legend. It is also connected with the unrealized project for quickly filling the Bratsk reservoir, which could have had fatal consequences for the fauna of the lake. It was developed by MOSGIDEP and provided for the construction at the source of the Angara, in its bed, of a canal up to 9 km long, with a top width of up to 100 m and a useful depth of 11 m, for which a massive explosion was designed to release using 30 thousand tons of TNT. The explosion, which was supposed to lift 7 million cubic meters into the air. m of soil, it was proposed to carry out in 1960 with the aim of reducing the period of filling the Bratsk reservoir from four years to a minimum, obtaining additional energy in the amount of 32 billion kWh. The implementation of the project, according to calculations, could lower the level of Lake Baikal to 11 m, but even lowering it by 3 - 5 m would cause widespread reshaping of the banks, a change in the normal living conditions of fish, ports, timber transshipment bases, and the railway would suffer. Due to the fact that it was difficult to foresee everything possible consequences This bold engineering project, but apparently adventurous in its design, was rejected.
And here is what I got for the first section - from Kultuk to the source of the Angara, having carefully summed up the data scattered across the pages of diary entries: streams - 41, rivers and rivulets - 13, river - 1 (Bolshaya Polovinnaya), in total - 55.
Conclusions: section of the village. Kultuk - Port Baikal is not so much a ready-made section of the Baikal trail, easily accessible due to developed transport communications, as a real tourist “road”, a highway with extremely grateful natural data and rare technical history. A lot of work still needs to be done for the Circum-Baikal to become a road for millions, but so much has already been done by man that it is mainly up to the reserve, the owner, who would turn this fertile corner into a paradise for tourists. And it would be urgent to start providing tourists with firewood, since due to the lack of dead wood and the small amount of driftwood on the shore in places of intense influx of tourists and vacationers, threatening conditions are created for the forest, especially in the area that is maximally congested from the mouth of Bolshaya Krutaya Guba to Kultuk. Things got to the point where all picket and kilometer posts disappeared from the village of Angasolki to Kultuk.
Cape Svyatoy Nos, Zmeevaya Bay 
TRADES AND LEGENDS OF LAKE BAIKAL
The emergence of Khamar-Daban
I have already told you how the Sayans arose. Mountains such as the Sayans were not created by a small force; from that force, probably, the whole earth trembled. Yes, a small force would never have created them. Then, probably, it was like this: that power burst out of the Earth, and it had been accumulating for perhaps millions of years, it threw everything out at once, and the Sayans were ready. When the Sayans cooled down, there was still a lot of strength left in the Earth, they dispersed in different directions and began to push the earth above them along the entire road. But this was no longer the same force that worked on the Sayans. So, in small tremors, the underground force came from the Sayans closer to sunrise and on its way raised the earth. Where the shock was stronger, the mountains rose higher; where it was smaller, the saddle remained.
In a word, the mountains from the Sayan Mountains to the east began to resemble a humpbacked nose, for which the Buryats nicknamed them “Hamar-Daban”. Many years after Khamar-Daban arose, a lot of earth was blown onto it from the plain by the wind. The mountains were not high, so they were covered with earth. All the cracks that were created by the tremors when the earth rose up the mountain were covered with earth from the valleys.
The sun did not scorch the earth very much on Khamar-Daban, and soon it was covered with forest. Then animals and birds spread out in the forest, people migrated there, closer to the mountains, and they began to live and prosper and make good.
Bezymyannaya Bay, Baikal 
About how Baikal came to be
Old people used to talk about how Baikal came about. There isn't much land on Earth. Everyone knows that if you dig a hole several fathoms deep, or even less, all kinds of sand, clay, stone, etc. will immediately come out. different breed. The deeper you dig a hole, the less soil there is, the more stone there is, and different soil that is not visible on the ground. And further, in the very depths of the earth, there are only stones, and even further water. There are various stones in the ground. There is also one that if you drop water on it, it starts to boil and fall apart. There is a lot of such stone in the depths of the earth, much more than on the surface. So it happened a thousand years ago: water and stone came together deep in the earth. As soon as they got together, they began to boil. Where should the couple go? He climbed in different directions and moved the earth from its place, and it went like a wave and, even more than that, shook the whole earth. So the earth seethed in the depths, seethed, and then water and steam rushed up, and the water covered the low places. She could not go further, there were mountains all around, and so it turned out to be Baikal. It never decreases, because it is always supported by water from underground, and that water, they say, lives in kin with the Arctic Ocean. Previously, old people often easily said: a boat would break on Lake Baikal, but boards were found in Ledovity, or something that would sink in Ledovity floated up on Lake Baikal.
How Olkhon Island was formed
Not everything that is said in legends is true. There used to be talk that everything was created by God, as the scripture says. Some believed him and some didn’t believe him. Most of all, people did not believe those fairy tales. The priests were angry at this, they cursed with anathema, but what’s the point: a curse is not smoke, it won’t eat your eyes. Let’s take our Olkhon, it’s called an island. Where did he come from? God would not have had enough strength to lower him from heaven. This means that it did not fall from the sky, but came from nature itself.
When Baikal appeared, all the places here were filled with water and there was not a single island. A million years passed, the water settled down, fish began to be found in Baikal, the forests all around began to rustle - in a word, real life began here. After this, strong winds began to blow on Baikal, so strong that they made the whole of Baikal boil, as if in a cauldron. The waves reached to the very bottom, from where all the stone and sand were driven to the shore. But the waves did not reach the stones all the way to the shore; they got caught on the underwater rock. The waves worked for many years, they kept pushing stones and sand towards the sakla. And so a whole mountain, large, wide and long, washed up near that rock. Other waves washed away that mountain and little by little made it flat. This is where Olkhon Island came from. Old people say that Olkhon is higher in years and lower in years. This is because it stands on a rock. When the rocks are washed away, the island sinks a little, and when there is a lot of water under the rocks, it rises a little. At first they thought that some evil spirit was at work here, and then they themselves became convinced that it all depended on the wind. So believe the priests that the island was created by God. Why didn’t he then create it in the middle of Lake Baikal, where there is no rock? That’s why the priests are silent, and the Holy Scriptures don’t say anything about it. That everything was created by God in a week is said by those who don’t want to think, or that intoxication is beneficial to them.
Failure on Baikal
There was a failure at Lake Baikal under my father. He often reminded me about it, and from him our whole village knew how and what went on there. It’s not only scary to talk about failure, but it’s also very painful to remember. In those days of failure, many people remained crippled for the rest of their lives: some had their legs or arms broken, some lost their minds, and some, out of grief, when they were left naked and did not get out of bitter poverty, went to the next world poor.
Where could the poor man go at that time? There is nothing to live for, lie down and die. When all this happened, faith in God was lost. Apparently he is weak before the force of nature. Those who used to say that everything is done by God's will have stopped believing in it. It became clear to us, simple men, that mountains, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans were created not by the power of God, but by the will of nature, which conceals enormous power within itself, and while a person is weak, she will do whatever she wants with him.
It is God’s will that saves you when you don’t know what to do and when you don’t know what’s going on around you. After the Baikal failure, all the old people began to say that Baikal itself happened just like this failure. This means that the grandfathers also correctly conveyed that from the columns of fire and water between the mountains, the water flooded the valley, and in that place the sea-Baikal became. People now firmly believe this truth.
Peschanaya Bay, Maly Kolokolny Cape 
Why did Barguzin flow in the other direction?
My grandfather was the first to settle in the village of Tolstikhino, when there were only three houses in Barguzin itself. My grandfather lived here for eighty years, my father lived for about a hundred years, and I’ve been living here for ninety-four years. In short, our entire family has been living here for a long time. We all knew how to speak Buryat and Tunguska. This passed from my grandfather to my father, and from him to me. From the Buryats and Tungus they heard how our river Barguzin used to flow, from them I learned from childhood and I will tell you what I remember.
Previously, a very long time ago, the Barguzin River flowed not to Baikal, but from Baikal to the Arctic Ocean, and then it turned back and began to run back to where it came from. It was not done by God, it was the will of the earth. It happened like this: Baikal stood, stood, surrounded by high mountains, nowhere on Earth higher than them, and between these mountains the water kept accumulating and accumulating. In the mountains, the ice and snow melted, it rained, and it all flowed into Baikal. A lot of water rose in it, it covered half the mountains, and there was nowhere for it to go, and the mountain rivers kept pouring their water into the sea. And then one day one mountain could not stand it and burst. The water broke through and flowed through it into Baikal. She washed away the entire taiga, made a level place from mountain to mountain and reached the Arctic Ocean itself. Back then, Baikal held a lot of water, the river flowed wide and deep, and when it became smaller, it began to gather in a narrow channel. The water flowed and flowed down the river and flooded the entire shore near the ocean, it was very cold there, and ice mountains began to grow from that water. At first, the water broke through them, because there was a lot of it in Baikal, and when it got rid of it, the water lost its power. After many years, the ice mountains prevented water from Lake Baikal from going straight into the ocean. The frozen ice began to approach Lake Baikal closer and closer. The river became shorter every year and washed away its top. In the end, it washed out its valley through which it flowed in the first years to such an extent that the valley rose above Lake Baikal. Water stopped flowing from Baikal into it, and at that time other rivers from the mountains and char began to flow into the old channel. There was nowhere for that water to go, the river turned back and went to Baikal. When the water went to the ocean, a lot of silt was deposited into the valley, and the entire forest at the bottom of the river rotted. The river became narrow, the banks became wide. Now, where the Barguzin River flows, the whole place is called a valley, and there is no richer region than this valley. When the Tungus and Barguts arrived in the valley, the river was already running into Baikal; instead of the former wide river, a narrow one flowed, along which the hunters descended to the sea. The valley was overgrown with taiga, animals and birds multiplied, and it became more beautiful than before the river appeared. That’s why later the Buryats and Russians came to these places, and my grandfather settled here.
We lived here and in the bar, for example, Karlych (M.K. Kuchelbecker) really loved such stories, he took them from me on paper. I just don’t know if they went into books. He wrote a lot here and visited all the villages under Muravyov. It’s a pity that I lived my life illiterate, otherwise I at least read his books before I died. He didn’t really believe in God and didn’t rely on the Tsar, he hung out more with our peasants here, and thanks to him for that - he treated them for illnesses. He was able to tell such stories about the past, and he did not tell us that we were sinners before God.
Primorsky Ridge 
From the history of the development of the Barguzin Valley
What our Russian peasant has not endured, what he has not experienced. My grandfather came here, my father lived here. I remember them, I’ve lived here for over a hundred years. If you count how long we, the Elshins, walked here, how many mountains we crossed, then, probably, during this time we could walk around the globe on foot, and from the forest that our ancestors uprooted, we could build a second Moscow.
When my grandfather came here, there was a continuous taiga here, under the arable fields there were only small circles of land, but now, look, there are such fields all around that you can’t see them with your eyes. That’s why the land is dear to us here because it smells of the sweat of our ancestors, is watered with their blood and tears.
Barguzin Bay, Baikal 
Where did the name "Baikal" come from?
Russians have long heard that somewhere in the middle of Siberia there is a huge lake. But no one knew what it was called. When Russian merchants, and then Cossacks crossed the Urals and began to approach the large rivers Ob and Yenisei, they learned that people lived around the lake, which boiled day and night. Those Russians learned that that lake was rich in fish, and that various animals walked along the shores, and such expensive ones that could not be found anywhere else in the world. The Cossacks and merchants began to hurry to that sea-lake, they walked, did not sleep, did not feed their horses, did not know when the day ended and when the night began. Everyone wanted to be the first to get to the lake and see what it was like and why it was boiling without rest.
Those merchants and Cossacks walked to the sea for a long time, several years, many of them died along the way, but the living ones still reached it and saw the Shaman Stone in front of them. He blocked their way and blocked the light. You can’t turn away from it to the right or to the left; there are such mountains all around that if you throw your head back, your hat will fly off, but you won’t be able to see the top. The Cossacks and merchants hung around the Shaman-stone and thought that they would not be able to get to the sea, but they themselves heard it making noise, rising and beating against the rocks.
The merchants were sunbathing, the Cossacks were sad, apparently all of them long road disappeared for a sniff of tobacco. They drove back, pitched the tent and began to think hard about how they could cross the Shaman Stone or go around the mountains. They cannot go around the mountains - the sea will swallow them. So the Cossacks and merchants stopped and began to live not far from the sea-lake, but they could not get to the shore.
They had to live here for a long time, perhaps their bones would have rotted there, but then, fortunately for them, an unknown man approached them and called himself a Buryat. The Russians began to ask him to lead them to the shore, lead them around the sea and show them the way to land where they had not yet been. The Buryat didn’t say anything to them, he folded his palms into a tube, then raised them to his face and went into the forest. The Russians did not detain him and let him go with God. The merchants and Cossacks were sad again, what could they do next, apparently they would die. They lived like this for who knows how long, no one counted the days or months. The merchants and Cossacks became emaciated and haggard, and grief overwhelmed them worse than before. They wanted to gather their last strength and go back, but then the Buryat came again and brought his son and said:
- I can’t go around Baigal with you - I’ve become old, I can’t go around the Shaman Stone - the years are long gone, take your son, his eyes are light, and his legs are like a deer.
The old man went into the taiga, and his son led the Russians along a new road, brought them to the seashore and said:
- Baigal.
The Russians asked him what it was, he answered them:
“In our opinion, it means a place of fire; there used to be a continuous fire here, then the earth collapsed and it became the sea.” Since then we have called our sea Baigal.
The Russians liked this name, and they also began to call this sea Baikal.
Ushkany Islands
Who can know when this was? Yes, no one probably remembers. Many years have passed since then; during this time mountains have grown on the plains, in the lowlands deep lakes They overflowed and a forest grew on the rocks. At that time Baikal stood calmly, so quietly that the water did not move, like a mirror, the surface shone from shore to shore. Sometimes only early in the morning, at dawn, the fish splashed. But Baikal is not angry about this, he loves different living creatures and, like a father, gives them food.
How long Baikal lived in silence and bliss, only he knows. And then, unexpectedly, a terrible storm fell on Baikal. Baikal has never seen such a storm before. The water of Baikal is covered with terrible bubbles, it seems that it has become higher than before and is trying to spill over the coastal valleys and lowlands. Old man Baikal became angry at the storm and said:
“Don’t make me angry, you won’t be able to defeat the old man, you won’t be able to disperse my bright water in all directions, you won’t be able to dry up my dear home.”
But the storm didn’t even want to listen to the old man. Know walks and walks along the crests of the waves, which have already risen from the heights of the cliffs.
“You, old man, cannot cope with my strength,” says the storm, “I raise the seas and oceans, I destroy the taiga, I uproot the eternal forest, I destroy rocks, and I will splash you like a puddle, and drain you like a drop.”
After such impudent words, Baikal became furious. Evil gives strength. Baikal straightened its mighty shoulders, it remembered its sons and daughters, gathered strength into its heroic chest and let’s fight the storm. He began to build rock after rock around himself, and mountains began to rise behind the rocks. The storm sees that the old man is not to be trifled with and that he cannot be defeated so easily, she called upon the winds Kultuk and Barguzin to help her. The storm immediately increased in strength. Then Baikal resorted to cunning and began to block the storm’s path away from the shore. Rocks began to rise from the bottom, so many of them rose above the water that they began to obscure the sun. The storm hits the rocks with all its force and rolls back; it comes to the shore weakly.
This is how rocks appeared in Baikal, in spite of the storms, to the delight of the shores that they protect. Well, once the rocks appeared, they were later covered with sand and silt. From year to year the rocks became overgrown and grew so large that they turned into islands. This one island was nicknamed Ushkany. Why was he called that? I'll tell you about this now. This island was more successful than others; a forest soon appeared on it: pine, birch, foliage, aspen, but the shrubs didn’t even have a name. There will be so many berries here that there will be enough berry jelly to cook berry jelly for the entire Baikal water. The island is also rich in wild rosemary and flowers. In autumn on the island, the aroma takes your breath away.
The island has its own climate, its own weather, and nowhere else around Lake Baikal is there. When autumn is all around, everything withers and freezes everywhere, on the island everything is in bloom, as far as the eye can see, everything is green: the berries are ripening, wild rosemary is blooming for the second time, and is blooming. The ushkans, which means hares in Siberian, saw about such an island, and they flocked to the island in droves. What are the little cowards used to, and when necessary, they swim and end up on the island. There were so many ushkans bred there that there was nowhere to go.
But a person does not sleep, he is also cunning. I found out that the island was rich in nature and made my way onto it. People were amazed at how many Ushkans lived here. That’s how the island was called Ushkanim. Then the Ushkans spread to the small islands that stand next to the big ones. Now these small islands are also called Ushkanii.
Many years ago, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers wanted to settle on these Ushkany islands, but they were not suitable for life: winter and summer are not suitable here at the same time as around Lake Baikal. The men wanted to start a farm, but they didn’t have enough urine, and there was no need for it.
People have been protecting the Ushkany Islands from time immemorial, and the animals there are preserved by the hunters themselves. The old people told how a long time ago several thieves came to the island to harass the Ushkans. The hunters agreed among themselves to hire an old man to keep all living things on the island. An old man lived on the island for more than a hundred years, he killed all the thieves, he punished his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: “Just as a fox does not hunt near its hole, so you take care of all living things around you. Without nature, a person is naked, and you cannot live naked for long.”
Suvo
Some old people said where the name of the village of Suvo, which is not far from Barguzin, came from. One elderly Tungus explained the name in his own way. The Tungus have not lived forever in the upper reaches of Barguzin. Long before them, different peoples roamed here, but no one remembers them. Those distant peoples left the Barguzin Valley in that old time when the Chuds first began to come here, and then the Tungus, the Orochons and the Barguts began to migrate. After them, the Russians began to appear. But that was quite recently, about three hundred years ago.
The Tungus gave names to rivers, mountains and places most of all here, because there were more of them here than other peoples. There are many stories about the name of the village of Suvo, but the truest of them is this. Once upon a time, many Tungus lived near Lake Kotokel. They lived around the lake, fished, killed animals, and lived like this for years. The Tungus were very fertile in those years, because it was very cold, and they love the cold. When warming began, they began to die out, genus after genus completely disappeared from the earth. Warmth, after all, multiplies all kinds of infection, but before there was nothing to save ourselves from it.
At that time, when many Tungus were born, life around Kotokel became crowded, they began to little by little and slowly climb up the Barguzin. The Barguzin road is wide, there are a lot of tributaries near Barguzin, and the Tungus scattered along these tributaries. They are hardy people, they will soon get to know a place, the Tungus will never get lost in the taiga, they will get out of any wilderness straight to where they need to go. They have such an instinct, they know where things grow, they smell where animals are found, where to go hunting, and where there is no need to break legs in vain. Everyone here knows about their affairs, and for this reason the Tungus enjoys respect here.
One such Tungus clan walked for many days along the left bank of the Barguzin and saw a path that stretches along a tributary up the mountain. That taiga path led the Tungus to the mountains. The Tungus do not like the steppes and swamps, what should they do there; at that time they did not deal with livestock. At the very top of the mountain, the Tungus stopped, set up yurts and went to check where the path went next. Soon the Tungus returned and told their prince that the taiga path ends here not far from the mountain, and beyond lies the dense taiga, where, apparently, no man has gone before. The prince thought and said:
- Suvo.
This means the end of the road in Tunguska. All the Tungus who stood near the prince repeated at once: “Suvo, suvo, suvo.” Since then, who knows how many years have passed, but the name Suvo has stuck to this place. Even before the arrival of the Russians, all the Tungus said that the Suvo River and the place of Suvo were found and first inhabited by Prince Shoningo, who was famous among all people for his strength and courage. In memory of the Tungus, a Russian village grew up on the very spot where the prince and his Tungus once stood.
The village was founded more than two hundred years ago. Here is how it was. Two Cossacks, Misserkeev and Kozulin, escaped from the Verkhneudinsk fortress. The Cossack ataman did not like them; they refused to serve him or work for the tsar’s treasury. So they took it and left. How long did the Cossacks walk through the taiga, but they ended up on the Barguzin River, and here they met the Belovodsk Tungus. The Tungus advised the Russian Cossacks to settle in the Suvo area near the river itself. The river here then flowed rapidly, there were so many fish in it, you could even pick them up with your hands. Suvo Misserkeev and Kozulin liked the area, they became related to the Tungus and began to build here and raise children. The men lived their own lives, they didn’t bow to anyone here, they considered themselves masters.
The good news went around the world that Cossacks had settled far beyond Barguzin and were living happily. Rumors about them reached the Cossacks beyond the borders, and they flocked one after another to Suvo. The village began to grow day by day and expanded so quickly that the banks of the river were no longer enough; the men began to build along the slopes of the hills. The Suva grain fields turned green, herds of horses and herds of cows appeared. The people began to live where the taiga had just rustled and the wolves howled. This is the story of the Russian village of Suvo!
About the pedigree of the Barguzin Buryats
Our Barguzin Buryats live in great friendship with us. We speak Buryat, they speak Russian to us. Our ancestors knew well where the Buryats came from. It was given. All the Barguzin residents talk about that old thing like that. Listen here.
From time immemorial, our great-grandfathers and grandfathers still told us that these places were inhabited long before the arrival of the Russians, when birch trees did not grow here, by Buryats. All our Buryats are from Lena, and now their relatives live there. Buryats Bukha Savonov, who lives immediately behind Ina, tells to this day: the sixteenth generation of Buryats was born from those ancestors who were the first to come to Barguzin. The Savonov family now has hundreds of generations. All the Buryats who live near Karolik, in Yasy, descended from the Bargut family. Their ancestors first lived on the Angara, then moved to the Lena, and from the Lena to the Upper Angara, then they came to Vitim, and from Vitim to Barguzin. That’s how it was before, the old people didn’t tell lies in vain.
I remember how my other good neighbor, Badma Dilgyrov, used to talk about his relatives, so he kept almost everyone in his mind until the tenth generation of his old people. Now there are few such storytellers left. Those who are more educated and have received a diploma probably read about the Buryat descendants in books. And we, old people, all rely on our old man’s memory.
Master of Olkhon
There is a scary cave on the island of Olkhon. It's called Shamanic. And it is scary because the ruler of the Mongols once lived there - Gegen-Burkhan, the brother of Erlen Khan, the ruler of the underground kingdom. Both brothers constantly terrified the inhabitants of the island with their cruelty. Even the shamans were afraid of the formidable rulers, especially Gegen-Burkhan himself. The islanders knew that if this heartless and merciless ruler got out into the world, then expect trouble: the blood of many innocents would certainly be shed. Many ordinary people suffered from him.
And at the same time and on the same island, on Mount Izhimei, lived the wise hermit Khan-guta-babai. He did not recognize the authority of Gegen-Burkhan, and he did not want to know himself; he never descended into his possessions. Many people had the opportunity to see how at night he lit a fire on the top of the mountain and roasted a lamb for dinner, but there was no way there - the mountain was considered impregnable. The formidable owner of Olkhon tried to subjugate the hermit sage, but retreated: no matter how much he sent soldiers there, the mountain did not let anyone in. Anyone who dared to climb this mountain fell down dead, because huge stones crashed down on the heads of uninvited guests. So everyone left Khan-guta-babai alone.
It so happened that Gegen-Burkhan executed the husband of one islander, a young herdsman, because, as it seemed to the ruler, he looked at him disrespectfully.
The young woman fell to the ground in grief, burst into burning tears, and then, inflamed with fierce hatred of Gegen-Burkhan, began to think about how to rid her native tribe of the cruel ruler. And she decided to go to the mountains and tell Khan-guta-babai about the severe suffering of the island’s inhabitants. Let him stand up for them and punish Gegen-Burkhan.
The young widow set off on her journey. And surprisingly, where the most dexterous warriors fell, she rose easily and freely. So she safely reached the top of Mount Izhimei, and not a single stone fell on her head. After listening to the brave, freedom-loving islander, Khan-guta-babai told her:
- Okay, I will help you and your tribe. Go back now and warn all the islanders about this.
The delighted girl descended from Mount Izhimei and did what the wise hermit told her to do.
And Khan-guta-babai himself, on one of the moonlit nights, landed on the land of Olkhon on a light white-foamed cloud. He pressed his ear to the ground and heard the groans of the innocent victims killed by Gegen-Burkhan.
“It is true that the land of Olkhon is completely saturated with the blood of the unfortunate,” Khan-guta-babai was indignant and made a promise, “Gegen-Burkhan will not be on the island.” But you must help me with this too. Let a handful of Olkhon land turn red when I need it!”
And in the morning I went to the Shaman’s cave. The angry ruler came out to meet the hermit sage and asked him in a hostile manner:
- Why did you come to me?
Khan-guta-babai calmly answered:
- I want you to leave the island.
Gegen-Burkhan boiled even more:
- This won’t happen! I'm the boss here! And I will deal with you.
“I’m not afraid of you,” said Khan-guta-babai. He looked around and added - There is power for you too!
Gegen-Burkhan also looked around and gasped: not far away stood a dense wall of frowning islanders.
“So you want to settle the matter with a battle?” cried Gegen-Burkhan.
“I didn’t say that,” Khan-guta-babai said calmly again. “Why shed blood?” Let's fight better, it will be peaceful!
- Let's!
Gegen-Burkhan and Khan-guta-Babai fought for a long time, but neither of them could achieve an advantage - both turned out to be real heroes, equal in strength. With that we parted ways. We agreed to settle the matter the next day by drawing lots. It was agreed that everyone would take a cup, fill it with earth, and at night, before going to bed, everyone would place their cup at their feet. And whoever’s land turns red overnight must leave the island and migrate to another place, and whoever’s land does not change color must remain in possession of the island.
The next evening, according to the agreement, they sat down side by side on the felt laid in the Shaman’s cave, placed a wooden cup at their feet, filled them with earth and immediately went to bed.
And then night came, and with it came the insidious underground shadows of Erlen Khan, for whose help his cruel brother firmly hoped. The shadows noticed that the earth was colored in Gegen-Burkhan's cup. Immediately they moved this cup to the feet of Khan-guta-Babai, and his cup to the feet of Gegen-Burkhan. But the blood of the ruined turned out to be stronger than the shadows of Erlen Khan, and when a bright ray of the morning sun burst into the cave, the earth in Khan-guta-Babai’s cup went out, and the earth in Gegen-Burkhan’s cup turned red. And at that moment they both woke up.
Gegen-Burkhan looked at his cup and sighed heavily:
“Well, you will own the island,” he said to Khan-gut-babai, “and I will have to migrate to another place.”
And he immediately gave orders to his Mongols to load property onto camels and dismantle the yurts. And in the evening Gegen-Burkhan ordered everyone to go to bed. And so at night, picked up by the powerful shadows of Erlen Khan, the Mongols with camels and all their property were quickly transported beyond Baikal. The next morning they woke up on the other side.
But many poor Mongols remained to live on the island. It was from them that the Olkhon Buryats, who inhabit this island today, descended.
Rock trunk
In distant, distant times, it was very warm on the shores of the Glorious Sea - Baikal. Large, unprecedented trees grew here and there were huge animals: giant rhinoceroses, saber tooth tigers, cave bears and shaggy giants - mammoths. The lingering trumpet sounds of mammoths shook the mountains. Mammoths were considered the largest and most powerful among all animals on earth, but by nature they were modest and peace-loving.
And only one of the Baikal mammoths was distinguished by a tough temperament, exorbitant boasting and arrogance. He always walked alone, important and proud, and woe to those who crossed his path. He grabbed smaller animals with his long trunk and threw them into the bushes, and he picked up those that were larger with thick tusks and threw them to the ground. For fun, the boastful mammoth uprooted giant trees, turned out huge boulders and blocked the rivers running to Baikal.
More than once the leader of the mammoths tried to reason with the braggart:
“Come to your senses, obstinate one, do not offend weak animals, do not destroy trees in vain, do not muddy the rivers, otherwise you will suffer.” The arrogant listened to the speeches of the old mammoth, and he continued to do his own thing. And one day he completely lost his belt. “Why are you teaching me all the time!” he roared at the leader, “why are you scaring me! Yes, I am the strongest here, and if you want, not only the rivers, I will throw stones at the whole of Baikal, like a puddle!”
The leader was horrified, and the rest of the mammoths waved their trunks at the braggart. Baikal also rushed in, washing the shore with a wave and burying an unkind smile in its gray mustache.
But the dispersed mammoth no longer saw anything. He ran up, stuck his tusks into the rock, lifted it to throw it far into the sea, and suddenly the rock became heavy, heavy. The tusks broke from the excessive weight and fell into the water along with the rock. Here the mammoth roared in grief, stretched out its long trunk to the water to get its tusks, and froze, petrified forever.
Since then, a huge rock has stood on the shore of Lake Baikal, hanging over the water like a trunk. And now people call it that - Khobot rock.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
http://ozerobaikal.info
Baikal // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
http://www.photosight.ru/
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Grafov S.V., Kolotilo L.G., Potashko A.E. The navigation of Lake Baikal. Admiralty No. 1007. - St. Petersburg: GUNIO, 1993.
Grushko Ya. M. Around Baikal: A Guide / Prof. Y. M. Grushko. - Irkutsk: East Siberian Book Publishing House, 1967. - 252 p. — 1,500 copies. (in translation)
Gusev O. K., Ustinov S. K. Along northern Baikal and the Baikal region / Photo illustrations by O. Gusev, V. Lomakin, M. Mineev, L. Tyulina. - M.: Physical culture and sport, 1966. - 104 p. - (Across native expanses). — 17,000 copies.
Gusev O.K. Sacred Baikal. Reserved lands of Baikal. - M.: Agropromizdat, 1986. - 184 p.
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Pounded by L.G. Baikal // Marine encyclopedic dictionary. - St. Petersburg: Shipbuilding, 1991. - T. 1. - P. 108.
Navigation and physical-geographical sketch of Lake Baikal / Ed. F. K. Drizhenko. - St. Petersburg: Publication of the Main Hydrographic Directorate, 1908. - 443 p.
Rossolimo L. L. Baikal. - M.: Nauka, 1966. - 170 p. — (Popular science series). — 20,000 copies. (region)
Taliev D.N. Baikal: Biological and geographical essay. - M.; Irkutsk: Ogiz, 1933. - 64 p.
Tivanenko A.V. Around Baikal. - Ulan-Ude: Buryat Book Publishing House, 1979.
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