Lakes are natural reservoirs formed in the depressions of the land, which store 67.4% of all fresh waters on the Earth. The sizes and depths of lakes can be very different, and some of them, in terms of these indicators, significantly exceed many seas.
This review presents ten deepest lakes in the world.
10th place: - a lake of tectonic origin, located in the south of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Its depth is 590 meters. Matano is the most deep lake Indonesia. Lake Matano is an important freshwater source in Indonesia, famous for its crystal clean waters, which are home to many rare species of plants, fish and crustaceans. On its shores there are deposits of nickel ore. In Matano, the Patea River takes its source, which, flowing through a waterfall, flows into Lake Mahalona.
9th place: - a crater lake, which has a depth of 594 meters. Crater - the deepest lake in the USA and the second deepest in North America. This lake is the main attraction of the eponymous national park located in the state of Oregon. Crater Lake was formed in a deep volcanic basin (caldera) more than 7 thousand years ago due to the destruction of Mount Mazama volcano. Due to the melting of snows, the water in the lake is especially clear and blue. Crater Lake has an unusual attraction - a huge log called "Old Man of the Lake", which has been floating in the reservoir in an upright position for more than a century. In 2005, Crater Lake was featured on the Oregon Commemorative Coin.
8th place: Great Slave Lake – the deepest lake in Canada and the whole North America ... Its maximum depth reaches 614 meters. For eight months of the year, the surface of the lake is frozen with ice, which in winter is so thick that a heavy truck can withstand. In the 1930s, gold was found here, which led to the founding of the city of Yellowknife on the shores of the lake.
7th place: Issyk-Kul Is salty closed lake in the northern part of the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan. The maximum depth of this deepest lake Central Asia- 702 meters. From the Kyrgyz language "ysyk kol" is translated as "hot lake". It got this name due to the fact that its brackish water does not freeze even in severe winters. There are several associated with Issyk-Kul Lake interesting legends and stories. According to one of them, an ancient Armenian monastery with the relics of St. Matthew is kept in the lake. Another legend says that it was in this place that the warriors of Tamerlane put their famous pyramids made of stones. In 2006, footprints were found at the bottom of the lake ancient civilization, which existed 2.5 thousand years ago.
6th place: Malawi(other name - Nyasa) Is the southernmost of the lakes of the East African Rift Valley, located between Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. It is the second deepest lake in Africa - its maximum depth is 706 meters. The tropical waters of Malawi are home to the largest fish species of any lake on Earth. Scientists have come to the conclusion that over the past 100 thousand years, the depth of the lake has decreased by more than 100 meters. The causes of water losses are surface evaporation (up to 80%) and the Shire River flowing out of the southern part of the lake.
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5th place: San Martin(other name - O'Higgins) Is a fjord-shaped lake in Patagonia, located on the border of Argentina and Chile at an altitude of 250 meters above sea level. The area of the lake is 1058 km², and the depth is 836 meters. it deepest lake South America ... In Argentina, the lake is called San Martin, in Chile - O'Higgins. The lake is named after national heroes Jose de San Martín from Argentina and Bernardo O'Higgins from Chile, who fought together for the freedom of South America. The lake is fed by the waters of the Mayer River and small glacial streams, and flows into the Pasqua River, which flows into Pacific Ocean... A unique feature of the lake is the milky-blue tint of the water, which occurs due to particles of stone deposits that enter the lake along with melt water from glaciers and settle at its bottom.
4th place: Caspian Sea – the largest closed lake on the planet with salt water, called the sea due to the fact that its base is the earth's crust of the oceanic type. Located between Europe and Asia, the lake washes the shores of five countries - Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. The maximum depth of the Caspian Sea reaches 1025 meters, and its area is 371 thousand km². More than 130 rivers flow into the lake, the largest of which is the Volga. The Caspian Sea has a rich fauna - the Caspian seal lives in it, there are many sturgeons, and some fish species are found only here. This huge reservoir is a rich source of energy resources. Today, the total cost of oil and gas at sea is 12 trillion. dollars.
3rd place: East – the deepest and largest of all subglacial lakes on Earth covered with 4 kilometers of ice. The unique reservoir is located in Antarctica, next to the Russian Antarctic station Vostok, after which it got its name. The estimated maximum depth of the lake is over 1200 meters. The lake was discovered in 1996. In February 2012, Russian scientists reached the surface of Lake Vostok, the ice shell of which had been drilled for 20 years. Lake exploration has a lot to offer useful information the world, because the conditions in it are similar to those that existed many millions of years ago, moreover, there is an assumption that such lakes are on the satellites of Jupiter.
2nd place: Tanganyika- this is the deepest lake in Africa and the second deepest (1470 meters) in the world. It is also the first longest (673 km) lake in the world, belonging to four countries at once - Tanzania, Congo, Burundi and Zambia. The lake is located in the deepest tectonic depression in Africa. It was accidentally discovered in 1858 by British explorers John Speke and Richard Burton, who discovered it while searching for the source of the Nile. The lake is fed by several channels, and only one river flows out of it - the Lukuga. Tanganyika is home to crocodiles, hippos, many water birds, as well as many unique fish species. After National Geographic magazine published a story about a 9-meter killer crocodile, which caused the death of several dozen people, Lake Tanganyika has long been an object of special interest.
1st place: Baikal- this is the deepest lake in Russia, Eurasia and the whole world reaching a depth of 1642 meters. Located in the south of Eastern Siberia, the reservoir is the largest natural reservoir of fresh water - it stores 20% of the total supply of surface fresh water on the planet. The volume of water in Lake Baikal is greater than in all the lakes of the United States combined. Baikal is also known as the most ancient lake on Earth, formed 25-35 million years ago, although usually lakes do not exist for more than 15 thousand years. Baikal is a unique ecosystem, it is home to about 1,700 species of flora and fauna, and many of them are not found anywhere else. The lake is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Thus, last year's results of German specialists were confirmed. Susana Patcheva, director of the Hydrobiological Institute in Ohrid, emphasized that the lake is over 1.2 million years old, but this is not yet the final date, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
It is believed that Lake Ohrid was formed a very long time ago, even before the onset of the ice age. Surrounded by ridges mountain range Galichitsa, it is a kind of monument of relict, prehistoric nature.
The waters of Lake Prespa, going underground at the monastery of St. Naum, invisible underground channels descend into the plain and spill over an area of 350 square kilometers, forming Lake Ohrid. In turn, the Black Drin River flowing out of Lake Ohrid carries its waters to the Adriatic Sea.
Lake Ohrid is a witness to the geological past and a true museum of unique creations of nature. It can tell many secrets and tell about animals that lived on earth 30 million years ago.
The reservoir is located at an altitude of 695 meters above the sea, in the very deep point reaches 288 meters.
In summer, Lake Ohrid resembles a spread velvet cover, the water warms up to +21 ° C. A wonderful phenomenon here is that in winter the water does not freeze here and in bad weather the lake can even show its cruel disposition and raise waves up to 5 meters from the ground.
The exceptionally transparent emerald water column, through which one can see to a depth of 20 meters, reveals not only a wonderful mosaic of the bottom, but also the life of many fish.
In the water you can see sponges stuck to stones; crayfish hide in dense coastal sedge, and huge flocks of small bleaks splash near the coast, from the scales of which so-called Ohrid pearls are made.
Eels living in Lake Ohrid, like eels in general, are a long-standing mystery of science. They come here from the depths of the Sargasso Sea in tiny fry, sink to the bottom and live there until they reach sexual maturity 25 years later. And then, driven by instinct, in late autumn they gather in huge flocks and return to their ancestral home. There they lay eggs and die, and their offspring make the same mysterious path, several thousand kilometers long. Recently, dams of hydroelectric power stations built on the Drina have stood on this path. But the eels in the lake have not disappeared - they are now transported to the sea in cisterns.
In the last sunny days in the autumn, countless flocks of birds cover the surface of the lake - wild ducks, geese, pelicans, swans, seagulls ...
Since 1980, Lake Ohrid has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
You can find whole volumes of information about Lake Baikal, both on the Internet and in various magazines and book publications. The lake has received attention from tourists, researchers and politicians. From year to year, stunning scientific discoveries are associated with Baikal, expeditions are constantly 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 will be here. Most of the photos in the theme are clickable (open on click)
- 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 determine the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal unique. natural site, since most lakes, especially of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then they are filled with silty sediments and swamp 
There is also a version about the relative youth of Lake Baikal, put forward by Alexander Tatarinov, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the Mirov expedition to Lake 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-water part is 150 thousand years old
Baikal contains about 19% of the world's fresh water reserves. There is more water in Baikal than in all the five Great Lakes combined and 25 times more than, for example, in Lake Ladoga
The water in the lake is so transparent that individual stones and various objects can be seen at a depth of 40 m. clear water Baikal contains so little mineral salts (100 mg / l) that it can be used instead of distilled 
Baikal is inhabited by 2,630 species and varieties of plants and animals, 2/3 of which are endemic, that is, they live only in this reservoir. Such an abundance of living organisms is explained by the high oxygen content in the entire thickness of the Baikal water. 
Photo of Baikal from space 
The most interesting in Baikal is the viviparous fish golomyanka, whose body contains up to 30% fat. She surprises biologists with daily forage migrations from the depths to shallow waters. 
The second, after the golomyanka, the miracle of Baikal, to which it owes its exceptional purity, is the Epishura crustacean (there are about 300 species). The Baikal Epischura is a 1 mm long copepod, a representative of plankton, found throughout the depth (it is absent in bays where the water is warming up). Baikal would not be Baikal without this copepod, barely noticeable to the eye, surprisingly efficient and numerous, which manages to filter all Baikal water ten times in a year, or even more. 
A typical marine mammal lives here - the seal, or the 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. For example, in the 1930s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station discovered unusual forms of ice cover, characteristic only of Baikal. For example, "hills" are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 meters high, hollow inside. Outwardly, they resemble ice tents, "open" to the opposite side from the coast. Hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature "mountain ranges"
In satellite images, dark rings 5-7 km in diameter are clearly visible on the ice of Lake Baikal. The origin of the rings is not known. Scientists believe that rings on the ice of the lake may have appeared many times, but it was impossible to see 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. For the first time such rings were discovered in 1999, then in 2003, 2005. As you can see, rings are not formed every year. The rings are also not in the same place. Scientists are particularly interested in the reason for the displacement of the rings in 2008 to the southwest, compared with 1999, 2003 and 2005. In April 2009, such rings were discovered again, and again in a different location 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 causes and mechanisms of 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) belongs to the territories with high seismicity: earthquakes occur here regularly, the strength of most of which is one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, strong ones also happen, so in 1862, during the ten-point Kudara earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a piece of land with an area of 200 km was submerged? with 6 uluses, in which 1,300 people lived, and the Proval Bay was formed
A unique deep-sea neutrino telescope NT-200, built in 1993-1998, was created and is functioning on the lake, with the help of which high-energy neutrinos are detected. On its basis, a neutrino telescope NT-200 + 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 submersibles on Lake Baikal were made in 1977, when the bottom of the lake was explored on a Canadian-made Pysis deep-water submersible. The depth of 1,410 meters was reached in Listvenichny Bay. In 1991, the Paysis sank from the eastern side of Olkhon to a depth of 1,637 meters.
In the summer of 2008, the Fund for Assistance to the Preservation of Lake Baikal conducted a research expedition "Mira" on Baikal ". 52 submersions of deep-sea manned vehicles" Mir "were carried out to the bottom of Baikal. Scientists delivered water samples to the P.P.Shirshov Research Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 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 have a negative effect on the taiga around the BPPM, there is a dry top and drying out of the forest. In September 2008, a closed water circulation system was introduced at the plant, designed to reduce the discharge of rinsing 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 shut down. 
There are many legends associated with. The most fascinating of them is associated with the Angara River:
In the old days, mighty Baikal was cheerful and kind. He deeply loved his only daughter Angara. She was not more beautiful on earth. During the day it is light - lighter than the sky, at night it is dark - darker than a cloud. And whoever drove past the Angara, everyone admired her, everyone praised her. Even migratory birds: geese, swans, cranes - descended low, but rarely sat on the water of the Angara. They said: "Is it possible to blacken the light?"
Old man Baikal took care of his daughter more than his heart. Once, when Baikal fell asleep, Angara rushed to run to the young man Yenisei. Father woke up, splashed in angry waves. A fierce storm arose, mountains sobbed, forests fell, the sky turned black with grief, animals scattered all over the earth in fear, fish dived to the very bottom, birds flew to the sun. Only the wind howled, and the sea-hero raged. The mighty Baikal hit the gray mountain, broke off a rock from it and threw it after the fleeing daughter. The rock fell to the very throat of the beauty. The blue-eyed Angara pleaded, gasping and sobbing, and began to ask:
Father, I am dying of thirst, forgive me and give me just one drop of water.
Baikal shouted angrily:
I can only give my tears!
For thousands of years, the Angara flows into the Yenisei with water-tears, and the gray-haired lonely Baikal has become gloomy and scary. The rock that Baikal threw after its daughter was called by people the Shaman stone. Rich sacrifices were made to Baikal there. People said: "Baikal will get angry, it will tear off the Shaman stone, the water will rush and flood the whole earth." Currently, the river is blocked by a dam, so only the top of the shaman's stone is visible from the water 
There is a legend among the people about the creation of Lake Baikal "The Lord looked: the earth came out unkind ... no matter how she took offense at him! And, so as not to hold offense, he took and threw out to her not some kind of bedding for her feet, but the very measure of his generosity, which measured how much to be from him. The measure fell and turned into Baikal. " 
Hello dear reader!
Baikal is a great miracle of nature, a generous gift from heaven. Always so different, multifaceted and enchanting, it mesmerizes with its pristine beauty. It is impossible to talk about Baikal without admiration. This lake is unique, it simply has no analogues in the world.
Baikal is the oldest and deepest lake on the planet, located in the south of Eastern Siberia. Its approximate age, according to some scientists, is about 25-35 million years. Along the entire perimeter, the lake is surrounded by hills and mountain ranges. Its dimensions are impressive: length - 636 km., Width - 80 km., Depth - 1642 meters, and the total area of the water surface is 31.5 thousand km2.
Baikal is fed by about 400 large and small rivers, and only one originates from it - the great Angara. The lake's water area includes 26 islands. The largest and most picturesque among them is Olkhon Island. Baikal is one of the largest natural reservoirs on Earth with fresh water... It contains up to 19% of the world's crystal clear, practically distilled water.
Baikal water certainly deserves the highest epithets and ratings. She
so transparent and clean that some parts of the bottom are visible at depths of up to 40 meters. Such a cleanliness of the lake is largely due to one of its important inhabitants - the crustacean Epishura. These amazing animals are a kind of biological filter, and are capable of purifying up to 450 km3 of water per year. In addition, the epischura serves as the most important link in the food chain of the lake, being food for juvenile fish.
The water here is cold, rich in oxygen, ideal for the development of living organisms and plants in it. There is no more lake in the world that could compare in biological diversity and uniqueness of fauna with Baikal. It is inhabited by over 2,600 species of animals and over 1,000 species of plants. Most of them are pronounced endemics that exist only in the local biocenosis.
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Baikal waters are rich in fish. Such commercial species as omul, grayling, whitefish, taimen, lenok, sturgeon and others are found in them. Of great interest among scientists is the fish - golomyanka. She is viviparous, her body is translucent, 30% consisting of one fat. The golomyanka population is very large. If we compare the biomass of these fish with all the others inhabiting the lake, then it will surpass them by more than 2 times.
Another unusual representative of the fauna is the Baikal seal, the only seal in the world that lives in fresh water. It is a large animal. Males reach a length of up to 1.8 meters and a weight of 150 kg. Seals are excellent swimmers and very curious creatures, as evidenced by their constant escort of drifting ships. They feed mainly on golomyanka, eating more than a ton of this fish per year. The population of seals on Lake Baikal is quite large, about 100 thousand individuals. Seals are hunted annually, as a result of which up to 6 thousand animals are hunted. Seal meat and fat are highly valued among the local population. Meat is used in cooking, and fat is used in medical and domestic needs.
Baikal has become a cozy home for many birds. Here, in a large number meet different types ducks, seagulls, cormorants, geese, screamer swans. The eagle enjoys special respect among the local population, and these are mainly Buryats. It is glorified in legends and ancient myths, it is considered a cult bird here. These protected areas are inhabited by 7 species of eagles, including the most majestic one - the burial eagle. This is a huge bird, with a wingspan of about 2 meters, sometimes living up to 100 years.
