Ice retreats from the south-western corner of Lake Baikal in Russia(May 29th, 2001).  The Angara Riv

Ice retreats from the south-western corner of Lake Baikal in Russia(May 29th, 2001).  The Angara River flows northwards fromthe south-western part of the lake.  Smoke and fires can be seen tothe west, with the fires marked in red boxes.Halfway down the lake, where the ice is beginning to melt, theSyvatoy Nos Peninsula sticks out from the east coast.  Syvatoy Noymeans “Holy Nose”, and Russian explorers in the 1600s and 1700sused the word noy to mean “cape”.  Originally, SyvatoyNoy was used only for the south-western part of the cape of thepeninsula, and a now-abandoned village on that cape.  Eventually thename was used for the entire peninsula.The peninsula is called Hilmen Hushun (“sturgeon’s muzzle”)in the Buryat language.The Syvatoy Nos Peninsula consists of two parts – a large rockymountainous section (the “holy nose” proper), and theChivyrkuisky Isthmus, which connects it to the shore.  This is arelatively recent development – the peninsula was an island just afew millennia ago.  Sediments from rivers on the mainland, as well asdust carried by the wind, formed the isthmus.  The strait between theisland and the mainland was thus divided into two bays: ChivyrkuiskyBay to the north, and Barguzinsky Bay to the south of the isthmus. -- source link

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