Lake Baikal (October 1999), from theOrbView-2 satellite.Lake Baikal is a rift lake insouthern Siberi

Lake Baikal (October 1999), from theOrbView-2 satellite.Lake Baikal is a rift lake insouthern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the north-west andBuryatia to the south-east.  It formed as an ancient rift valleyabout 25 – 30 million years ago, hence its long crescent shape.With 22 – 23% of the world’ssurface freshwater, Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in theworld, in terms of volume.  It is also the oldest and deepest lake inthe world, and the 7th-largest lake in terms of surfacearea.  It contains more water than the North American Great Lakescombined.Several rivers flow directly intoLake Baikal, but it is drained only by the lower Angara River, whichflows northwards from the lake’s south-western shore to join theYenisei River.Below the lake is the Baikal RiftZone.  At 8 – 11km below the surface, it is the world’s deepestcontinental rift.  About 7km of sediment rests on the rift floor, sothe lake bottom is just over 1km below sea level.The fault zone is seismicallyactive, with hot springs in the region, and earthquakes every fewyears.  The rift itself is active, and widens about 2cm a year. -- source link

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