BAIKAL

For those of you out there who like to know things in great detail:

The lake is situated in the Asiatic part of Russia. It is the deepest in the world, filling a very deep underwater trench, at an altitude of 456m above sea level. It is surrounded by mountains of height greater than 2000m, covering an area of nearly 32000 square kilometers. The lake contains 22 individual islands, the biggest of which - Olchon - covers 730 square kilometers. It is 636km long, 79.4km wide, with an average depth of 630m, and a maximum depth of 1620m. It contains almost one fifth of the world's fresh water - 23000 cubic kilometers. The water is very clear - and contains small quantities of many minerals. The surface water temperature reaches 9-12C in August, but near the shore can get as high as 20C (68f). In the deep trenches, the water temperature is constantly between 3.2 and 3.5C. The lake is usually frozen in the winter between January and May. 336 rivers flow into Baikal, and only one - Angara - flows from it. The lake supports over 1800 species of aquatic life - over 1200 different types of animal, and 600 varying types of plant.

Encyklopedia powszechna PWN

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