Lake Baikal is 1,637 meters deep, the world's deepest lake. It's deep enough. Why is it getting deeper every year?
Russian scientists announced that the depth of Lake Baikal is still increasing and has now reached 1,637 meters. This depth has surpassed many oceans, making it truly unfathomable in inland areas. Views of Lake Baikal Why does the depth of a lake continue to increase, and what determines the depth of Lake Baikal? This also starts with the formation of Lake Baikal. Walking on the ice surface of Lake BaikalUnfathomable Lake Baikal
If human beings are caught in the end of the world, where should they run, some people will say Lake Baikal, because fleeing Go there and never run out of water. This is not an exaggeration at all. The water storage capacity of Lake Baikal exceeds 23.6 trillion cubic meters. The total water volume of all rivers and lakes in our country is only one-eighth of it. Even if the world's population exceeds 8 billion, you can drink it for 30 years. The area of this lake does not seem to be large, why is there so much water? The amount of water in Lake Baikal, which was previously called a sea lake, is not determined by the amount of area, which has to be considered comprehensively. The average depth of Lake Baikal is 730 meters, and the deepest place is 1,637 meters. Let us take a few marine data to intuitively feel the depth of Lake Baikal. The average depth of the Sea of Azov is only 8 meters, and the deepest point is only 14 meters. Many ships are afraid to drive into it. The average water depth of my country's Bohai Sea is 18 meters, and the deepest point is 85 meters. The average water depth of my country's Beibu Gulf is only 42 meters. Even the Caspian Sea, which is also a lake, has a maximum depth of only 1025 meters. In short, Baikal said, can't fight! The unfathomable Lake Baikal is a freshwater lake. The water of Lake Baikal comes from rivers. A total of 336 rivers flow into it, but only one flows out. Of course, Lake Baikal was not able to accommodate so many rivers from the beginning, and even when it was born, some rivers were not there yet, and they co-evolved with Lake Baikal. The data of 1637 meters was measured in 2015. Russian hydrologists said that Lake Baikal is deepening, and this data may be changed in the future. Why does the depth of Lake Baikal continue to deepen? The Mystery of the Formation
of the Rivers Around Baikal There are two geological hypotheses about the formation of Lake Baikal. During the former Soviet Union, the scientist Vereshchagin believed that Lake Baikal originated from the ocean. He speculated that the area where Lake Baikal was located was a "Baikal Sea" around the Jurassic period. Due to subsequent changes in the crust, especially the impact of the Indian subcontinent on the Eurasian continent, Lake Baikal finally took shape. According to Vereshchagin's hypothesis, the formation process of Lake Baikal is very long, spanning more than 100 million years. During this process, it has always been connected with the sea, and many marine creatures have swum into it. Until the lake finally formed, they were completely left in the lake, such as Baikal seals and sharks. Satellite map of Lake Baikal However, geological expeditions have explored the strata of Lake Baikal and found that the rock layers are in the Cenozoic rather than the Mesozoic. This shows that Lake Baikal has never been an ocean at all, it has always been land. The ages of the rocks show that Lake Baikal formed about 25 to 20 million years ago, just after the collision of the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian continent. The earth has six relatively large plates, which are mixed with some small plates, such as the Arabian plate and the Nazca plate. Geologists speculate that there is an Amur plate on the east side of the Eurasian plate, and Lake Baikal is exactly the junction of the two plates. The approximate location of the Amur Plate There are generally two states between the plates. The first is to squeeze each other, which will form mountains, such as the Himalayas; the other is that the two plates are far away from each other, so they will be between the plates. Forming laceration wounds, such as the Great Rift Valley. Lake Baikal belongs to the latter category, it is also a wound, and the lake is formed due to the influx of water into it. As for the seals of Lake Baikal, they swam against the Yenisei River into the Angara River and then into Lake Baikal. Through genetic comparison, they are indeed related to the arctic ringed seal. The Baikal seal is also precisely because Lake Baikal is a large crack formed between the plates. The two plates are still moving away from each other, which has also caused Lake Baikal to be torn bigger and bigger, and the wounds are getting deeper and deeper. It is a pity that the Amur plate is still in a state of reasoning, and there is no direct geological evidence to prove its existence. The deepening of Lake Baikal may be an important evidence for future research into the existence of the Amur Plate. So, what kind of impact will the deepening of Lake Baikal have on the surrounding environment? Frozen Lake BaikalThe effect of deepening
The lake is getting deeper, and everyone is most worried about the creatures in the lake. As the deepest lake in the world, Baikal The ecology of the lake is like a miniature version of the ocean, and 80% of the creatures in it are unique to Lake Baikal. Such as freshwater seals, freshwater sharks, viviparous fish, etc., their living time can be traced back to the formation of Lake Baikal. We all know that there is also pressure in water, and for every 10 meters deep, the pressure rises by 1 atmosphere. The deepest point of Lake Baikal is 1637 meters, and the pressure has reached the level of deep sea. Therefore, there are some peculiar deep-water animals living on the bottom of Lake Baikal. They are different from deep-sea creatures and are unique to the inland. Two-thirds of these animals are invertebrates. Underwater creatures in Lake Baikal If Lake Baikal continues to deepen, the pressure on the bottom of the lake will rise, which is a change for these deep-water animals. Will they be greatly affected, or even extinct? The answer is no, because this kind of geological change is carried out in units of 10,000 years. It is very likely that tens of thousands of years have passed, and Lake Baikal has deepened by 1 meter. Such a speed of change can be gradually adapted to organisms. They will be selected by the environment of Lake Baikal in the long evolution, and accumulated from generation to generation, there will always be creatures that are most adapted to the current depth of the lake. If the fish of Lake Baikal and this tearing lake continue to tear, the final crust will be completely torn apart, and the asthenosphere under the crust, which is known as magma, will emerge. At that time, at the bottom of Lake Baikal, a ridge will gradually rise, similar to the geological structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The environment at the bottom of the lake will be changed, and new deep-water species may be born in the lake. For life, this natural change of the earth's crust will cause a wave of species extinction, but it will not be completely extinct, and there will always be creatures that find the direction of evolution. However, the influence of human beings is not necessarily, because man-made changes in the environment come too quickly. Plate Tear Worrying Future
Lake Baikal is not only rich in biological resources, but also rich in mine resources. It was once a source of industrial raw materials for the Soviet Union. Even now, it accounts for 8.1% of Russia's coal production, 6.9% of its electricity and 4% of its crude oil production. As long as the development of industry, it must be inseparable from pollution. The area around Lake Baikal is sparsely populated, and several factories surround the lake to form a city. Wastewater from industry is discharged into the lake, as well as the surrounding rivers. And these rivers basically flow into Lake Baikal, which causes the originally crystal-clear lake water to gradually become turbid. In addition to industrial pollution in the cities around Lake Baikal, domestic pollution caused by tourism is also eroding the water quality of Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal has a beautiful scenery and pleasant scenery, coupled with local legends and culture, it has a mysterious background. Tourists from all over the world come here to travel, and many homestays have been built by the lake. These homestays directly draw water from the lake, and then discharge domestic wastewater into Lake Baikal. The garbage generated by tourists is either discarded nearby or taken away by the surrounding animals, and then flows into forests and lakes. In short, Lake Baikal is no longer an isolated wonderland, it is stained with the smoke of the world and the waste gas of industry. The environment of Lake Baikal The pollution of Lake Baikal is becoming more and more serious. Originally, many tourists came here to drink the water of Lake Baikal in person, but now, many tourists say that they dare not drink it. In several major cities near the lake, such as Bratsk, Sayansk, Kirensk, etc., residents suffered from severe respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and kidney diseases. These are common diseases of industrial pollution and are clearly related to the pollution of Lake Baikal. Russia has promulgated an 8-year protection plan in 2011 to build 3 protected areas and 2 national parks around Lake Baikal with the aim of preserving this lake. Peaceful Lake Baikal In the future, freshwater resources are a valuable strategic material, and no one would have to face a stinky Lake Baikal at that time.