thatscienceguy:

I’m sure everyone has heard about the great Lake Baikal, and if you haven’t,boy, are you missing out.

This ancient lake, which is about 25 million years old, and thought to be the oldest in the world, contains 20% of the world’s unfrozen fresh water. That’s right, it contains just 1% less fresh water than all the Great Lakes combined,while it’s surface area is over 7 times smaller.

Why is that, you ask? It’s because Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world: It’s maximum depth is 1642 meters, which is deep enough for the Eiffel Tower to stand on itself 5 times and not reach the surface.

But it gets better: the Lake Baikal is among the clearest lakes of the world, so you can see the bottom to a depth of nearly 40 meters, and you can drink right from it, no purifying needed. Furthermore, Lake Baikal sustains 2630 different species of animals and plants, 80% of which are unique to it, and can’t be found anywhere else.

Oh, and by the way? Under both the lake and it’s underwater sediment some of Earth’s tallest mountains(plural!) are submerged, their height over 7000 meters.

Lake Baikal is perhaps one of the world’s most amazing, awe-inspiring, and unique locations, and I would seriously recommend everybody who has some free time on their hands to discover more on their own.

P.S. Have I mentioned that when it freezes (fully, whoa!) it’s ice looks like this? And you can listen to some beautiful sounds you can make with it here!