The Geography of Lake Baikal explained

[@joaquinclavijo7052]

Cannot make a video like this and not mention it has the only freshwater seals in the world, whose origin is still for the most part unknown

[@dannyboy-vtc5741]

I know about that, what i can't comprehend is how they survive when the ice forms, it's not a sea that due to salt and waves and currents will have some openings in the ice here and there, this is all solid frozen, are they hibernating perhsps, or what's they secret? Are they land creatures for half a year, and what they eat then?

[@ezralano4381]

But they aren’t the only ones in the world

[@-mikro-1268]

Saimaa ringed seal. Saimaannorppa in finnish. It is often ignored/forgotten for some reason.

[@Dragrath1]

@@dannyboy-vtc5741 So looking it up it appears the seals actively maintain breathing holes and tunnels in the ice that forms over the winter. Additionally it seems they also give birth and raise their pups within tunnels in the ice with the pups ready to fend for themselves by the time the ice den tunnels collapse. So it seems they basically live in the ice diving into the lake below for food. Males spend all winter in the lake only coming up to breathe. The crux here thus seems to be their ability to break through and tunnel on the ice I'm curious about exactly what adaptations let them accomplish that?

[@dannyboy-vtc5741]

@@joaquinclavijo7052 @ mikro, same question if they are freshwater seals in finland, how they survive when the lakes are frozen?

[@Secondt2none]

I was quite surprised that you didn’t mention that the high oxygen levels, depth and coldness of the lake caused many species of animals to grow to huge sizes and also the volcanism and depth makes lake Baikal the only lake with a deep sea like ecosystem

[@davidbush697]

I visited Lake Baikal during the winter of 1994 while I was working for US Geological Survey. A Russian geologist gave me a tour and I was able to walk out onto the frozen surface and look down through the clear ice to great depths. Siberia in winter is very different than one might expect. Nearly all of the rivers flow south to north and are completely frozen from November to April. It is very cold, but no moisture means almost no new snow. Instead, the wind blows ice crystals across the frozen landscape. Sidewalks are cleared in the cities by chiselling up slabs of alternating ice and dirt and stacking them in layered piles at the side of the road.

[@karlwalther]

Речь настоящего геолога! Я думал, US Geological Surwey знает о Байкале чуть больше, чем о кучах колотого льда на обочине.

[@standin.excaliblur7510]

is siberian winter much more extreme than wisconsin?

[@davidbush697]

@@standin.excaliblur7510 Not in terms of snow or temperature. Moscow was actually colder and snowier. I have not been in Wisconsin in winter, but Siberia is farther north than any part of the USA except Alaska. In February 1994 it got light about 9:30 in the morning and was fully dark by 3:30. The wind was wicked and there was almost no new snow. But any snow that falls stays on the ground for months or gets blown around by the wind.

[@AshaJacob-qd7fb]

Hey will this lake gets developed into an ocean??? There is a possible scenario of Supercontinent of Aurica where there is an eurasian rift which will split eurasianinto two from West side of India to arctic passing through this lake

[@tequanbeatty4034]

By far my favorite body of water lake baikal someday I’ll be standing on its shore thank you for doing this video

[@esraisttoll2575]

someday I will visit this magical place

[@florinadrian5174]

Great one. And you didn't even mention Pusa sibirica, the only freshwater seal in the world, endemic to this lake.

[@MrMerlinsMagic]

Hard to imagine that would be missed! More research needed before putting out the video.

[@florinadrian5174]

@@MrMerlinsMagic Brevity is one of the values of his videos and Baikal is unique enough even w/o the critter.

[@jacksonb6057]

It’s a geography video

[@PlaceandFact]

Wow, I've never heard of this seal before

[@Эрдэм-ы7ш]

Байкал пожалуй станет ещё больше привлекательным если у каждой турбазы будет свой плавательный бассейн, ибо вода в Байкале слишком холодная,не каждый рискнёт искупаться, а если будет где искупаться кроме Байкала,то природа вокруг будет ещё больше привлекать туристов...значит нужно как можно больше туристических троп по территории... Конечно не все захотят ходить и всеж тем больше будет выбор,тем больше будет привлекать новых клиентов...😮😅😊🎉😂

[@VentureThrills]

Such an incredible deep dive into the geography of one of the world’s most stunning lakes. Bravo! 📚🌍

[@Dragrath1]

While infrequent it probably should be noted that the Baikal rift zone also experiences volcanism with the most recent eruption from the Jom Bolok volcanic field dating to between 682-779 CE. Thus it seems safe to assume future eruptions will occur for at least as long as the rifting of the Amur plate continues. This rifting seems to be related to mantle upwelling/convection in association with the Stagnant Pacific slab associated with flat slab subduction. This flat slab is also responsible for inducing the volcanism in Korea and I cant help but notice the Korean peninsula sticking out is part of the Amur plate while the other side of that deep sediment laden basin which seems like it might be a pull away basin is probably also part of the story of the Amur plate And as several folks mentioned Lake Baikal has its own species of endemic seals which somehow got there around 2 million years ago.

[@sdub300]

cosmic rays are known to affect volcanoes...more cosmic rays, more volcanoes.

[@caiocesar1839]

Love your videos, bro. Always so interesting.

[@PatrickAndersson-d2x]

Very intersting presentation and thank you for not including any disturbing background music!

[@LFacts-news]

Lake Baikal is truly mind-blowing! Can’t wait to dive into its amazing stories.

[@MrOneeyedpete]

Great video, short and informative, well constructed and presented. Awesome

[@barry7608]

I knew of this lake some years ago, however your video has enlightened me so much more thank you from Australia.

[@victorschaffarczyk4021]

I love your viedeoes 🎉

[@Con.931]

Your videos are so good, you deserve 1M!

[@julbombning4204]

Best channel ever. You cover interesting topics and you explain in a very comprehensible way

[@khaldrogo4122]

I heard tons of cool stories about Lake Baikal and Siberian winters growing up.

[@jcmc9378]

Very good video 👌 Well organised, well designed and also interesting. No AI laziness. The product of hard work and it shows. A job well done!

[@willowb3184]

Fave geography channel

[@brianfreeman8290]

Marvellous !

[@abbeystump]

Thanks for some of the facts.Had no idea Nuclear waste has been dumped into the lake. I was at the Northern most point of the lake early winter and tried Omul for the first time.Caught fresh that morning from a Evenk Family. Will be back in March to experience camping on the ice and Olkhon visit.....

[@luiszuluaga6575]

Great presentation. Thank you!

[@Fkidd702]

I’ve always loved lake baikal I’ve always thought it was beautiful

[@iiredeyeiiredeye1569]

Sir David Attenborough bought this to me many years ago. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

[@protox07]

Have a happy new year FactSpark

[@LeonFelixRusso]

Very well explained. Thanks.

[@snauvs517]

Will you please make a video about the Amazon river?

[@badenpobjoy8274]

VERY informative....

[@jeffreybrewer8649]

Great video. What happened to Lake Ontario (1:27) ??

[@FactSpark]

I forgot that one

[@jeffreybrewer8649]

@@FactSpark No worries 😁

[@Эрдэм-ы7ш]

Скорее,Онтарио утонуло...(Шутка)😮😅😊🎉😂❤

[@xyphenius9942]

Incredible video thank you

[@NutritionalHealthService]

Thank you very much. Nature is amazing!

[@jyotiprakashmitra7862]

Present Baikal lake floor study suggest after immense landslides for 700 years in the region/denudation accumulated space increased & water started accumulating from some tributary of some river which have fused in the lake (5 kinds of Mg there). It's silt's density changes a lot (0.16 +32c g/cm3) so chances of radioactive substances may be present underneath the lake floor.

[@garyhirtz4392]

Thanks much

[@giannidcenzo]

Great episode

[@Ciaranion]

Hmm I remember hearing some spooky things about a lake like this before...

[@nightowl6260]

Very interesting!

[@sdsdeef]

Very well done video

[@dlsamson]

It actually is the largest lake on the planet when considering volume of water.

[@aliali-kw5rx]

تحياتي من العراق

[@elroyfudbucker6806]

During WW2, the Soviets laid railway tracks across the lake in winter, the ice gets that thick.

[@KbIMbIFbIMPA]

I think you're mistaking it with the railroad that was built on the outskirts of Ladoga lake. There is a railroad that goes around Baikal from early 1900-s, so there was no necessity of building it on the lake's ice.

[@dvv18]

​@@KbIMbIFbIMPA Well, it wasn't exactly during WWII, but when the Curcum-Baikal Railway was built in the early 1900s, a temporary railway was built every winter across the lake as a part of the Trans-Siberian Railway. During the navigable period, a railway ferry line with a couple of icebreaking ferries was used instead. In fact, the ferry line was used as a secondary line of the Transsib all the way until the collapse of the Russian Empire.

[@Normandy-e8i]

I don't think that's true, I couldn't find any information to support this

[@yeaboiii5717]

how is the summer temprature 11 in the air and 16 in the water?

[@Michael-sb8jf]

one of the properties of water it can retain heat/energy relatively well though it well take a long time to warm up water

[@natteft6593]

The temperature is wrong: Irkutsk (the city in the vicinity of the Baikal) has July day average max temperatures around 25 degrees celcius (77F)

[@tigrafale4610]

@@natteft6593 Had a quick Google and it seems that the lake creates a microclimate. It's much warmer in winter and colder in summer than even nearby Irkutsk from what I'm reading

[@bernier42]

That one distinctive peninsula on the east shore in the northern half of the lake, looks like it used to be an island but over time a land bridge formed. Anyone know if this is indeed a tombolo?

[@simhopp]

according to Korean mythology, Koreans originated from Lake Baikal, but moved South East during the last Ice Age, and settled in the Yellow Sea, When the sea level was 100 meters lower than now, and Yellow Sea was a vast wet land. When the ica age was over, and sea level rose, Koreans had to migrate to adjacent lands.

[@reginald2004]

Didn't mention the seals.

[@jezusbloodie]

Because this is about geology more so than animals.

[@reginald2004]

@@jezusbloodie Yes. yes is. However, if you knew anything at all about Lake Baikal you would know that the story of the seals has a geological explanation which is pertinent to the formation of the lake.

[@timmillan6701]

@@jezusbloodie There are other endemic animals mentioned in this video

[@jezusbloodie]

@@reginald2004 so? The lion's share in species divergences have geological reasons. Us humans exists because mountains rose in eastern Africa, causing woodlands to change to open savanna landscapes. Also, every single other video on the lake mention it. Anyone with a glancing interest in the lake is aware of them. He makes father short videos and I, for one, am glad he didn't waste words on it

[@jezusbloodie]

*rather, not "father". Edit button is unresponsive somehow

[@ShaktiChaturvedi]

One of my dream destinations. To anyone who has been and is around Lake Baikal, what is the best time to visit in a year? Also how to reach from Moscow ?

[@Adventurer105]

Wow!!! 🦘🦘🦘

[@MICHALMALACHOVSKY]

WOW WOW WOW !!!

[@beregu]

More interesting facts: - Baikal is actually called Baigali, means ‘Nature’ in Mongolian (Buryats are Mongolians) - Siberia is actually called Shiber, meaning ‘dense forest’ in Mongolian - The lake also has a fresh water seals

[@Toktor-l5n]

Absolute nationalistic speculation. Making up must be free.

[@1234smileface]

Thqt was fascinating

[@TheRealBirdmann]

“The Way Back” - Peter Weir, 2010

[@citationneeded-hy9iz]

The Caspian Sea is saline and should be considered an inland sea.

[@1God1Fury]

There is plenty of salty lakes, but that alone doesn't make any of them a sea. Even Caspian Sea despite the name, enormous size is still a lake. If you want some real inland seas they are Mediterranean Sea, Black sea, Red sea, Baltic sea - that are surrounded by all sides but still have narrow straits connecting them with world wide oceans

[@dvv18]

Well, there's the Dead Sea…

[@АндрейЕрмилов-х8п]

The sole reason why Aral sea is dried up is because of the Caracum canal. If it would be closed today very soon aral sea would be filled again. But then turkmenistan would became deserted again no water industries etc so no one is gonna do that. Not even mentioning that aral sea in history has been dried up multiple times because of amur darya changing its course. Its been so in medieval times for example. It's quite a hypocricy to say that russia is bad at preserving nature while literally the most polluted seas on earth are in usa (mexican bay, great lakes, whole east and west coast incl Alaska) japan and europe. Russia did many things bad for the nature but not nearly as bad as usa, japan, china and europe

[@АндрейЕрмилов-х8п]

Even northern unpopulated lakes of canada are quite polluted not even close the siberian nature

[@at0mly]

Yes would he even try to claim the the Soviet Union was not good about protecting the lake then immediately point out that they made it a nature preserve over a hundred years ago?

[@MountainsHumming]

Need to truck and train in lots of wood mulch plus shade canopy and wind fence, you would see a turn around of moisture holding area around Aral Sea. Change to drip irrigation plus no till farm, permaculture orchards.

[@dvv18]

​@@MountainsHumming Absolutely. As long as it's funded by massive amounts of your tax money.

[@sankss1684]

Yes, it's others who are worse not me..

[@AndrewC.McPherson-xf5zw]

Betcha good fishing in shallower waters in bays. Both in winter and summer. Massive fish I bet.

[@msemakweli-wk3lg]

Irkutsk/Baykal, I hope normalcy will return soon. Then my canceled Trans-Siberian trip will be back on track.

[@konplayz]

You can still go…

[@msemakweli-wk3lg]

@konplayz ... and end up in the trenches ...

[@3mph14]

Really interesting, just ignore nit picking comments, they serve no purpose.

[@gaving.griffon2703]

I'd love to see how this lake will look in 30 million years.

[@lucionemesis]

I think you should to coment that Baikal as thermals vents on its bottom. It's unique in the world.

[@jackdalton2538]

Spooky lake month!

[@keithmburu5858]

Can You Please do a Video on The East African Region

[@bikesy1]

is that a mistake in the graphics? 23,000 cubic meters (23,000 tons) for a lake? A container ship weighs more than 100,000 tons easily.

[@VIAMYCAMERA]

Бай Көл which means Rich Lake

[@fernbedek6302]

Lake Baikal is very cold and weirdly deep. Lake Winnipeg is very cold and weirdly shallow. Similar yet also very different.

[@CCFCArcher]

You have a very nice voice. It sounds like a South African with a cold.

[@AndrewC.McPherson-xf5zw]

The other skinny lake near it is massive as well.

[@VincitOmniaVeritas7]

When the Russian Empire built the transiberiano railroad, it is no surprise that they left the bridge over the huge lake Baikal as the last part of the project. For many years, train carts had to be towed from on shoreline to the other and put back on the tracks.

[@Mrgunsngear]

🇺🇸 0:15

[@jontysherson]

Waikato River?

[@Isacc142]

600km long??????? That's huge.

[@salttea8926]

He didn't mention that it is the largest lake on earth by volume.

[@sdub300]

Any evidence of palm trees or tropical plants??.

[@Skyhawk98]

In Almaty, I tried Vodka made with water from Lake Baikal. Just tastes like vodka but it’s a cool concept.

[@capcompass9298]

MOST unique?

[@GengoSenmon]

Seems crazy to drive over the ice by truck

[@enfynet]

People do that on the great lakes every year to go fishing

[@herzogsbuick]

Lake Baikal's origin story?? Let me guess: as an infant, it was on a long train ride with its parents when suddenly a meteor hit the train, causing an explosion that killed everyone...except LB. LB was thrown from the train, and landed gently in the boughs of a birch tree. Subsisting only on birch sap and chaga for 45 days and nights, it finally was rescued by a man twice as tall as the tree and 3 times as bushy. He smoked filterless Camels from a metal tin. And he raised Lake Baikal knowing that he was different, and that the chaga gave him the superpower of having freshwater seals live inside of him. And that pretty much brings us to the present, I think.

[@elroyfudbucker6806]

If the man was that big, he could have smoked real camels.

[@herzogsbuick]

@@elroyfudbucker6806 but he didn't, because he liked the aesthetic of such a large man adroitly handling such relatively tiny cigarettes. plus, he thought concepts of vice and human agency could use some levity.

[@mattpearson9905]

You should have mentioned the seals that lives in the lake.

[@AndrewC.McPherson-xf5zw]

Massive hoards of mosquitos there in summer. Blackflies and stouts as well.

[@pashapasovski5860]

Stereotypical Russian culture is oxymoron! Russia has the most diverse culture on the planet!

[@spindoctor6385]

I never knew that TDS levels were measured in US water. The data quoted must be old because Trump derangement syndrome levels are extremely high currently.

[@dukeon]

Kazakhstan got screwed in so many ways by the USSR 😕

[@dvv18]

OTOH, Uzbekistan is still doing really well with its cotton production.

[@Gameflyer001]

@@dvv18 At least Kazakhstan was still able to save its part of the Aral. Not so much with Uzbekistan, and the Aralkum now runs through its side of the sea.

[@dvv18]

@@Gameflyer001 They don't grow cotton that far northwest, so who cares…

[@gaetanozuccarello9802]

😉👍

[@unholycelery1986]

You could put my home states tallest mountain into the bottom of the lake and still have well over 100 feet from the surface!!

[@TACOINSURANCE]

I’m sorry but how did you forget Lake Ontario? It’s bigger than Eerie in every measurable sense and it’s just completely absent from any mention of the Great Lakes. Weird oversight. Only one Great Lake is entirely within the US, with the other four all being shared with Canada.

[@ZakhadWOW]

Are you just ignorant of fact, or perhaps intentionally biased? Anyone can look at a map and see Ontario is notably smaller than Erie, to the tune of 6000km smaller in surface area. It is deeper, yes, [Erie being a rather shallow basin) and therefore more volume, but the general concept is taht it is smaller in surface area. Surface area is the thing that impacts humans the most and therefore Ontario is smaller than the other 4 NoAm Great Lakes and the 2 African Great Lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika)

[@TACOINSURANCE]

@@ZakhadWOW surface area affects humans more than volume? That’s of course a completely insane statement. That was my silly mistake stating “every measurable sense”, just overzealous, but volume is far more impactful, both in terms of the ability for us to use a body of water for shipping, and in terms of its ability to provide fresh water to a population. Lake Ontario has around 3/4 of the surface area but around four times the volume. I’d consider that to be a considerably larger lake. And the point also remains that only mentioning and picturing four of the five is just strange form.

[@Sirdoolan]

In a video about an entirely different lake no less? The nerve of this man to forget some other lake, on another continent, which is in effect entirely unconnected is off the scale.

[@cte4dota]

And only fresh water seal in the world?

[@zink8841]

A- Yous can’t call he CaspianSea a lake since it hasn’t been describedas such

[@zach2382]

Yes you can

[@Michael-sb8jf]

A lake by definition is any body of water completely surrounded by land

[@ianstobie]

​@@Michael-sb8jfnot counting puddles, ponds and various kinds of pools.

[@an.atypicalcanadian]

🤯...🙏

[@bozenamichonska3844]

😮

[@einolehto-eg1gc]

Eköhän venjä kuivaa tämänkin kuten kävi aralille .

[@dvv18]

Why would they do that?

[@DwightStJohn-t7y]

10 C in the summer SHOULD HOPEFULLY keep the BuGS down!!!!

[@lukasrentz3238]

Well, thats the average Temperature, though probably wrong. The City of Irkutsk nearby actually has an Average Temperature in July of 19°C wth an average max. of 26°C. Even in Severobaykalsk the average July Temperature is 16°C. Not sure where the reported 11°C come from. Siberia is actually known for its Bug Infestations in Summer.

[@farangkohsamui8782]

Der heißt nicht Baalsee, sondern Baikalsee!!

[@alfonsasgrinevicius7477]

Chinese engineers want to pump water from Baikal via Mongolia to northern China.

[@barabancheggg]

Bro this is a fake news back from 2010, I'm surprised somebody still remembers

[@specialsnowflake2309]

@@barabancheggg westerns sinophobes still are, local ones in russia are marginalised since 2000s

[@georgenauert9370]

You had me interested till you mentioned climate change. It's a great myth.

[@whitemanbaydlag1871]

Baikal means Nature in Mongolian

[@Toktor-l5n]

Don't speculate when the meaning is plain in another language.

[@spankywonderland]

Donld will annex that one too

[@martinroncetti4134]

Once the "climate change" BS started, you lost me.

[@MountainsHumming]

Subs for tourists, underwater hotels.

[@bigbellysotrot]

I do have a suggestion for a future video about the unique geography of New Zealand and its external island territories unique ecosystems I don’t know though if I’m asking for to much

[@leongliyang6946]

pollution to the lake.... how sad to hear human do the impurities always is and blamed other.

[@lorenzogrande5237]

molto interessante, ma dovrebbe parlare molto più adagio

[@ironiccookies2320]

If Russia still owned the lands around the Aral Sea, it'll be protected much like Lake Baikal

[@Ben-o4x]

I'm not buying Lake Baikal hold more water than ALL THE GREAT LAKES! Sorry even if it's deeper by a bit. It's also so thin you can see across every part. That is impossible on all Great Lakes. I think they need to Re-remeasure again and again. Edit; There is also no such thing as the oldest lake. Quit sounding like kids measuring their body pasrts.

[@kenashimame]

Lake Baikal is where the Russians lost a naval battle to a land locked country.