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However, because it is also the deepest lake, [6] with a maximum depth of 1,642 metres (5,387 feet; 898 fathoms), [1] Lake Baikal is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 23,615.39 km 3 (5,670 cu mi) of water [1] or 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water, [7] [8] more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. [9]
Map of the Lake Baikal Rift Zone from the USGS factsheet. The Baikal Rift Zone is a series of continental rifts centered beneath Lake Baikal in southeastern Russia. Current strain in the rifts tends to be extending with some shear movement. A series of basins form along the zone for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi), creating a rift valley.
Below are the reservoirs (artificial lakes) in the world with a surface area exceeding 500 km 2 (190 sq mi). Reservoirs can be formed conventionally, by damming the outlet of a canyon or valley to form a lake; the largest of this type is Ghana's Lake Volta, with a water surface of 8,500 km 2 (3,300 sq mi).
Longest freshwater lake in the world and third largest of any kind by volume. [18] 7: Baikal Russia: Fresh 31,722 km 2 12,248 sq mi 636 km 395 mi 1,642 m 5,387 ft 23,610 km 3 5,660 cu mi Deepest lake in the world and largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. [19] 8: Great Bear Lake Canada: Fresh 31,153 km 2 12,028 sq mi 373 km 232 mi 446 m
Many of the world's largest lakes are located in rift valleys. [2] Lake Baikal in Siberia, a World Heritage Site, [3] lies in an active rift valley. Baikal is both the deepest lake in the world and, with 20% of all of the liquid freshwater on earth, has the greatest volume. [4]
In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world's twelfth-largest known lake by volume, at 1,100 km 3 (260 cu mi). However, by 2007 it had shrunk to 10% of its original volume and was divided into three lakes, none of which are large enough to appear on this list. [17]
The Barguzin (Russian: Баргузи́н; Buryat: Баргажан, romanized: Bargajan) is a river in Buryatia, Russia, 480 km (300 mi) long, flowing into the Barguzin Bay of Lake Baikal, the largest and deepest bay of Baikal. Barguzin is the third (by the flow amount) inflow of Baikal, after the rivers Selenga and Upper Angara.
Collectively, they contain 31,000 km 3 (7,400 cu mi) of water, which is more than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes. This total constitutes about 25% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water. The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity, and 10% of the world's fish species live in this region.