Where Is Lake Baikal?

Lake Baikal lies in a rift valley in southern Siberia, about 70 km north of the Mongolian border. It is the world deepest lake (1,642 metres), oldest lake (25-30 million years), and largest freshwater lake by volume, holding about 23,615 km³ of water — roughly 20% of the world unfrozen surface fresh water. The lake stretches 636 km long and up to 79 km wide. Over 2,500 species of plants and animals live in and around Baikal, of which about two-thirds are found nowhere else, including the nerpa — the world only exclusively freshwater seal. Baikal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.