Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is a rift lake located in Russia situated in southern Siberia between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and Buryatia to the southeast. With 23,615.39 km³ of water, Lake Baikal is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water, more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. It is the world's deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1,642 m, and the world's oldest lake, at 25–30 million years. At 31,722 km²—slightly larger than Belgium—it is the world's seventh-largest lake by surface area. It is among the world's clearest lakes. Baikal is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, many of them endemic to the region.
