Lake Baikal formed as an ancient rift valley and has a long, crescent shape, with a surface area of 31,722 km2 (12,248 sq mi), slightly larger than Belgium. Stratigraphic studies provide a new insight into the history of the Baikal Rift and into some general questions of the continental rift formation. When the plates are pulled apart, the centre block drops down to form a graben. It also contains the greatest volume of fresh water on our planet. LAKE BAIKAL is in a “rift valley”, created by the Baikal Rift Zone, where the earth’s crust is slowly pulling apart. Rift valley formation: Plates diverge, plumes of magma heat overlying rock, heated lithosphere stretches causing it to fracture into sets of parallel faults, land between the faults collapses into deep, wide valleys separated by upright blocks of land called horsts. A series of basins form along the zone for more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi), creating a rift valley.The rifts form between the Eurasian Plate to the west and the Amur Plate to the east. The region to the east of Lake Baikal is referred to as Transbaikalia or as the Transbaikal and the loosely defined region around the lake itself is sometimes known as Baikalia. The article gives an insight of the process of the formation of a rift valley. Lake Baikal in Siberia, a World Heritage Site, lies in an active rift valley. Rift formation across the globe is now better understood. Rift Valley Formation. Earth's rift valleys. Some mechanisms of rifting suggested earlier are considered. Thus, a broad dome is not present. Credits: Tectonic plates have shaped the planet. It could also re-open the Tethys ocean but a bit further north than the original, effectively along part of the Silk Road. At 636km long and 79km wide, Lake Baikal has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake and is the deepest lake in the world at 5,387ft. The Baikal rift is the most important of a system of rift valleys located in the USSR. Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest freshwater lake in the world, lies in the Baikal Rift Valley. 12; Logatchev and Zorin, 1992;Sengör et al., 1993;Melnikov et al., 1994;Zorin, 1999). Baikal Facts and Links (Trinitee wanted this additional site) The Baikal Rift Valley (sometimes called the Baikal Rift Zone) cuts through 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of Siberia, in eastern Russia. The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading.Examples of this type of rift include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise.. While it's one of the largest, the East African Rift isn't the only geological formation of its kind. outlet and the formation of the Angara outlet. The Baikal Rift Valley is formed by a divergent plate boundary, where the Amur plate is slowly tearing itself away from the Eurasian plate, … This article was most recently revised and updated by Kara Rogers, Senior Editor. Similar to Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km2 (12,248 sq mi). Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. 36 Rasskazov et al. By India.com Education Desk Email. Coarse-clastic foehn deposits of the Osinovka Formation, containing rich Miocene palynological assemblages, were eroded and overlie concordantly the Upper Tankhoi Subformation and redeposited weathering residues of the weathering crust, and underlie the Anosovka Formation. The Baikal Rift, for example, seems to be associated with the same forces that are pushing India into the rest of Eurasia. Some mechanisms of rifting suggested earlier are considered. Rift formation across the globe is now better understood. Thanks to the extensive research being carried out in the Lake Baikal rift area, scientists have created a new model for explaining the formation of rift zones across the globe. A field of strong seismicity is situated in the western part of the Tunka rift valley. It’s astounding to learn that Earth is in the process of creating itself a new ocean, but it’s how that’s actually happening that deserves all the attention. This earthquake sequence took place in the southern basin of Lake Baikal, a region characterized by a sharp transition from strike-slip faulting on the Main Sayan Fault to normal faulting along the border faults of the lake. A rift valley is a landform whose formation is triggered by a geologic rift or fault. Published: May 14, 2014 9:54 AM IST . Rift valleys are formed on divergent plate boundaries when the plates are moving apart, it leaves a long deep gorge with (reasonably) flat sides and a flat floor. Which is the largest valley in the world? Here, the Amur plate is slowly tearing itself away from the Eurasian plate, and has been doing so for about 25 million years. The thickness of the Neogene-Quaternary sediments filling in the depression amounts to 5 km (Logatchev and Florensov 1978). Lake Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth. Moreover, though the elevations of the flanks are high (more than 3,000 metres in some places), the overall elevation decreases rapidly to only a couple of hundred metres at distances of just 50 to 100 kilometres northwest of Lake Baikal. Baikal is both the deepest lake in the world and, with 20% of all of the liquid freshwater on earth, has the greatest volume. Perhaps, hundreds of millions of years from now, the rift valley that is now home to Lake Baikal will become a saline body connected to our oceans. The Baikal rift is the most important of a system of rift valleys located in the USSR. Thus, the Primorsky tectonic event is indicated as a deposition gap, as uplift of the western rift shoulder, from the breakup of the Baikal discharge through the paleo-Manzurka River and by the onset of a new discharge through the Irkut–Ilcha Valley, as well as by the formation of young high terraces. A new pseudotachylyte site is found in the Main Sayan Fault (MSF) that separates the southwestern margin of the Siberian paleocontinent basement from accreted terranes and spatially corresponds to the South Baikal Basin and Tunka Valley of the central Baikal Rift System (BRS) [53,54]. The depressed regions of a rift valley are created by one or more grabens. The Baikal rift valley, the central segment of the Baikal rift zone located in southern East Siberia, consists of two large depressions separated by an interdepressional uplift. Other notable examples include the Baikal Rift Valley (Russia) and the Rhine Rift Valley (Germany). The Baikal rift turn east at the north end of Lake Baikal, and west at the southern end. The landform manifests as an elongated lowland in the middle of mountain ranges or several highlands. List . The general map of the Baikal region. Geologists are still debating the subtleties of the formation of the East African Rift Valley. Baikal rift system Geometry and kinematicsThe Baikal rift system is located close to the Sshaped Paleozoic suture that separates the Siberian craton from the so-called Sayan -Baikal folded belt ( Fig. New data are reported on the stratigraphy of the Oligocene deposits of Lake Baikal (the Tankhoi field, the outcrops near the mouths of the Osinovka, Polovinka, and Klyuevka Rivers 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 graben is a valley having faults of two or more sides set up by the divergence of tectonic plates. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: tectonic basins and rift valleys: Rift valleys. We suggest that it is associated with a decrease of the dust load due to a reorganization of the atmospheric circulations in Mainland Asia. The deepest continental rift valley on Earth is the Baikal Rift Valley in the Siberian region of northeastern Russia. Thanks to the extensive research being carried out in the Lake Baikal rift area scientists have created a new model for explaining the formation of rift zones across the globe. The event of ~2.5 mya is reflected in the decrease of the 87Sr/86Sr and Na/Al ratios in Lake Baikal waters. The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading.Examples of this type of rift include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise.. The Baikal Rift Valley (sometimes called the Baikal Rift Zone) cuts through 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) of Siberia, in eastern Russia. They are mainly found in the oceans, with only two above sea level, The Baikal rift valley, and the East African rift. First diatom finds in the lower strata of the Tankhoi Formation (South Baikal Basin). Although the Baikal rift is located close to the Siberian craton , for which the thermal age coincides with the geological one, all the seismicity used here is located inside the ‘mobile belt’ (generally called ‘Sayan-Baikal’), made of calc-alkaline to alkaline series intruded in several episodes from ∼450 to ∼200 Ma, probably extending to 100 Ma (Jahn et al. Lake Tanganyika is the second largest lake and contains the second largest volume of fresh water on Earth. Baikal rift system since the 1959 M = 6.8 earthquake. The Baikal rift is the most important of a system of rift valleys located in the USSR. The study suggests that the Baikal rift valley began to form at 38 Ma. Fallen blocks of lowland are called grabens. Visit land forms created by Plate Tectonics! ... Popova, S.M., 1993. - Late Cenozoic Volcanism in the Baikal Rift System: Evidence for Formation of the Baikal … sugul basin is located in another seismic zone, which extends over a distance of 450 km from central Mon- golia through the Khubsugul basin to the East Sayan mountains. The Baikal Rift Valley is formed by a divergent plate boundary, where the Amur plate is slowly tearing itself away from the Eurasian plate, and has been doing so for about 25 million years. The study suggests that the Baikal rift valley began to form at 38 Ma. A comparison of geological and geophysical data for the Baikal rift and other rift zones of the earth leads to the conclusion that their origin is determined by similar deep‐seated processes. A comparison of geological and geophysical data for the Baikal rift and other rift zones of the earth leads to the conclusion that their origin is determined by similar deep-seated processes. 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