World's Deepest Lake

Lake Baykal is a narrow lake in southern Siberia in Russia, located between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, near the city of Irkutsk. It is also known as the "Blue Eye of Siberia".



It contains more water than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. The lake is about 385 miles long and from 20 to 46 miles wide. It is the world's eighth largest lake.

But Baykal is most noted not for its size, but its depth. At one point, the bottom of Lake Baykal is more than 1,642 meters (5,390 ft) below its surface.

A Russian mini-submarine attempting to set a record for the deepest freshwater dive on July 29, 2008, was originally reported as being successful, but a correction later emerged that reported the MIR I failed to do so, reaching a depth of only 1,580 meters (5,200 ft).

If five Empire State Buildings were piled one on top of the other on the bottom of Lake Baykal, the top one would not reach the surface of the lake!