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| 1774 Lake Baikal - Babushka Bay |
Posted on 25.07.2015, 13.11.2015
Located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, Lake Baikal is the largest (by volume) freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water. Also, at 1,642m, it is the world's deepest lake, and is considered among the world's clearest and the world's oldest lake (25 million years). It was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape. Known as the "Galapagos of Russia", 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.
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| 2033 Lake Baikal -The Turtle Rock |
The lake is divided into three basins: North, Central, and South. The North and Central basins are separated by Academician Ridge, while the area around the Selenga Delta and the Buguldeika Saddle separates the Central and South basins. The lake is fed by as many as 330 inflowing rivers, and it drains into the Angara tributary of the Yenisei. It is completely surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are technically protected as a national park. It contains 27 islands; the largest, Olkhon, is 72 km long and is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world.
The great variety of plants in the basin is determined by its climatic asymmetry: the western part is occupied by light coniferous forests and mountain steppes; in the eastern part pine forests predominate; and the north is covered by deciduous forests. In total, fewer than 60 native fish species are in the lake, but more than half of these are endemic. Actually, more than 80% of the animals are endemic. The Baikal seal or nerpa (Pusa sibirica) is found throughout lake. It is one of only three entirely freshwater seal populations in the world, the other two being subspecies of ringed seals. The Baikal region has some 1,200 historical, archaeological and cultural monuments of which 1,000 have state protection. A number of these are considered sacred.
About the stamps
On the postcard 1774
The first stamp is part of a definitive series about which I wrote here.
The second stamp is part of the series Russian Lighthouses, issued several years in a row:
2005.07.04 Russian Lighthouses. Lighthouses of Barents and White seas / Design: A. Zharov
• Mudyugsky lighthouse (5.00 RUB) - It's on the postcard 1774
• Solovetsky lighthouse (6.00 RUB)
• Svyatonossky lighthouse (8.00 RUB)
2006.08.10 Russian Lighthouses. Lighthouses of Barentsevo and Beloe Sea / Design: A. Zharov
• Lighthouse on peninsula Kanin (5.00 RUB)
• Lighthouse on island Kildin (6.00 RUB)
• Lighthouse on peninsula Rybachiy (8.00 RUB)
2016.09.29 Russian Lighthouses. 200 years beacons Tarkhankut and Chersonesus / Design: O. Shushlebina
• 200 years the Tarkhankut Lighthouses (14.00 RUB) - It's on the postcard 2890
• 200 years the Chersonesus Lighthouse (14.00 RUB)
On the postcard 2033
The stamp is part of the series issued for XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014, about which I wrote here.
References
Lake Baikal - Wikipedia
Lake Baikal - UNESCO official website
Sender 1774: Viktor
Sent from Irkutsk (Irkutsk Oblast / Russia), on 09.06.2015
Photo: Sergey Kozokov
Sender 2033: Policheva Viktoriya
Sent from Ulan-Ude (Republic of Buryatia / Russia), on 23.01.2014
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