Late Quaternary turbidite systems in Lake Baikal, Russia

Abstract

Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest (1637 m) and oldest (Late Oligocene-Early Miocene) lake, with a length of 636 km and a width ranging from 30 to 87 km (Karabanov and Fialkov 1987; Mats 1992). It is located in south-eastern Siberia within the Baikal Rift System at the southern edge of the Siberian Platform (Hutchinson et al. 1992; Mats 1992). The borders of Lake Baikal are characterized by high topographic relief that reaches 2700 m in the intensely glaciated mountains on the eastern side of the North basin (Atlas of the Irkutsk Region, Lake Baikal 1:500000 map). Several small rivers drain the large glacial valleys into this north-eastern side of the lake (Fig. 6.1). The large Selenga River flows into the south-eastern side of the lake from north central Mongolia. The muddy delta of this dominant sediment source progrades far into the lake and overlies the accommodation zone ridge between the Central and South basins (Fig. 6.1). Only local streams of less than 20 km length feed numerous coarse-grained fan deltas and alluvial fans along the western margin of the lake (Atlas of the Irkutsk Region, Lake Baikal 1:500000 map; Mats 1992).