Lake Baikal is the Siberian lake that is both the world’s deepest lake and its largest freshwater lake by volume.
Baikal lies in southern Siberia, Russia, within an active continental rift where the Earth’s crust is slowly pulling apart. Its maximum depth is about 1,642 meters, and it holds roughly 22–23% of the world’s unfrozen fresh surface water—more than all the North American Great Lakes combined. It is therefore the volume champion even though it is not the largest freshwater lake by surface area.
Baikal is also exceptionally old, estimated at 25–30 million years, and supports many species found nowhere else, including the Baikal seal. Around 330 rivers feed the lake, while the Angara is its sole outlet. A common mix-up is Lake Superior: Superior has the greatest surface area among freshwater lakes, but Baikal contains more freshwater because its great depth gives it a much larger volume.