What's the oldest lake in the world?

[Glenn MacGrady]

It's 25 million years old. The Great Lakes, in contrast, are at most 20,000 years old.

It's also the deepest lake in the world at over a mile. And the seventh largest lake in the world.

You probably haven't paddled it yet.

It's in Siberia.

What's the oldest lake on Earth?

The oldest lake in the world dates back about 25 million years and is also the world's deepest and most biologically diverse lake.

www.livescience.com

 

[Alan Gage]

I'm sure there is an explanation but I would assume that any lake that's been around for 25 million years would have filled in quite a bit because of sediment. Is there no river inflow to the lake? Did it used to be 2 miles deep?

Alan

 

[Pseudonym]

Excerpted from the article: “It is not only the world's oldest lake but also the deepest one, at about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). But that's just the water depth. "The actual basin is much more than a mile deep," Ozersky told Live Science, including between 3.1 and 4.3 miles (5 to 7 km) of sediment at the bottom.”

 

[recped]

You probably haven't paddled it yet.

I haven't but a few years ago I was mapping out a fantasy route from eastern China through Mongolia and then north through Baika and continuing north to the Arctic Ocean. If I remember correctly the total distance was about 5,000km (about 3,100 miles).

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

You probably haven't paddled it yet.

I haven't but a few years ago I was mapping out a fantasy route from eastern China through Mongolia and then north through Baika and continuing north to the Arctic Ocean. If I remember correctly the total distance was about 5,000km (about 3,100 miles).

You only live once to fulfill your fantasies, Verlen Recped. Just make sure you take videos for us when you track the length of the Yangtze River with your painter lines.

 

[paddler123]

I'm sure there is an explanation but I would assume that any lake that's been around for 25 million years would have filled in quite a bit because of sediment. Is there no river inflow to the lake? Did it used to be 2 miles deep?

Alan

It's a tectonically active rift basin. There are several kilometers of sediment in the basin, but ongoing subsidence has maintained the lake.