deepest lake in the world

The deepest lake in the world is Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia, with a maximum depth of about 5,387 feet (1,642 meters).

Quick Scoop

• Lake Baikal is located in southern Siberia, Russia, in a long tectonic rift valley.

• Its maximum depth is approximately 5,387 feet (1,642 meters), making it the deepest lake on Earth by maximum depth.

• Baikal is also the largest freshwater lake by volume, holding roughly 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface freshwater.

• It is one of the oldest lakes on the planet, estimated at over 20–25 million years old.

• The lake sits in an active continental rift that is slowly widening and deepening, so its basin is still evolving over geologic time.

A bit of context

• Second place: Lake Tanganyika in East Africa, about 4,823 feet (1,470 meters) deep.

• Other very deep lakes include the Caspian Sea, Lake Vostok (under Antarctic ice), and O’Higgins–San Martín in Patagonia.

If you picture a canyon flooded with crystal-clear water and filled with unique species that live nowhere else, you’re not far off from imagining Lake Baikal.

Meta description (SEO-style):
Learn which lake is the deepest lake in the world, how deep it is, where it’s located, and how it compares to other record-breaking lakes, plus a quick look at why it’s such a unique place.

Bottom note:
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.