The Baikal Mountains or Baikal Range (russian: Байкальский хребет, ''Bajkaljskij hrebet''; bua, Байгалай дабаан, ''Baigalai dabaan'') are a mountain range that rises steeply over the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal in southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. The highest peak in the range is 2,572 m high Mount Chersky, named after Russian explorer Ivan Chersky.Природа Байкала - гора Черского

Geography

The Baikal Mountains are connected with the

Primorsky Range The Primorsky Range (russian: Приморский хребет) is a range of mountains in Southern Siberia, part of the South Siberian Mountains. Administratively the range belongs to the Irkutsk Oblast, Federal subjects of Russia, Russian Feder ...

to the south, which also stretches along the lakeshore. The

Akitkan Range The Akitkan Range (russian: хребет Акиткан; zh, 阿基特坎山) is a mountain range in Irkutsk Oblast and Buryatia, Russian Federation.Google Earth The Paleoproterozoic Akitkan Orogen is named after the range. History Between 1855 ...

, part of the

North Baikal Highlands The North Baikal Highlands ( rus, Северо-Байкальское нагорье; bua, Хойто-Байгалай хадалиг газар)

, is a northern extension of the mountain chain. These mountains are the origin of the Lena River. The

Lena-Angara Plateau The Lena-Angara Plateau ( rus, Лено-Ангарское плато), is a plateau in Siberia. Administratively it is in the Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. The plateau is named after the Lena and Angara rivers, of which it forms the waters ...

, part of the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; sah, Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Gre ...

, lies to the west of the Baikal Mountains. Google Earth

Flora

The mountain slopes near Lake Baikal are densely wooded with grey alder, Eurasian aspen,

downy birch ''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asia ...

Siberian larch ''Larix sibirica'', the Siberian larch or Russian larch, is a frost-hardy tree native to western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch ''L. gmelinii' ...

Siberian fir ''Abies sibirica'', the Siberian fir, is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the taiga east of the Volga River and south of 67°40' North latitude in Siberia through Turkestan, northeast Xinjiang, Mongolia and Heilongjiang. Distribution The ...

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

, and Siberian spruce.

Notes

External links

The Republic of Buryatia
{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Russia Landforms of Irkutsk Oblast Landforms of Buryatia South Siberian Mountains