Loago — Lake Types, Depths and Areas | loago.online
Lake Baikal leads on depth and volume; Lake Superior leads on surface area. The three measures are separate records.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, with a bottom at 1,637 metres. Its mean depth of 749 metres is also the greatest in the world — a figure that describes the whole basin rather than its single deepest point.
By volume Lake Baikal holds 23,600 cubic kilometres, making it the world's largest freshwater lake by volume. Volume combines depth and area, so a lake can hold the largest volume without holding the largest surface area.
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Lake Superior covers 82,100 square kilometres, the largest surface area among the world's great lakes. Its area record and Baikal's depth and volume records are held by different lakes, which is why the three measures should always be read separately.
The meromictic exception belongs in the same reading. A meromictic lake has layers of water of different temperature and density that do not intermix, and its deepest layer contains no dissolved oxygen — a condition that changes what a depth figure implies about the water column.
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