SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Environmental Protection.
Lake Baikal.
Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 05.02.1991.
Face value: 5 Soviet kopek.
Design: Yury Artsimenev (1937-2019).
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 3,000,000 copies.
Size: 40 x 28 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 6103.
- Michel No. 6170.
- Scott No. 5966.
- StampWorld No. 5969.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 6228.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 5831.
- Zagorski No. 6228.

Lake Baikal (Russian: Озеро Байкал; Buryat: Байгал нуур), of tectonic origin, is the world's largest freshwater reserve and also the deepest lake (1,642 m, 5,387 ft). It is located in the southern region of Siberia, in the Russian Federation, between Irkutsk Oblast in the northwest and Buryatia in the southeast. Its name derives from the Tatar Bai-Kul ("rich lake"). Its area is 31,722 km² (12,248 sq mi), its length is 636 km (395 mi), and its maximum width is 79 km (49 mi). It is fed by some 330 rivers, among which the Selenga, the Barguzin, the Upper Angara, the Turka, the Sarma and the Snezhnaya stand out. It drains through a single outlet, the Angara. The lake has 27 islands: the length of the largest, Olkhon, is 72 km (45 mi). Baikal's age is estimated at 25 to 30 million years, making it the oldest lake in geological history. UNESCO declared Lake Baikal a World Heritage Site in 1996.

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Thanks to Kazimierz R. Leszczyński for his contribution (http://leszkarozdub.blogspot.com).