Baikal Ridge

Baikal Ridge 

a mountain ridge along the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal. It is 300 km long. It has a rugged crest with elevations of 1,700–2,000 m (the highest is Mount Cherskii, 2,572 m). The ridge is composed of Proterozoic crystalline schists, quartzites, limestones, and granites. The steep slope facing Lake Baikal, which reaches 900–1,000 m, is covered by forest steppe and pine stands, and above there is dark coniferous taiga. In the middle and northern areas there is a predominance of larch taiga on mountain frozen taiga ferruginous soils. Above 1,400 m there is sparse larch forest with thickets of Siberian dwarf pine. On the peaks are mountain tundras and rock streams.