Abstract
New data on the modern sediment load of the Southern Baikal rivers, including those where the sediment load regime is not observed, for the period 2008–2020 are presented. The modern fluxes of the sediment load and water from the rivers into the lake and their total export are about \(\sim\) 40000 t and 3 km3, respectively. The most important tributaries of Southern Baikal in the delivery of river sediments and water into the lake are identified. The analysis of the sediment load regime has shown that since the mid-1970s (the period of warming), against the background of an increase in air temperature and a relatively stable precipitation and river runoff regime, a decrease in sediment load has occurred (on average by 70%), and its regime has changed. Through complex interactions, the natural processes in the river basins of Southern Baikal have influenced the sediment load and thus the sediment transport to the lake. Monitoring of the sediment load from the Baikal rivers is important for analyzing and assessing the state of the rivers, the coastal zone, and the lake as a whole, for ecological control over them, and for management of hydrodynamic and lithodynamic fluxes in nature.
