Wiki Loves Earth Russia presents us their top-10 best photos. This year there are a lot of photos of different water objects among them. Russian national winners presenting clean and simple vision of nature. Enjoy these powerful shots.

Franz Josef Land

Franz Josef Land, Franz Joseph Land or Francis Joseph’s Land is an uninhabited archipelago located in the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea and Kara Sea, constituting the northernmost part ofArkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. It consists of 191 islands, which cover an area of 16,134 square kilometers (6,229 sq mi), stretching 375 kilometers (233 mi) from east to west and 234 kilometers (145 mi) from north to south.

The islands are categorized in three groups, a western, central and eastern, separated by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait. The central group is further divided into a northern and southern section by the Markham Strait. The largest island is George Land, which measures 2,741 square kilometers (1,058 sq mi), followed by Wilczek Land, Graham Bell Island and Alexandra Land.

Kungur Ice Cave

Kungur Ice Cave is a karst cave located in the Urals, near the town Kungur in Perm Krai, Russia, on the right bank of theSylva River. The cave is famous for its ice formations and is a popular tourist landmark.

Kungur Ice Cave has been known since 1703 when Peter the Great issued the decree sending a well-known geographer S.U. Remezov from Tobolsk in Kungur. He worked out the Uyezd plan and made the first sketch of the cave.

Inside the cave there is narrow path which is called “the women road” because a long time ago a foreign princess fell down on this road. After she returned from the cave she got married. Therefore, the says is that if a lady falls down on this road she will get married soon.

Lake Kezenoyam

Lake Kezenoy-am is a lake in Chechnya near the border with Dagestan, Russia that goes through Andiyskiy Khrebet (Andian Ridge); later the border of Dagestan went into Chechnya taking half of the lake in to Dagestan. It is situated at an altitude of 1870 m above sea level and fills an area of 2.4 km². The maximum depth of the lake is 74 m. In winter the surface of the lake freezes and in summer the water temperature is around 5 °C. The lake water has a year-round supply of oxygen in which plankton survive. Salmo ezenami, a rare species of trout, are native only to the lake; however, their population is threatened with extinction due to the introduction of European chubs (Squalius cephalus) which consume the fry of the Salmo.

Mount Indyuk in Tuapsinsky District

Tuapsinsky District is an administrative district (raion), one of the thirty-eight in Krasnodar Krai,Russia. As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Tuapsinsky Municipal District. It is located in the south of the krai. The area of the district is 2,366 square kilometers (914 sq mi).Its administrative center is the town of Tuapse (which is not administratively a part of the district). Population: 63,530 (2010 Census); 61,257 (2002 Census); 59,809 (1989 Census).

Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve

Canyon of the Tsitse river in Caucasian Biosphere Reserve| by Synaps-s – CC-BY-SA-4.0

The Western Caucasus contains the Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve nature reserve (IUCN management category Ia ^[1]) set up by the Soviet government in Krasnodar Krai, Adygea and Karachay–Cherkessia in 1924 to preserve some 85 m-high specimens of the Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana), thought to be the tallest trees in Europe, and a unique forest formed by English Yew(Taxus baccata) and European Box (Buxus sempervirens) within the city of Sochi.

About a third of its high mountain species of plants are recognized as endemic. The area also includes the Sochi National Park (IUCN management category II).

Outcrop near the village Tansirey

Outcrop near the village Tansirey in Voronezh Oblast, Russia.

Lake Frolikha

Lake Frolikha is situated deeply in the coast within the wild taiga, and it has a glacial origin. Two rivers inflow into the lake in the south: the left Frolikha and the Davatchan that are flowing together in one valley. The only way to get this place is to go on foot there. There are two small islands covered with wood along with a wide peninsula Valunny in the north-eastern part of the lake, where the Frolikha river flows out. The extremely scenic view is opened there if to go to the lake across the pass from Ayaya bay.

The water surface area is equal to 16.5 км2, and the depth is about 80 m. The water temperature of the lake rising up to +18˚-+20˚C in summer. The water is transparent. The lake’s length is equal to 9 km. By its perimeter the Frolikha attains 35-40 km. There is no any path around the lake, and it contributes a lot to preservation of its state of nature.The water of this lake is home for such a relic fish as loach Davatchan that is inscribed in the Red Book. There live beers along the lake coast, the trails of which are constantly left at the sandy shore.

Irkut River

Irkut is a river in the Buryat Republic and Irkutsk Oblast of Russia. It is theAngara River’s left tributary. The length of the river is 488 kilometers (303 mi). The area of its basin is 15,000 square kilometers (5,800 sq mi). The Irkut River freezes up in late October or mid-November and stays icebound until late April or early May. The city ofIrkutsk is located at the mouth of the Irkut River on the Angara River.

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is a rift lake in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between the Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast.

Lake Baikal is the largest (by volume) freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface fresh water, and at 1,642 m (5,387 ft), the deepest. It is also among the clearest of all lakes, and thought to be the world’s oldest lake at 25 million years. It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area. With 23,615.39 cubic kilometres (5,700 cubic miles) of fresh water, it contains more water than all the Great Lakes combined.

Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island

Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island or Great Lyakhovsky, is the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islandsbelonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea in northern Russia. It has an area of 4,600 km², and a maximum altitude of 270 m (Emy Tas).

The peninsula projecting towards the west of the island is the Kigilyakh Peninsula (Poluostrov Kigilyakh). Off Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island’s southwestern cape lies a small islet called Ostrov Khopto-Terer. The Lyakhovsky Islands are named in honour of Ivan Lyakhov, who explored them in 1773.

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