Why does Lake Baikal have a steep northwestern edge?

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tectonic basins and rift valleys Escarpments of the Great Rift Valley rising above the plain north of Samburu Game Preserve, central Kenya. Beisa oryxes graze in the foreground.

Lake Baikal, which occupies a basin formed by a complex of grabens, is characterized by an asymmetrical structure with a steep northwestern edge and a gentler southeastern margin.123

This asymmetry is a common feature of many rift valleys. Unlike simple grabens, which are bounded by major faults on both sides, this type of rift valley is formed by a combination of slip on one or more major faults along one margin and the flexing and tilting of the lithosphere on the other. In the case of the Baikal Rift, the steep northwestern edge is the result of this tectonic process, where the valley floor has subsided along major faults, while the opposite side lacks such major fault bounding and instead exhibits a more gradual slope.3