The Udokan Plateau is linked to the Sayan-Baykal uplift and more specifically to a place in the Chara rift where it widens. Collision of India and Eurasia may have initiated volcanism in the Sayan Baykal region including the Udokan Plateau. It is not certain however that volcanism was caused by the rifting in the case of the Udokan plateau. Much of the volcanic activity occurred before the rifting. Beneath the northern margin of the plateau, anomalies in the asthenosphere have been described. This plateau and the neighbouring Vitim plateau are underpinned by a low velocity low density anomaly. One theory states that variations in lithospheric thickness between the Baikal rift and the Siberian platform generate a convection current in the asthenosphere. Another theory links volcanism in the Udokan plateau and other volcanic fields in the territory to two mantle plumes. Isotope data suggest the presence of at least two mantle reservoirs beneath the Baikal rift.