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1. West Siberian lowland

2.

The West Siberian Lowland is the third
the largest plain on our planet after
Amazonian and Russian. Its area is about 2.6
million
square
kilometers.
length
West Siberian
lowlands from north to south (from the coast
Kara Sea to the mountains of Southern Siberia and
semi-deserts of Kazakhstan) is about 2.5
thousand kilometers, and from west to east (from
West Siberian Plain- most
inhabited and developed (especially in the south) part of the Urals to the Yenisei) - 1.9 thousand kilometers.
Siberia. Within it are located
Tyumen, Kurgan, Omsk, Novosibirsk
and Tomsk region, eastern regions
Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions,
significant portion Altai Territory, Western
districts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as well as northern and
northeastern regions of Kazakhstan

3.

The surface of the West Siberian Lowland is flat with quite
slight difference in elevation. However, the relief of the plain is sufficient
varied. The lowest parts of the plain (50-100 m) are located
predominantly in the central and northern parts of it. Along the western, southern and
the eastern outskirts stretch low (up to 200-250 m) hills.
A distinct strip of hills form in the inner part
Siberian Uvaly plains (average height - 140-150 m), extending from the west
from the Ob to the east to the Yenisei, and the Vasyugan Plain parallel to them.
The basement of the West Siberian Plate is covered with loose sea and
continental rocks (clays, sandstones,) with a total thickness of over 1000 m (in
foundation depressions up to 3000-4000 m).
There are industrial deposits of oil and natural gas(West Siberian
oil and gas basin). In the area of Khanty-Mansiysk, Krasnoselsky,
Salymsky and Surgutsky districts, in the layers of the Bazhenov formation at a depth of 2 km
Russia has the largest shale oil reserves.

4.

The climate of Western Siberia is continental, quite severe.
4 main reasons formed the climatic conditions of the territory:
1 reason - the amount of solar radiation received by the territory;
2 reason - remoteness from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans determined
continentality
3 reason - the flatness of the territory, allowing to penetrate
air masses from the north and from the south;
4 reason - the mountains fenced off Western Siberia from the Atlantic and
Central Asian air masses.
The north has a climate with cold, windy winters and cool summers.
moving from north to south, the continentality of the climate increases.
This is expressed in an increase in temperature, a decrease in the amount
precipitation, shortening of the transitional seasons of the year, due to
low temperatures are excessive here, and in the southern part sufficient
moistening and in combination with low altitudes of the territory and weak
drainage leads to severe waterlogging– up to almost 70%.
average temperature January decreases from -15 (C in the southwest to -30 (C
in the northeast of Western Siberia. July average temperature
increases from +5(C in the north to +20(C in the south.

5.

On the territory of the West Siberian lowland
more than 2000 rivers flow. Their total length is about 250 thousand
kilometers. The largest are the Ob, Yenisei and
Irtysh. They are not only navigable, but also
are used to generate energy. They feed on
mainly due to melt water and rain (in summer-autumn
period). Also located here a large number of lakes.
In the southern regions they are filled with salt water. The West Siberian Lowland holds the world record for
the number of swamps per unit area (area
swampy area of about 800 thousand square
kilometers). The reasons for this phenomenon are
the following factors: excessive moisture, flat
relief, permafrost and peat capacity,
available here in large quantities, to hold
significant amount of water.

6.

7.

Natural zones of the West Siberian Plain
Due to the large extent of the West Siberian lowland with
north to south and the uniformity of the relief in its aisles is present
five natural zones: tundra, forest-tundra, forest, forest-steppe and
steppe. In all zones, rather large areas are occupied by lakes and
swamps. Broad-leaved and coniferous-broad-leaved forests here
are absent, and the forest-steppe zone is rather insignificant.
A large area is occupied by the tundra zone, which is explained by the northern
position of the West Siberian Plain.

South is located
forest-tundra zone. As mentioned above, forests in this area
mostly conifers.
The forest-bog zone occupies about 60% of the territory of the West Siberian Lowland. Behind the strip coniferous forests narrow zone follows
small-leaved (mainly birch) forests. forest-steppe zone
formed in the conditions of flat relief. Lying here on
shallow depth groundwater is the cause of a large
the number of swamps. In the extreme southern part of the West Siberian
lowland is the steppe zone, which for the most part
plowed up.

8.

Ancient glaciation greatly influenced the flora and fauna
Western Siberia. When the glacier receded, the north of the plain was conquered
tundra and taiga, although before there were broad-leaved forests, in
which were inhabited by mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant deer. By
the remains of trunks in the swamps can be judged that the border of forests
located several hundred kilometers further north than at present
time.
The least diversity in all zonal areas of the Western
Siberia differ plants. On average, the flora of Western Siberia is poorer
compared with adjacent regions by about 1.5 times, especially large
gap for the taiga and tundra zones. higher relative
the fauna of Western Siberia is characterized by diversity. So, in four
the main orders of mammals in Western Siberia, there are 80
types. The bird fauna is the most diverse
some species of which in Western Siberia are migratory. By general
the number of bird species Western Siberia in none of the zonal areas
not significantly inferior to adjacent regions, and in terms of waterfowl and
near-water surpasses them.

9.

The fauna of the plain is presented as
forest and steppe species. Here
there are elk, roe deer, wolf, etc.
Representatives of the world meet
birds (white partridge, hunting gulls). In Northern Kazakhstan and forests
Kostanay were brown bears. Now them
no, apparently they went to safer
habitats. Rarely in recent years
there are moose and Siberian roe deer.
The reason for this is poaching. IN
local rivers and lakes have launched a muskrat,
brought from America. Gradually she
takes root. Favorable natural
conditions allow to live here
the number of birds. In wide open spaces
reservoirs there are swans, geese.

10.

Many minerals are found in the West Siberian Plain.
In the Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky, Kacharsky deposits,
iron ore. A mining and processing plant operates in the city of Rudny
plant. Large
reserves of nickel and coal. Chromite deposits were explored,
bauxite, cobalt. There are many building materials.

11.

Western Siberia is one of the largest
low plains of the world.
- rich in variety natural resources.
— The climate is continental, quite severe.
- Rich in rivers, lakes, swamps.
- The zoning of its nature is clearly expressed - from
tundra to steppes.

12.

thanks for
Attention!

West Siberian Lowland

English RussianRules

Features of Western Siberia

The West Siberian lowland, or plain, is the third largest after the Russian plain in the world. Its area is about 2.6 million km2. From the harsh coast of the Kara Sea, it stretches to the foothills of the mountains of Southern Siberia and the semi-deserts of Kazakhstan for 2500 km, and from the Urals to the Yenisei - for 1900 km.

The boundaries of the plain are clearly defined natural boundaries: in the north - the coastline of the Kara Sea, in the south - the foothills of the Kazakh hills, Altai, Salair and Kuznetsk Alatau, in the west - the eastern foothills of the Urals, in the east - the valley of the Yenisei River.

The huge West Siberian Lowland, almost completely covered by the Anthropogene sediments, is a young Epi-Hercynian (Epi-Paleozoic) plate. This is the most significant oil and gas basin in Russia.

In the west, the boundaries of the plate are outcrops of Paleozoic rocks along the eastern slope of the Urals and Pai-Khoi, and further to the north along the coastline of the Vaigach and Novaya Zemlya islands.

In the southwest, in the Turgai trough, the boundary with the Turan plate located to the south is conditionally drawn along the watershed of the Ubagan and Turgai rivers. The southern and southeastern boundaries are determined by the outcrops of the Paleozoic in the Kazakh and Altai-Sayan regions.

The eastern boundary of the plate is drawn along the valley of the river. Yenisei, along the outcrops of pre-Paleozoic and Paleozoic rocks. In the lower reaches of the river The Yenisei border is completely arbitrary; it is usually carried out in an arc from the village. Dudinka to the outcrops of Paleozoic rocks at the western end of Taimyr. Within the Kara Sea, the northern boundary of the plate has not yet been precisely established.

There are three structural stages in the structure of the West Siberian Plate: geosynclinal, intermediate and platform. In relation to the Meso-Cenozoic platform cover, the first two are usually considered as the foundation.

Nowhere else in the world can one find such a huge space with such a flat relief, as if descending towards its center. Crossing the plain, you see boundless planes - neither a tubercle, nor a ridge. Such a relief was formed by loose deposits of rivers and ancient glacial sediments, which covered the Paleozoic plate with a thick sedimentary cover (3-4 thousand m). The horizontal layering of sedimentary layers is the main reason for the flat topography of the plain.

It affected the relief of the West Siberian Plain and glaciation. But the glacier here did not cross 60 degrees. northern latitude.

In the south of the plain, during the floods of rivers covered in ice in the north, lake and river sediments - sands and loams - were deposited in colossal spaces.

Glaciation affected not only the relief, but also the flora and fauna of the West Siberian Plain. When the glacier receded, the north of the plain was conquered by tundra and taiga, although before there were broad-leaved forests inhabited by mammoths, woolly rhinos, and giant deer. According to the remains of trunks in the swamps, it can be judged that the forest boundary was located several hundred kilometers to the north than at present.

The continentality of the climate in the expanses of the West Siberian Plain increases when moving from north to south. This is expressed in an increase in the annual temperature amplitude, a decrease in the amount of precipitation, and a reduction in the duration of spring and autumn - the transitional seasons of the year.

At the junction of air masses temperate zone with tropical cyclones, bringing rain. At the beginning of summer, this front acts in the south - the steppe zone receives moisture (about 300 mm per year). In July, hot air dominates the entire south of the plains, and cyclones move north, bringing precipitation to the taiga zone (500 mm per year). In August, the front reaches the tundra, where up to 250 mm falls annually.

In winter, cyclones of the Arctic front act at the junction of moderate and arctic air masses. This softens the frosts in the north, but due to high humidity and strong winds the harshness of the climate here is also manifested at lower frosts. The West Siberian Plain is rich in rivers, lakes, swamps, the distribution of which throughout the territory clearly shows dependence on the relief and on the zonal ratio of heat and moisture.

The largest river in the West Siberian Plain is the Ob with its tributary the Irtysh. This is one of the greatest rivers peace. In Russia, it ranks first in length (5410 km) and in basin area (2990 thousand km 2).

In addition to the Ob and Irtysh, among the major rivers of the region are the navigable ones: the Nadym, the Pur, the Taz, and the Tobol.

Among the numerous lakes, filling glacial lake basins predominate. In terms of the number of swamps, the West Siberian Plain is also a world record holder: nowhere in the world is there such a swampy area of 800 thousand km 2 as here. Vasyuganye, a geographical area lying between the Ob and Irtysh rivers, can serve as a classic example of swampiness. There are several reasons for the formation of such vast swampy areas: the presence of excessive moisture, flat relief, permafrost, low air temperatures, the ability of peat, which prevails here, to retain water in quantities many times greater than the weight of the peat mass. The climate of Western Siberia is more continental and harsher than in the east of the European part of Russia, but milder than in the rest of Siberia. The large length of the plain from north to south allows several latitudinal zones to fit here - from the tundra in the north to the steppes in the south.

The huge size of the West Siberian Plain and the flat relief make it especially good to trace the latitudinal-zonal change natural landscapes. The main distinguishing feature of the tundra is the severity of the climate. Adapting to harsh conditions, tundra plants prepare wintering buds from autumn. Thanks to this, in the spring they are rapidly covered with leaves and flowers, and then bear fruit. In the tundra there are many different plant foods, so many herbivorous birds nest here.

The forest tundra is the first zone when moving south where summer is observed at least 20 days a year. thermal regime when average daily temperatures exceed 15? S. Here the tundra alternates with rare and rather low trees. More than half of the territory of Western Siberia is occupied by forest and marsh zones. Swamps predominate in the interfluve spaces, and the slopes of river valleys and elevated areas (manes) are occupied by taiga forests. In the northern part of the plain, spruce and cedar forests, in the south - spruce and cedar with an admixture of fir and birch. South of the taiga is a zone of deciduous forests, which in Western Siberia stretches in a narrow strip from the Ural mountains to the Yenisei River.

The West Siberian forest-steppe stretches in a narrow strip from the Urals to the foothills of the Salair Ridge. The abundance of lake basins is a feature of this zone. The shores of the lakes are low, partly swampy or overgrown with pine forests. In Kuldinsky pine forests live together with steppe species, field pipit, jerboa - taiga species - flying squirrel, capercaillie.

This zone is distinguished by large fertile soils, on which good crops of grains and vegetables can be grown.

The natural resources of the West Siberian Plain are very diverse. The oil and gas reserves of such fields as Urengoy, Medvezhye, Surgut make Western Siberia one of the world leaders. 60% of Russia's total peat reserves are also concentrated on its territory. The richest salt deposits are located in the south of the plain. The great wealth of Western Siberia is its water resources. In addition to surface waters - rivers and lakes - huge underground water reservoirs have been found. Great economic importance biological resources tundra and forest-tundra - this, it would seem, not a zone rich in life. A significant amount of furs and game is mined in it, there are a lot of fish in its rivers and lakes. In addition, the tundra is the main reindeer breeding area. The taiga of Western Siberia has long been famous for the extraction of furs and timber.

Deposits of brown coal are associated with ancient sedimentary rocks of the Triassic and Jurassic age, the total thickness of which is more than 800-1000 m. On the territory of the Tyumen region, its reserves are estimated at 8 billion tons.

However, the main wealth of Western Siberia is oil and gas deposits. It has been established that this plain is a uniquely rich oil and gas province of the Earth.

To date, more than 350 oil, gas and gas condensate fields have been explored. For the last 3 decades, Western Siberia has held the lead in oil and natural gas production in Russia.

Searches in the bowels of Western Siberia for "black gold" and "blue fuel" made it possible to discover large reserves of iron ore in the north of the Novosibirsk region. But these vast diverse riches are not so easy to master. Nature has protected oil and gas fields of the region from humans both with thick swamps and frozen soils. Building in such conditions is extremely difficult. People in winter interfere with severe frosts, high humidity, strong winds. In summer, numerous blood-sucking midges and mosquitoes torment people and animals.

Map of Western Siberia

General information about Western Siberia

Time in Western Siberia: in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, the Tyumen Region, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District - Yugra, the time is 2 hours ahead of Moscow. In the Omsk Region, Tomsk Region, Novosibirsk Region and the Altai Republic, time is 3 hours ahead of Moscow. In the Kemerovo region, time is ahead of Moscow by 4 hours.

Western Siberia is a region of Russia stretching for 2,500 km from the Arctic Ocean to the uplands of the Kazakh Uplands and for 1,900 km from the Ural Mountains to the Yenisei. About 80% of the area of Western Siberia is located within the West Siberian Plain, which gradually rises in the southeast, gives way to the foothills of Altai, Salair, Kuznetsk Alatau and Mountain Shoria.

Western Siberia includes: Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Region, Omsk Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra, Tomsk Region, Novosibirsk Region, Kemerovo Region, Altai Territory, Altai Republic.

Languages spoken in Western Siberia: Russian, Altai, Kazakh.

Territory Western Siberia: 3 561 165 km².

Borders Western Siberia: from Kazakhstan, from China, from Mongolia, with the Kurgan Region, with the Sverdlovsk Region, with the Republic of Komi, with Nenets-Autonomous Okrug, from Krasnoyarsk Territory, with the Republic of Khakassia, with the Republic of Tuva.

Largest cities Western Siberia: Tobolsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Nefteyugansk, Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Berdsk, Kemerovo, Prokopievsk, Novokuznetsk, Barnaul, Biysk, Rubtsovsk.

highest mountain peaks Western Siberia: G.

Sinyukha (1,210 m), Upper Zub (2,176 m), Aktru (4,075 m),

Argamdzhi (3,511 m), Belukha (4,506 m), Koldzhi-khan (1,992 m), Maashey-bash (4,173 m), Muzdy-Bulak (3,050 m), Sarlyk (2506 m), Payer (1499 m), Kharnaurdy-Keu (1246 m).

The largest lakes Western Siberia: Saltaim, Tenis, Ik, Chany, Teletskoye, Aya.

Major rivers Western Siberia: Ob, Ishim, Irtysh, Tobol, Katun.

International airports Western Siberia: Barnaul (Barnaul), Kemerovo (Kemerovo), Kogalym (Kogalym), Nizhnevartovsk (Nizhnevartovsk), Tolmachevo (Novosibirsk), Omsk-Central (Omsk), Surgut (Surgut), Bogashevo (Tomsk), Roschino (Tyumen), Khanty- Mansiysk (Khanty-Mansiysk),

Population Western Siberia: 14.2 million people (Russians - 75%, Altaians - 5%, Ukrainians - 3%, Tatars - 3%, Nenets - 2%, Kazakhs - 0.6%, Bashkirs - 0.4%, Azerbaijanis - 0.3%, others - 10 .7%).

Population density Western Siberia: 8.68 people/km².

Religion Western Siberia: Christians - 73%, Muslims - 17%, Catholics - 9%, others - 1%.

GDP per capita in Western Siberia: 770 700 rub.

Population below the poverty line in Western Siberia:15 %.

Unemployment in Western Siberia: 5 %.

Literacy Rate in Western Siberia: 99%.

WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN (West Siberian Lowland), one of the largest plains in the world. It is located in the northern part of Asia, in Russia and Kazakhstan. The area is over 3 million km2, including 2.6 million km2 in Russia. The length from west to east is from 900 km (in the north) to 2000 (in the south), from north to south up to 2500 km. In the north it is washed by the Arctic Ocean; in the west it borders on the Urals, in the south - on the Turgai plateau and the Kazakh hills, in the southeast - on the mountains of Southern Siberia, in the east - along the valley of the Yenisei River with the Central Siberian plateau.

Relief. It is a low accumulative plain with a rather uniform relief, various forms of permafrost (common up to 59 ° north latitude), increased swampiness, and ancient and modern salt accumulation developed in the south in loose rocks and soils. Heights of about 150 m predominate. In the north, in the area of \u200b\u200bdistribution of marine accumulative and moraine plains, the general flatness of the territory is disturbed by moraine gently sloping and hilly-sloping (North-Sosvinskaya, Lyulimvor, Verkhne-, Srednetazovskaya, etc.) hills 200-300 m high, the southern border of which runs about 61-62 ° north latitude; they are horseshoe-shaped from the south covered by flat-topped elevations Belogorsky Continent, Siberian Uvaly, etc. In the northern part, permafrost exogenous processes (thermal erosion, heaving of soils, solifluction) are widespread, deflation occurs on sandy surfaces, and peat accumulation occurs in swamps. There are numerous ravines on the plains of the Yamal and Gydansky peninsulas and on the moraine uplands. To the south, the area of moraine relief is adjoined by flat lacustrine-alluvial lowlands, the lowest (height 40-80 m) and swampy of which are Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya. The area not covered by the Quaternary glaciation (south of the line Ivdel - Ishim - Novosibirsk - Tomsk - Krasnoyarsk) is a weakly dissected denudation plain, rising (up to 250 m) to the Urals. In the interfluve of the Tobol and the Irtysh, there is an inclined, in places with ridges, lacustrine-alluvial Ishim plain (120-220 m) with a thin cover of loess-like loams and loess occurring on salt-bearing clays. It is adjacent to the alluvial Baraba lowland and Kulunda plain, where the processes of deflation and modern salt accumulation are developing. In the foothills of Altai there are the ridge-ridged Priobskoe plateau (height up to 317 m - the highest point of the West Siberian Plain) and the Chulym Plain. On the geological structure and minerals, see the article The West Siberian Platform, with which the West Siberian Plain is geostructurally connected.

Climate. Continental climate prevails. Winter in the polar latitudes is severe and lasts up to 8 months (the polar night lasts almost 3 months), the average January temperatures are from -23 to -30 ° С; in the central part, winter lasts up to 7 months, average January temperatures are from -20 to -22 °С; in the south, where the influence of the Asian anticyclone intensifies, winters are shorter at the same temperatures (up to 5-6 months). The minimum air temperature is -56 °C. In summer, the western transfer of Atlantic air masses predominates with intrusions of cold air from the Arctic in the north, and dry warm air masses from Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the south. In the north, summer is short, cool and humid with a polar day, in the central part it is moderately warm and humid, in the south it is arid and dry, with dry winds and dust storms. The average temperature in July increases from 5 °C to Far North up to 21-22 °С in the south. The duration of the growing season in the south is 175-180 days. Precipitation fall mainly in summer. The wettest (400-550 mm per year) are the Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya lowlands. To the north and south, the annual precipitation gradually decreases to 250 mm.

surface waters. There are more than 2,000 rivers in the West Siberian Plain belonging to the Arctic Ocean basin. Their total flow is about 1200 km 3 of water per year; up to 80% of the annual runoff occurs in spring and summer. The largest rivers are the Ob, Yenisei, Irtysh, Taz and their tributaries. The feeding of the rivers is mixed (snow and rain), the spring flood is extended, the low water is long summer-autumn and winter. The ice cover on the rivers lasts up to 8 months in the north, up to 5 months in the south. The total area of lakes is more than 100 thousand km2. The largest lakes are located in the south - Chany, Ubinskoye, Kulundinskoye. In the north - lakes of thermokarst and moraine-glacial origin. There are many small lakes in the suffusion depressions (less than 1 km 2): on the Tobol-Irtysh interfluve - more than 1500, on the Baraba lowland - 2500, including fresh, salty and bitter-salty ones; there are self-sustaining lakes.

Landscape types. The uniformity of the relief of the vast West Siberian Plain determines a clearly expressed latitudinal zonality landscapes, although, compared with the East European Plain, the natural zones here are shifted to the north. On the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas, in conditions of continuous permafrost, landscapes of arctic and subarctic tundra with moss, lichen and shrubs (dwarf birch, willow, alder) cover on gleyzems, peat-gleyzems, peat-podburs and soddy soils were formed. Polygonal mineral grass-hypnum bogs are widespread. The share of primary landscapes is extremely insignificant. To the south, tundra landscapes and swamps ( for the most part flat-hilly) are combined with larch and spruce-larch woodlands on podzolic-gley and peat-podzolic-gley soils, forming a narrow forest-tundra zone, transitional to the forest (forest-bog) zone of the temperate zone, represented by subzones of the northern, middle and southern taiga. Swampiness is common to all subzones: over 50% of the area of the northern taiga, about 70% - middle, about 50% - southern. The northern taiga is characterized by flat and large-hummocky raised bogs, the middle taiga is characterized by ridge-hollow and ridge-lake bogs, the southern taiga is characterized by ridge-hollow, pine-shrub-sphagnum, transitional sedge-sphagnum and low-lying tree-sedge bogs. The largest marsh massif is the Vasyugan Plain. Peculiar forest complexes different subzones formed on slopes with different degrees of drainage. Northern taiga forest complexes on permafrost are represented by sparse and low-growing pine, pine-spruce and spruce-fir forests on gley-podzolic and podzolic-gley soils. The indigenous landscapes of the northern taiga occupy 11% of the area of the West Siberian Plain. Common to the forest landscapes of the middle and southern taiga is the wide distribution of lichen and shrub-phagnum pine forests on sandy and sandy loamy illuvial-ferruginous and illuvial-humus podzols. On loams in the middle taiga, spruce-cedar forests with larch and birch forests are developed on podzolic, podzolic-gley, peat-podzolic-gley and gley peat-podzols. In the subzone of the southern taiga, on loams, there are spruce-fir small-grass forests and birch forests with aspen on sod-podzolic and sod-podzolic-gley (including those with a second humus horizon) and peat-podzolic-gley soils. Primary landscapes in the middle taiga occupy 6% of the area of the West Siberian Plain, in the southern - 4%. The subtaiga zone is represented by park pine, birch and birch-aspen forests on gray, gray gley and soddy-podzolic soils (including those with a second humus horizon) in combination with steppe meadows on cryptogley chernozems, solonetsous in places. Indigenous forest and meadow landscapes are practically not preserved. Boggy forests turn into lowland sedge-hypnum (with ryams) and sedge-reed bogs (about 40% of the zone). For the forest-steppe landscapes of sloping plains with loess-like and loess covers on salt-bearing tertiary clays, birch and aspen-birch groves on gray soils and malts are typical in combination with forb-grass steppe meadows on leached and cryptogley chernozems, to the south - with meadow steppes on ordinary chernozems, in places solonetzic and saline. On the sands - pine forests. Up to 20% of the zone is occupied by eutrophic reed-sedge bogs. IN steppe zone indigenous landscapes have not been preserved; in the past, these were forb-feather grass steppe meadows on ordinary and southern chernozems, saline in places, and in the drier southern regions - fescue-feather grass steppes on chestnut and cryptogley soils, gley solonetzes and solonchaks.

Environmental problems and protected natural areas. In areas of oil production due to pipeline breaks, water and soil are polluted with oil and oil products. In forestry areas - overcutting, swamping, the spread of silkworms, fires. In agrolandscapes, there is an acute problem of lack of fresh water, secondary salinization of soils, destruction of soil structure and loss of soil fertility during plowing, drought and dust storms. In the north - degradation of reindeer pastures, in particular due to overgrazing, which leads to a sharp reduction in their biodiversity. Equally important is the problem of conservation hunting grounds and habitats for fauna.

To study and protect typical and rare natural landscapes, numerous reserves, national and natural parks. Among the largest reserves are: in the tundra - the Gydansky reserve, in the northern taiga - the Verkhnetazovsky reserve, in the middle taiga - the Yugansky reserve, etc. A national park - Priishimsky Bory - has been created in the sub-taiga. Natural parks are also organized: in the tundra - Deer streams, in the northern taiga - Numto, Siberian Uvaly, in the middle taiga - Kondinsky lakes, in the forest-steppe - Bird's harbor.

Lit.: Trofimov V. T. Patterns of spatial variability of engineering-geological conditions of the West Siberian plate. M., 1977; Gvozdetsky N. A., Mikhailov N. I. Physical geography of the USSR: Asian part. 4th ed. M., 1987; Soil cover and land resources of the Russian Federation. M., 2001.

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan

West Siberian Plain- the plain is located in the north of Asia, occupies the entire western part of Siberia from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Central Siberian Plateau in the east. In the north it is bounded by the coast of the Kara Sea, in the south it extends to the Kazakh uplands, in the southeast the West Siberian Plain, gradually rising, is replaced by the foothills of Altai, Salair, Kuznetsk Altai and Mountain Shoria. The plain has the shape of a trapezoid narrowing to the north: the distance from its southern border to the northern reaches almost 2500 km, the width is from 800 to 1900 km, and the area is only slightly less than 3 million km².

The West Siberian Plain is the most inhabited and developed (especially in the south) part of Siberia. Within its boundaries are the Tyumen, Kurgan, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions, the eastern regions of the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, a significant part of the Altai Territory, the western regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (about 1/7 of the area of Russia), as well as the northern and northeastern regions of Kazakhstan.

Relief and geological structure

The surface of the West Siberian Lowland is flat with a rather insignificant elevation difference. However, the relief of the plain is quite diverse. The lowest parts of the plain (50-100 m) are located mainly in the central (Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya lowlands) and northern (Nizhneobskaya, Nadymskaya and Purskaya lowlands) parts of it. Low (up to 200-250 m) elevations stretch along the western, southern and eastern outskirts: North Sosvinskaya and Turinskaya, Ishimskaya plain, Priobskoye and Chulym-Yenisei plateau, Ketsko-Tymskaya, Upper Taz and Lower Yenisei uplands. A distinctly pronounced strip of hills is formed in the inner part of the plain by the Siberian Uvals (average height - 140-150 m), extending from the west from the Ob to the east to the Yenisei, and the Vasyugan equal to them parallel.

The relief of the plain is largely due to its geological structure. At the base of the West Siberian Plain lies the epihercynian West Siberian plate, the foundation of which is composed of intensely dislocated Paleozoic deposits. The formation of the West Siberian Plate began in the Upper Jurassic, when, as a result of breaking, destruction and regeneration, a huge territory between the Urals and the Siberian platform sank, and a huge sedimentary basin arose. In the course of its development, the West Siberian Plate was captured more than once by marine transgressions. At the end of the Lower Oligocene, the sea left the West Siberian plate, and it turned into a huge lacustrine-alluvial plain. In the middle and late Oligocene and Neogene, the northern part of the plate experienced uplift, which was replaced by subsidence in the Quaternary. The general course of the development of the plate with the subsidence of colossal spaces resembles the process of oceanization that has not reached its end. This feature of the plate is emphasized by the phenomenal development of waterlogging.

Separate geological structures, despite a thick layer of sediments, are reflected in the relief of the plain: for example, the Verkhnetazovsky and Lyulimvor uplands correspond to gently sloping anticlines, and the Baraba and Kondinsky lowlands are confined to the syneclises of the basement of the plate. However, discordant (inversion) morphostructures are also not uncommon in Western Siberia. These include, for example, the Vasyugan Plain, which formed on the site of a gentle syneclise, and the Chulym-Yenisei Plateau, located in the basement trough zone.

The cuff of loose deposits contains groundwater horizons - fresh and mineralized (including brine), hot (up to 100-150 ° C) waters are also found. There are industrial deposits of oil and natural gas (West Siberian oil and gas basin). In the area of the Khanty-Mansiysk syneclise, Krasnoselsky, Salymsky and Surgutsky regions, in the layers of the Bazhenov formation at a depth of 2 km, there are the largest shale oil reserves in Russia.

Climate

The West Siberian Plain is characterized by a harsh, fairly continental climate. Its large extent from north to south causes a distinct climate zoning and significant differences climatic conditions northern and southern parts of Western Siberia. The proximity of the Arctic Ocean also significantly influences the continental climate of Western Siberia. The flat relief contributes to the exchange of air masses between its northern and southern regions.

In the cold period, within the plain, the interaction of the region of relatively increased atmospheric pressure, located above the southern part of the plain, and an area of low pressure, which in the first half of winter extends as a hollow of the Icelandic baric minimum over the Kara Sea and the northern peninsulas. In winter, masses of continental air of temperate latitudes predominate, which come from Eastern Siberia or are formed on the spot as a result of air cooling over the territory of the plain.

In the boundary strip of areas of high and low pressure, cyclones often pass. Therefore, the weather in the coastal provinces is very unstable in winter; on the coast of Yamal and the Gydan Peninsula occur strong winds, the speed of which reaches 35-40 m / s. The temperature here is even somewhat higher than in the neighboring forest-tundra provinces located between 66 and 69°N. sh. Further south, however, winter temperatures gradually rise again. In general, winter is characterized by stable low temperatures, few thaws. Minimum temperatures throughout Western Siberia are almost the same. Even near the southern border of the country, in Barnaul, there are frosts down to -50 -52 °. Spring is short, dry and comparatively cold; April, even in the forest-swamp zone, is not quite yet spring month.

IN warm time year, a lower pressure is established over Western Siberia, and an area of higher pressure is formed over the Arctic Ocean. In connection with this summer, weak northerly or northeasterly winds predominate, and the role of western air transport noticeably increases. In May, there is a rapid increase in temperatures, but often, with the intrusions of arctic air masses, there are returns of cold weather and frosts. The warmest month is July, the average temperature of which is from 3.6° on Bely Island to 21-22° in the Pavlodar region. The absolute maximum temperature is from 21° in the north (Bely Island) to 44° in the extreme southern regions (Rubtsovsk). High summer temperatures in the southern half of Western Siberia are explained by the inflow of heated continental air here from the south - from Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Autumn comes late.

The duration of snow cover in the northern regions reaches 240-270 days, and in the south - 160-170 days. The thickness of the snow cover in the tundra and steppe zones in February is 20-40 cm, in the swampy zone - from 50-60 cm in the west to 70-100 cm in the eastern Yenisei regions.

The harsh climate of the northern regions of Western Siberia contributes to the freezing of soils and the widespread permafrost. On the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas, permafrost is found everywhere. In these areas of its continuous (confluent) distribution, the thickness of the frozen layer is very significant (up to 300-600 m), and its temperatures are low (in watershed spaces - 4, -9 °, in valleys -2, -8 °). Further south, within the limits of the northern taiga up to a latitude of about 64°, permafrost occurs already in the form of isolated islands interspersed with taliks. Its power decreases, temperatures rise to 0.5 -1 °, and the depth of summer thawing also increases, especially in areas composed of mineral deposits. rocks.

Hydrography

The territory of the plain is located within the large West Siberian artesian basin, in which hydrogeologists distinguish several basins of the second order: the Tobolsk, Irtysh, Kulunda-Barnaul, Chulym, Ob, and others. , sandstones) and water-resistant rocks, artesian basins are characterized by a significant number of aquifers associated with formations of various ages - Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Quaternary. The groundwater quality of these horizons is very different. In most cases, artesian waters of deep horizons are more mineralized than those lying closer to the surface.

More than 2000 rivers flow on the territory of the West Siberian Plain, the total length of which exceeds 250 thousand km. These rivers carry about 1200 km³ of water into the Kara Sea annually - 5 times more than the Volga. The density of the river network is not very large and varies in different places depending on the relief and climatic features: in the Tavda basin it reaches 350 km, and in the Baraba forest-steppe - only 29 km per 1000 km². Some southern regions of the country with a total area of more than 445 thousand km² belong to the territories of closed flow and are distinguished by an abundance of endorheic lakes.

The main sources of food for most rivers are melted snow water and summer-autumn rains. In accordance with the nature of food sources, the runoff is seasonally uneven: approximately 70-80% of its annual amount occurs in spring and summer. Especially a lot of water flows down during the spring flood, when the level of large rivers rises by 7-12 m (in the lower reaches of the Yenisei even up to 15-18 m). For a long time (in the south - five, and in the north - eight months) the West Siberian rivers are ice-bound. Therefore, the winter months account for no more than 10% of the annual runoff.

For the rivers of Western Siberia, including the largest - Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei, slight slopes and low flow rates are characteristic. So, for example, the fall of the Ob channel in the section from Novosibirsk to the mouth over 3000 km is only 90 m, and the speed of its flow does not exceed 0.5 m / s.

There are about one million lakes on the West Siberian Plain, the total area of which is more than 100 thousand km². According to the origin of the basins, they are divided into several groups: occupying the primary irregularities of the flat relief; thermokarst; moraine-glacial; lakes of river valleys, which in turn are divided into floodplain and oxbow lakes. Peculiar lakes - "fogs" - are found in the Ural part of the plain. They are located in wide valleys, flood in the spring, sharply reducing their size in the summer, and by autumn, many disappear altogether. In the southern regions, lakes are often filled with salt water. The West Siberian Lowland holds the world record for the number of swamps per unit area (the area of the wetland is about 800 thousand square kilometers). The reasons for this phenomenon are the following factors: excessive moisture, flat relief, permafrost and the ability of peat, which is available here in large quantities, to hold a significant mass of water.

natural areas

The large length from north to south contributes to a pronounced latitudinal zonality in the distribution of soils and vegetation cover. Within the country there are gradually replacing one another tundra, forest-tundra, forest-bog, forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert (in the extreme south) zones. In all zones, rather large areas are occupied by lakes and swamps. Typical zonal landscapes are located on dissected and better drained upland and riverine areas. In poorly drained interfluve spaces, the runoff from which is difficult, and the soils are usually very moist, marsh landscapes prevail in the northern provinces, and landscapes formed under the influence of saline groundwater in the south.

A large area is occupied by the tundra zone, which is explained by the northern position of the West Siberian Plain. To the south is the forest-tundra zone. The forest-bog zone occupies about 60% of the territory of the West Siberian Plain. Broad-leaved and coniferous-broad-leaved forests are absent here. The strip of coniferous forests is followed by a narrow zone of small-leaved (mainly birch) forests. An increase in the continentality of the climate causes a relatively sharp transition, compared to the East European Plain, from forest-bog landscapes to dry steppe spaces in the southern regions of the West Siberian Plain. Therefore, the width of the forest-steppe zone in Western Siberia is much less than on the East European Plain, and of the tree species it contains mainly birch and aspen. In the extreme southern part of the West Siberian Lowland, there is a steppe zone, which is mostly plowed up. Manes - sandy ridges 3-10 meters high (sometimes up to 30 meters), covered with pine forests, make a variety of manes in the flat landscape of the southern regions of Western Siberia.

Gallery

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Landscape of the West Siberian Plain

Steppe in the outskirts of Mariinsk1.jpg

Mariinsky forest-steppes

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the West Siberian Plain

- Maria Bogdanovna! It seems to have begun, ”said Princess Marya, looking at her grandmother with frightened open eyes.
“Well, thank God, princess,” said Marya Bogdanovna without adding a step. You girls don't need to know about this.
“But why hasn’t the doctor arrived from Moscow yet?” - said the princess. (At the request of Lisa and Prince Andrei, they were sent to Moscow for an obstetrician by the deadline, and they were waiting for him every minute.)
“It’s okay, princess, don’t worry,” said Marya Bogdanovna, “and without a doctor everything will be fine.”
Five minutes later the princess heard from her room that something heavy was being carried. She looked out - for some reason the waiters were carrying into the bedroom a leather sofa that stood in Prince Andrei's office. There was something solemn and quiet on the faces of the carrying people.
Princess Marya sat alone in her room, listening to the sounds of the house, occasionally opening the door when they passed by, and looking closely at what was going on in the corridor. Several women walked to and fro with quiet steps, looked back at the princess and turned away from her. She did not dare to ask, shut the door, returned to her room, and either sat down in her chair, or took up her prayer book, or knelt before the kiot. To her misfortune and surprise, she felt that prayer did not calm her excitement. Suddenly the door of her room quietly opened and on the threshold appeared her old nurse, Praskovya Savishna, tied with a handkerchief, who almost never, due to the prince's prohibition, did not enter her room.
“I came to sit with you, Mashenka,” said the nanny, “yes, she brought the prince’s wedding candles in front of the saint to light, my angel,” she said with a sigh.
“Oh, how glad I am, nanny.
“God is merciful, dove. - Nanny lit candles entwined with gold in front of the icon-case and sat down at the door with a stocking. Princess Mary took the book and began to read. Only when footsteps or voices were heard did the princess look frightened, inquiringly, and the nanny looked at each other reassuringly. At all ends of the house, the same feeling that Princess Mary experienced while sitting in her room was overflowing and possessed everyone. I believe that what less people knows about the sufferings of the puerperal, the less she suffers, everyone tried to pretend to be ignorant; no one talked about it, but in all people, except for the usual degree and respectfulness of good manners that reigned in the prince's house, there was one kind of general concern, softened heart and consciousness of something great, incomprehensible, happening at that moment.
There was no laughter in the big girls' room. In the waiter's room, all the people sat in silence, ready for something. On the courtyard they burned torches and candles and did not sleep. The old prince, stepping on his heel, walked around the study and sent Tikhon to Marya Bogdanovna to ask: what? - Just tell me: the prince ordered to ask what? and come and tell me what she will say.
“Report to the prince that the birth has begun,” said Marya Bogdanovna, looking significantly at the messenger. Tikhon went and reported to the prince.
“Very well,” said the prince, shutting the door behind him, and Tikhon no longer heard the slightest sound in the study. A little later, Tikhon entered the office, as if to fix the candles. Seeing that the prince was lying on the sofa, Tikhon looked at the prince, at his upset face, shook his head, silently approached him and, kissing him on the shoulder, went out without adjusting the candles and without saying why he had come. The most solemn sacrament in the world continued to be performed. The evening passed, the night came. And the feeling of expectation and softening of the heart before the incomprehensible did not fall, but rose. Nobody slept.

It was one of those March nights when winter seems to want to take its toll and pour out its last snows and snowstorms with desperate anger. To meet the German doctor from Moscow, who was expected every minute and for whom a set-up was sent to the main road, to the turn into a country road, horsemen with lanterns were sent to lead him along the potholes and gaps.
Princess Mary had long since left the book: she sat in silence, fixing her radiant eyes on the wrinkled, familiar to the smallest detail, face of the nanny: at the strand of gray hair that had come out from under the scarf, at the hanging bag of skin under the chin.
Nanny Savishna, with a stocking in her hands, in a low voice, without hearing or understanding her own words, told hundreds of times about how the deceased princess in Chisinau gave birth to Princess Marya, with a Moldavian peasant woman, instead of a grandmother.
“God have mercy, you never need a doctor,” she said. Suddenly a gust of wind blew on one of the exposed frames of the room (by the prince’s will, one frame was always set up with larks in each room) and, having beaten off the poorly pushed bolt, ruffled the damask curtain, and smelling of cold, snow, blew out the candle. Princess Mary shuddered; the nanny, putting down her stocking, went up to the window, and leaning out began to catch the open frame. Cold wind ruffled the ends of her handkerchief and gray, stray strands of hair.
- Princess, mother, someone is driving along the prefecture! she said, holding the frame and not closing it. - With lanterns, it must be, dokhtur ...
- Oh my god! Thank God! - said Princess Mary, - we must go to meet him: he does not know Russian.
Princess Marya threw on her shawl and ran to meet the travelers. When she passed the front hall, she saw through the window that some kind of carriage and lamps were standing at the entrance. She went out onto the stairs. A tallow candle stood on the railing post and flowed from the wind. The waiter Philip, with a frightened face and with another candle in his hand, was standing below, on the first landing of the stairs. Even lower, around the bend, on the stairs, steps could be heard moving in warm boots. And some kind of familiar voice, as it seemed to Princess Mary, was saying something.
- Thank God! said the voice. - And the father?
“Go to sleep,” answered the voice of the butler Demyan, who was already downstairs.
Then a voice said something else, Demyan answered something, and steps in warm boots began to approach faster along an invisible turn of the stairs. "This is Andrey! thought Princess Mary. No, it can’t be, it would be too unusual, ”she thought, and at the same moment as she thought this, on the platform on which the waiter was standing with a candle, the face and figure of Prince Andrei in a fur coat with a collar sprinkled with snow. Yes, it was him, but pale and thin, and with a changed, strangely softened, but anxious expression on his face. He entered the stairs and hugged his sister.
- You didn't get my letter? he asked, and without waiting for an answer, which he would not have received, because the princess could not speak, he returned, and with the obstetrician, who came in after him (he had gathered with him at the last station), with quick steps again entered the ladder and hugged his sister again. - What a fate! - he said, - Masha is dear - and, throwing off his fur coat and boots, he went to the half of the princess.

The little princess was lying on pillows, in a white cap. (Suffering had just let go of her.) Black hair curled in strands around her inflamed, sweaty cheeks; her ruddy, lovely mouth, with a sponge covered with black hairs, was open, and she smiled joyfully. Prince Andrei entered the room and stopped in front of her, at the foot of the sofa on which she was lying. Brilliant eyes, looking childish, frightened and agitated, rested on him without changing their expression. “I love you all, I didn’t harm anyone, why am I suffering? help me,” her expression said. She saw her husband, but did not understand the meaning of his appearance now before her. Prince Andrei walked around the sofa and kissed her on the forehead.
“My dear,” he said, a word he had never spoken to her. - God is merciful. She looked inquiringly, childishly reproachfully at him.
- I expected help from you, and nothing, nothing, and you too! her eyes said. She was not surprised that he came; she did not understand that he had come. His arrival had nothing to do with her suffering and its relief. The torment began again, and Marya Bogdanovna advised Prince Andrei to leave the room.
The obstetrician entered the room. Prince Andrei went out and, meeting Princess Marya, again approached her. They started talking in a whisper, but every minute the conversation fell silent. They waited and listened.
- Allez, mon ami, [Go, my friend,] - said Princess Mary. Prince Andrei again went to his wife, and sat down in the next room waiting. Some woman came out of her room with a frightened face and was embarrassed when she saw Prince Andrei. He covered his face with his hands and sat there for several minutes. Pathetic, helpless animal moans were heard from behind the door. Prince Andrei got up, went to the door and wanted to open it. Someone held the door.
- You can't, you can't! said a frightened voice from there. He began to walk around the room. The screams ceased, a few more seconds passed. Suddenly a terrible scream - not her scream, she could not scream like that - was heard in the next room. Prince Andrei ran to the door; the cry ceased, the cry of a child was heard.
“Why did they bring a child there? Prince Andrei thought at first. Child? What? ... Why is there a child? Or was it a baby? When he suddenly understood all the joyous meaning of this cry, tears choked him, and, leaning on the window-sill with both hands, he sobbed, sobbing, as children cry. The door opened. The doctor, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, without his coat, pale and with a trembling jaw, left the room. Prince Andrei turned to him, but the doctor looked at him in bewilderment and, without saying a word, passed by. The woman ran out and, seeing Prince Andrei, hesitated on the threshold. He entered his wife's room. She lay dead in the same position in which he had seen her five minutes earlier, and the same expression, despite the fixed eyes and the pallor of her cheeks, was on that lovely, childish face with a sponge covered with black hairs.
“I love you all and have done no harm to anyone, and what have you done to me?” her lovely, pitiful, dead face spoke. In the corner of the room, something small and red grunted and squeaked in Marya Bogdanovna's white, trembling hands.

Two hours later, Prince Andrei with quiet steps entered his father's office. The old man already knew everything. He stood at the very door, and as soon as it opened, the old man silently clasped his son's neck with senile, hard hands, like a vise, and sobbed like a child.

Three days later, the little princess was buried, and, saying goodbye to her, Prince Andrei ascended the steps of the coffin. And in the coffin was the same face, although with closed eyes. "Oh, what have you done to me?" everything said it, and Prince Andrei felt that something had come off in his soul, that he was guilty of guilt, which he could not correct and not forget. He couldn't cry. The old man also entered and kissed her wax pen, which lay high and calm on the other, and her face said to him: “Ah, what and why did you do this to me?” And the old man turned away angrily when he saw that face.

Five days later, the young Prince Nikolai Andreevich was baptized. Mammy held the diapers with her chin, while the priest smeared the boy's wrinkled red palms and steps with a goose feather.
The godfather, the grandfather, fearing to drop, shuddering, carried the baby around a crumpled tin font and handed him over to his godmother, Princess Marya. Prince Andrei, trembling with fear that the child would not be drowned, sat in another room, waiting for the end of the sacrament. He joyfully looked at the child when his nanny carried him out, and nodded his head approvingly when the nanny informed him that the wax with hairs thrown into the font did not sink, but floated along the font.

Rostov's participation in the duel between Dolokhov and Bezukhov was hushed up through the efforts of the old count, and Rostov, instead of being demoted, as he expected, was appointed adjutant to the Moscow governor general. As a result, he could not go to the village with the whole family, but remained at his new position all summer in Moscow. Dolokhov recovered, and Rostov became especially friendly with him at this time of his recovery. Dolokhov lay ill with his mother, who passionately and tenderly loved him. Old Marya Ivanovna, who fell in love with Rostov for his friendship with Fedya, often spoke to him about her son.
“Yes, count, he is too noble and pure in soul,” she used to say, “for our present, corrupted world. No one likes virtue, it pricks everyone's eyes. Well, tell me, Count, is this fair, is it honestly from Bezukhov's side? And Fedya, in his nobility, loved him, and now he never says anything bad about him. In St. Petersburg, these pranks with the quarterly were joking there, because they did it together? Well, nothing to Bezukhov, but Fedya endured everything on his shoulders! After all, what did he endure! Let's say they returned it, but why not return it? I think there were not many brave men and sons of the fatherland like him. Well now - this duel! Do these people have a sense of honor! Knowing that he is the only son, challenge him to a duel and shoot so straight! It's good that God has mercy on us. And for what? Well, who in our time does not have intrigue? Well, if he is so jealous? I understand, because before he could make you feel, otherwise the year went on. And well, he challenged him to a duel, believing that Fedya would not fight, because he owed him. What meanness! That's disgusting! I know you understand Fedya, my dear Count, that's why I love you with my soul, believe me. Few people understand him. This is such a high, heavenly soul!
Dolokhov himself often, during his recovery, spoke to Rostov such words that could not be expected from him. - They consider me an evil person, I know, - he used to say, - and let them. I don't want to know anyone except those whom I love; but whom I love, I love him so that I will give my life, and I will hand over the rest to everyone if they stand on the road. I have an adored, invaluable mother, two or three friends, including you, and I pay attention to the rest only as much as they are useful or harmful. And almost all are harmful, especially women. Yes, my soul, - he continued, - I met men who were loving, noble, exalted; but women, except for corrupt creatures - countesses or cooks, all the same - I have not yet met. I have not yet met that heavenly purity, devotion, which I am looking for in a woman. If I found such a woman, I would give my life for her. And these!…” He made a contemptuous gesture. – And do you believe me, if I still value life, I value it only because I still hope to meet such a heavenly being who would revive, purify and elevate me. But you don't understand it.
“No, I understand very well,” answered Rostov, who was under the influence of his new friend.

In autumn the Rostov family returned to Moscow. At the beginning of winter, Denisov also returned and stopped at the Rostovs. This first time of the winter of 1806, spent by Nikolai Rostov in Moscow, was one of the happiest and most cheerful for him and for his entire family. Nikolai attracted many young people to his parents' house. Faith was twenty years old, beautiful girl; Sonya sixteen summer girl in all the beauty of a freshly blossoming flower; Natasha is half young lady, half girl, sometimes childishly funny, sometimes girlishly charming.
At that time, some special atmosphere of love arose in the Rostovs' house, as happens in a house where there are very nice and very young girls. Every young man who came to the Rostovs' house, looking at these young, receptive, for some reason (probably their happiness) smiling, girlish faces, at this lively bustle, listening to this inconsistent, but affectionate to everyone, ready for anything, filled with hope, the babble of a woman's young people, listening to these inconsistent sounds, now singing, now music, experienced the same feeling of readiness for love and expectation of happiness that the youth of the Rostov house itself experienced.
Among the young people introduced by Rostov, was one of the first - Dolokhov, who liked everyone in the house, except for Natasha. For Dolokhov, she almost quarreled with her brother. She insisted that he was an evil person, that in a duel with Bezukhov, Pierre was right, and Dolokhov was to blame, that he was unpleasant and unnatural.
“There is nothing for me to understand,” Natasha shouted with stubborn self-will, “he is angry and without feelings. Well, after all, I love your Denisov, he was a carouser, and that’s all, but I still love him, so I understand. I don't know how to tell you; He has everything planned, and I don't like it. Denisova…
“Well, Denisov is another matter,” answered Nikolai, making it feel that even Denisov was nothing in comparison with Dolokhov, “you need to understand what kind of soul this Dolokhov has, you need to see him with his mother, it’s such a heart!
“I don’t know about that, but I’m embarrassed with him. And do you know that he fell in love with Sonya?
- What nonsense ...
- I'm sure you'll see. - Natasha's prediction came true. Dolokhov, who did not like ladies' society, began to visit the house often, and the question of for whom he traveled was soon (although no one spoke about it) resolved so that he traveled for Sonya. And Sonya, although she would never have dared to say this, knew this, and every time, like a red tan, she blushed at the appearance of Dolokhov.
Dolokhov often dined with the Rostovs, never missed a performance where they were, and attended balls of adolescentes [teenagers] at Iogel, where the Rostovs always visited. He paid primary attention to Sonya and looked at her with such eyes that not only she could not stand this look without paint, but the old countess and Natasha blushed when they noticed this look.
It was evident that this strong, strange man was under the irresistible influence exerted on him by this dark, graceful, loving girl.
Rostov noticed something new between Dolokhov and Sonya; but he did not define for himself what kind of new relationship it was. “They are all in love with someone there,” he thought about Sonya and Natasha. But he was not like before, deftly with Sonya and Dolokhov, and he began to be at home less often.
Since the autumn of 1806, everything again started talking about the war with Napoleon with even more fervor than last year. Not only a set of recruits was appointed, but also 9 more warriors out of a thousand. Everywhere they cursed Bonaparte with an anathema, and in Moscow there was only talk about the upcoming war. For the Rostov family, the whole interest of these preparations for war consisted only in the fact that Nikolushka would never agree to stay in Moscow and only waited for the end of Denisov's vacation in order to go with him to the regiment after the holidays. The impending departure not only did not prevent him from having fun, but also encouraged him to do so. He spent most of his time away from home, at dinners, parties and balls.

The West Siberian Plain belongs to the accumulative type and is one of the largest low-lying plains on the planet. Geographically, it belongs to the West Siberian plate. On its territory there are regions of the Russian Federation and the northern part of Kazakhstan. The tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain is ambiguous and diverse.

Russia is located on the territory of Eurasia, the largest continent on the planet, which includes two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. The tectonic structure separates the cardinal points Ural mountains. The map makes it possible to visually see the geological structure of the country. Tectonic zoning divides the territory of Russia into such geological elements as platforms and folded areas. The geological structure is directly related to the topography of the surface. Tectonic structures and landforms depend on which area they belong to.

Within Russia, several geological regions are distinguished. The tectonic structures of Russia are represented by platforms, folded belts and mountain systems. On the territory of the country, almost all areas have undergone folding processes.

The main platforms within the territory of the country are East European, Siberian, West Siberian, Pechora and Scythian. They, in turn, are divided into plateaus, lowlands and plains.

Relief of Western Siberia

The territory of Western Siberia gradually plunges from south to north. The relief of the territory is represented by a wide variety of its forms and is complex in origin. One of the important relief criteria is the difference in absolute elevations. On the West Siberian Plain, the difference in absolute marks is tens of meters.

The flat terrain and slight elevation changes are due to the small amplitude of plate movement. On the periphery of the plain, the maximum amplitude of uplifts reaches 100-150 meters. In the central and northern parts, the amplitude of subsidence is 100-150 meters. The tectonic structure of the Central Siberian Plateau and the West Siberian Plain was relatively calm in the Late Cenozoic.

The geographical structure of the West Siberian Plain

Geographically, in the north, the plain borders on the Kara Sea, in the south, the border runs along the north of Kazakhstan and captures a small part of it, in the west it is controlled by the Ural Mountains, in the east - by the Central Siberian Plateau. From north to south, the length of the plain is about 2500 km, the length from west to east varies from 800 to 1900 km. The area of the plain is about 3 million km2.

The relief of the plain is monotonous, almost even, occasionally the height of the relief reaches 100 meters above sea level. In its western, southern and northern parts, the height can reach up to 300 meters. The lowering of the territory occurs from south to north. In general, the tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain is reflected in the terrain.

The main rivers flow through the territory of the plain - the Yenisei, the Ob, the Irtysh, there are lakes and swamps. The climate is continental.

Geological structure of the West Siberian Plain

The location of the West Siberian Plain is confined to the epihercynian plate of the same name. The basement rocks are highly dislocated and belong to the Paleozoic period of time. They are covered with a layer of marine and continental Mesozoic-Cenozoic deposits (sandstones, clays, etc.) more than 1000 meters thick. In the depressions of the foundation, this thickness reaches up to 3000-4000 meters. In the southern part of the plain, the youngest are observed - alluvial-lacustrine deposits, in the northern part there are more mature - glacial-marine deposits.

The tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain includes a basement and a cover.

The foundation of the slab has the form of a depression with steep sides from the east and northeast and gentle sides from the south and west. The basement blocks belong to the pre-Paleozoic, Baikal, Caledonian and Hercynian times. The foundation is dissected by deep faults different ages. The largest faults of submeridional strike are East Zauralsky and Omsk-Pursky. The map of tectonic structures shows that the basement surface of the slab has an Outer marginal belt and an Inner region. The entire surface of the foundation is complicated by a system of uplifts and depressions.

The cover is interbedded with coastal-continental and marine deposits with a thickness of 3000-4000 meters in the south and 7000-8000 meters in the north.

Central Siberian Plateau

The Central Siberian Plateau is located in the north of Eurasia. It is located between the West Siberian plain in the west, the Central Yakut plain in the east, the North Siberian lowland in the north, the Baikal region, Transbaikalia and the Eastern Sayan mountains in the south.

The tectonic structure of the Central Siberian Plateau is confined to the Siberian Platform. The composition of its sedimentary rocks corresponds to the period of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Characteristic rocks for it are bedded intrusions, which consist of traps and basalt covers.

The relief of the plateau consists of wide plateaus and ridges, at the same time there are valleys with steep slopes. Average Height the difference in the relief is 500-700 meters, but there are parts of the plateau, where the absolute mark rises above 1000 meters, such areas include the Angara-Lena plateau. One of the highest parts of the territory is the Putorana Plateau, its height is 1701 meters above sea level.

median ridge

chief watershed range Kamchatka is a mountain range consisting of systems of peaks and passes. The ridge stretches from north to south and its length is 1200 km. In its northern part, a large number of passes are concentrated, central part represents large distances between the peaks, in the south there is a strong dissection of the massif, and the asymmetry of the slopes characterize the Sredinny ridge. The tectonic structure is reflected in the relief. It consists of volcanoes, lava plateaus, mountain ranges, peaks covered with glaciers.

The ridge is complicated by structures of the lower order, the most striking of them are the Malkinsky, Kozyrevsky, Bystrinsky ridges.

The highest point belongs to and is 3621 meters. Some volcanoes, such as Khuvkhoytun, Alnay, Shishel, Ostraya Sopka, exceed the mark of 2500 meters.

Ural mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain system that is located between the East European and West Siberian plains. Its length is more than 2000 km, the width varies from 40 to 150 km.

The tectonic structure of the Ural Mountains belongs to the ancient folded system. In the Paleozoic, there was a geosyncline and the sea splashed. Starting from the Paleozoic, the formation of the mountain system of the Urals takes place. The main formation of folds occurred in the Hercynian period.

Intensive folding took place on the eastern slope of the Urals, which was accompanied by deep faults and the release of intrusions, the dimensions of which reached about 120 km in length and 60 km in width. The folds here are compressed, overturned, complicated by overthrusts.

Folding was less intense on the western slope. The folds here are simple, without overthrusts. There are no intrusions.

Pressure from the east was created by a tectonic structure - the Russian platform, the foundation of which prevented the formation of folding. Gradually, folded mountains appeared on the site of the Ural geosyncline.

In tectonic terms, the entire Urals is a complex complex of anticlinoria and synclinoria, separated by deep faults.

The relief of the Urals is asymmetrical from east to west. The eastern slope drops steeply towards the West Siberian Plain. The gentle western slope smoothly passes into the East European Plain. The asymmetry was caused by the activity of the tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain.

Baltic Shield

It belongs to the northwest of the East European Platform, is the largest protrusion of its basement and is elevated above sea level. In the northwest, the border runs with the folded structures of Caledonia-Scandinavia. In the south and southeast, the rocks of the shield submerge under the cover of sedimentary rocks of the East European Plate.

Geographically, the shield is tied to the southeastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, to the Kola Peninsula and Karelia.

The structure of the shield involves three segments, different in age - South Scandinavian (western), Central and Kola-Karelian (eastern). The South Scandinavian sector is tied to the south of Sweden and Norway. The Murmansk block stands out in its composition.

The central sector is located in Finland and Sweden. It includes the Central Kola block and is located in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.

The Kola-Karelian sector is located on the territory of Russia. It belongs to the most ancient formation structures. In the structure of the Kola-Karelian sector, several tectonic elements are distinguished: Murmansk, Central Kola, Belomorian, Karelian, they are separated from each other by deep faults.

Kola Peninsula

It is tectonically tied to the northeastern part of the Baltic crystalline shield, composed of rocks of ancient origin - granites and gneisses.

The relief of the peninsula adopted the features of the crystalline shield and reflects traces of faults and cracks. On the appearance The peninsulas were influenced by glaciers that flattened the tops of the mountains.

The peninsula is divided into western and eastern parts according to the nature of the relief. The relief of the eastern part is not as complex as the western one. The mountains of the Kola Peninsula are in the form of pillars - on the tops of the mountains there are flat plateaus with steep slopes, at the bottom there are lowlands. The plateau is cut by deep valleys and gorges. The Lovozero tundra and the Khibiny are located in the western part, the tectonic structure of the latter belongs to mountain ranges.

Khibiny

Geographically, the Khibiny are assigned to the central part of the Kola Peninsula, they are a large mountain range. The geological age of the massif exceeds 350 Ma. Mountain Khibiny is a tectonic structure, which is an intrusive body (solidified magma) of complex structure and composition. From a geological point of view, an intrusion is not an erupted volcano. The massif continues to rise even now, the change is 1-2 cm per year. The intrusive massif contains more than 500 types of minerals.

Not a single glacier has been found in the Khibiny, but traces of ancient ice are found. The peaks of the massif are plateau-like, the slopes are steep with a large number of snowfields, avalanches are active, and there are many mountain lakes. The Khibiny are relatively low mountains. The highest elevation above sea level belongs to Mount Yudychvumchorr and corresponds to 1200.6 m.

WESTERN SIBERIAN PLAIN, The West Siberian Lowland, one of the largest plains in the world (the third largest after the Amazonian and East European plains), is located in the north of Asia, in Russia and Kazakhstan. It occupies the whole of Western Siberia, stretching from the coast of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Turgai plateau and the Kazakh uplands in the south, from the Urals in the west to the Central Siberian plateau in the east. The length from north to south is up to 2500 km, from west to east from 900 km in (north) to 2000 (in south). The area is about 3 million km 2, including 2.6 million km 2 in Russia. The prevailing heights do not exceed 150 m. The lowest parts of the plain (50–100 m) are located mainly in its central (Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya lowlands) and northern (Nizhneobskaya, Nadymskaya and Purskaya lowlands) parts. Highest point The West Siberian Plain - up to 317 m - is located on the Priobsky plateau.

At the base of the West Siberian Plain lies West Siberian platform. To the east it borders on Siberian platform, in the south - with Paleozoic structures of Central Kazakhstan, the Altai-Sayan region, in the west - with the folded system of the Urals.

Relief

The surface is a low accumulative plain with a rather uniform relief (more uniform than that of the East European Plain), the main elements of which are wide flat interfluves and river valleys; various forms of manifestation of permafrost (common up to 59 ° N), increased waterlogging, and developed (mainly in the south in loose rocks and soils) ancient and modern salt accumulation are characteristic. In the north, in the area of distribution of marine accumulative and moraine plains (Nadymskaya and Purskaya lowlands), the general flatness of the territory is disturbed by moraine gently sloping and hilly-sloping (North-Sosvinskaya, Lyulimvor, Verkhne-, Srednetazovskaya, etc.) uplands 200–300 m high, the southern boundary of which runs around 61–62 ° N. sh.; they are horseshoe-shaped covered from the south by flat-topped uplands, including the Poluyskaya Upland, Belogorsky Mainland, Tobolsky Mainland, Siberian Uvaly (245 m), etc. In the north, permafrost exogenous processes (thermal erosion, heaving of soils, solifluction) are widespread, deflation is common on sandy surfaces, in swamps - peat accumulation. Permafrost is ubiquitous on the Yamal, Tazovsky, and Gydansky peninsulas; the thickness of the frozen layer is very significant (up to 300–600 m).

To the south, the area of moraine relief is adjoined by flat lacustrine and lacustrine-alluvial lowlands, the lowest (40–80 m high) and swampy of which are the Konda lowland and the Sredneobskaya lowland with the Surgut lowland (105 m high). This territory, not covered by the Quaternary glaciation (to the south of the line Ivdel - Ishim - Novosibirsk - Tomsk - Krasnoyarsk), is a poorly dissected denudation plain, rising up to 250 m to the west, to the foothills of the Urals. In the interfluve of the Tobol and the Irtysh, there is an inclined, in places with ridges, lacustrine-alluvial Ishim Plain(120–220 m) with a thin cover of loess-like loams and loess occurring on salt-bearing clays. It is adjacent to alluvial Baraba lowland, Vasyugan Plain and Kulunda Plain, where the processes of deflation and modern salt accumulation are developed. In the foothills of Altai - the Ob plateau and the Chulym plain.

On the geological structure and minerals, see Art. West Siberian platform ,

Climate

The West Siberian Plain is dominated by a harsh continental climate. The significant length of the territory from north to south determines the well-defined latitudinal zonality of the climate and noticeable differences in the climatic conditions of the northern and southern parts of the plain. The nature of the climate is significantly influenced by the Arctic Ocean, as well as the flat relief, which contributes to the unhindered exchange of air masses between north and south. Winter in the polar latitudes is severe and lasts up to 8 months (the polar night lasts almost 3 months); the average January temperature is from -23 to -30 °C. In the central part of the plain, winter lasts almost 7 months; the average January temperature is from -20 to -22 °C. In the southern part of the plain, where the influence of the Asian anticyclone is increasing, at the same average monthly temperatures, winter is shorter - 5–6 months. Minimum air temperature -56 °C. The duration of snow cover in the northern regions reaches 240–270 days, and in the southern regions - 160–170 days. The thickness of the snow cover in the tundra and steppe zones is 20–40 cm; in the forest zone, from 50–60 cm in the west to 70–100 cm in the east. In summer, the western transfer of Atlantic air masses predominates with intrusions of cold Arctic air in the north, and dry warm air masses from Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the south. In the north of the plain, summer, which occurs under polar day conditions, is short, cool, and humid; in the central part - moderately warm and humid, in the south - arid and dry with dry winds and dust storms. The average July temperature rises from 5°C in the Far North to 21–22°C in the south. The duration of the growing season in the south is 175–180 days. Atmospheric precipitation falls mainly in summer (from May to October - up to 80% of precipitation). Most precipitation - up to 600 mm per year - falls in the forest zone; the wettest are the Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya lowlands. To the north and south, in the tundra and steppe zone, the annual precipitation gradually decreases to 250 mm.

surface water

On the territory of the West Siberian Plain, more than 2,000 rivers flow, belonging to the basin of the Arctic Ocean. Their total flow is about 1200 km 3 of water per year; up to 80% of the annual runoff occurs in spring and summer. The largest rivers - the Ob, Yenisei, Irtysh, Taz and their tributaries - flow in well developed deep (up to 50–80 m) valleys with a steep right bank and a system of low terraces on the left bank. The feeding of the rivers is mixed (snow and rain), the spring flood is extended, the low water is long summer-autumn and winter. All rivers are characterized by slight slopes and low flow rates. The ice cover on the rivers lasts up to 8 months in the north, up to 5 months in the south. Large rivers are navigable, are important rafting and transportation routes, and, in addition, have large reserves of hydropower resources.

There are about 1 million lakes on the West Siberian Plain, the total area of which is more than 100 thousand km2. The largest lakes are Chany, Ubinskoye, Kulundinskoye, and others. Lakes of thermokarst and moraine-glacial origin are widespread in the north. There are many small lakes in the suffusion depressions (less than 1 km 2): on the interfluve of the Tobol and Irtysh - more than 1500, on the Baraba lowland - 2500, among them there are many fresh, salty and bitter-salty ones; there are self-sustaining lakes. The West Siberian Plain is distinguished by a record number of swamps per unit area (the area of the wetland is about 800 thousand km 2).

Landscape types

The uniformity of the relief of the vast West Siberian Plain determines the clearly pronounced latitudinal zonality of landscapes, although, compared with the East European Plain, the natural zones here are shifted to the north; landscape differences within the zones are less noticeable than on the East European Plain, and the zone deciduous forests missing. Due to the poor drainage of the territory, hydromorphic complexes play a prominent role: swamps and swampy forests occupy about 128 million hectares here, and in the steppe and forest-steppe zones there are many solonetzes, solods and solonchaks.

On the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas, in conditions of continuous permafrost, landscapes of arctic and subarctic tundra with moss, lichen and shrub (dwarf birch, willow, alder) vegetation have formed on gleyzems, peat-gleyzems, peat-podburs and soddy soils. Polygonal grass-hypnum swamps are widespread. The share of primary landscapes is extremely insignificant. To the south, tundra landscapes and swamps (mostly flat-hummocky) are combined with larch and spruce-larch light forests on podzolic-gley and peat-podzolic-gley soils, forming a narrow forest-tundra zone, transitional to the forest (forest-bog) zone of the temperate zone, represented by subzones of the northern, middle and southern taiga. Swampiness is common to all subzones: over 50% of the area of the northern taiga, about 70% of the middle taiga, and about 50% of the southern taiga. The northern taiga is characterized by flat and large hillocky raised bogs, the middle taiga is characterized by ridge-hollow and ridge-lake bogs, the southern taiga is characterized by ridge-hollow, pine-shrub-sphagnum, transitional sedge-sphagnum and fen woody-sedge bogs. The largest swamp Vasyugan Plain. The forest complexes of different subzones, formed on slopes with different degrees of drainage, are peculiar.

Northern taiga forests on permafrost are represented by sparse low-growing, heavily waterlogged, pine, pine-spruce and spruce-fir forests on gley-podzolic and podzolic-gley soils. The indigenous landscapes of the northern taiga occupy 11% of the plain area. Indigenous landscapes in the middle taiga occupy 6% of the area of the West Siberian Plain, in the southern - 4%. Common to the forest landscapes of the middle and southern taiga is the wide distribution of lichen and shrub-sphagnum pine forests on sandy and sandy loamy illuvial-ferruginous and illuvial-humus podzols. On loams in the middle taiga, along with extensive swamps, spruce-cedar forests with larch and birch forests are developed on podzolic, podzolic-gley, peat-podzolic-gley and gley peat-podzols.

In the subzone of the southern taiga on loams - spruce-fir and fir-cedar (including urman - dense dark coniferous forests with a predominance of fir) small-grass forests and birch forests with aspen on sod-podzolic and sod-podzolic-gley (including with a second humus horizon) and peat-podzolic-gley soils.

The subtaiga zone is represented by park pine, birch and birch-aspen forests on gray, gray gley and soddy-podzolic soils (including those with a second humus horizon) in combination with steppe meadows on cryptogley chernozems, solonetsous in places. Indigenous forest and meadow landscapes are practically not preserved. Boggy forests turn into lowland sedge-hypnum (with ryams) and sedge-reed bogs (about 40% of the zone). Forest-steppe landscapes of sloping plains with loess-like and loess covers on salt-bearing tertiary clays are characterized by birch and aspen-birch groves on gray soils and solods in combination with forb-grass steppe meadows on leached and cryptogleyed chernozems, to the south - with meadow steppes on ordinary chernozems, in places solonetzic and saline. On the sands are pine forests. Up to 20% of the zone is occupied by eutrophic reed-sedge bogs. In the steppe zone, the primary landscapes have not been preserved; in the past, these were forb-feather grass steppe meadows on ordinary and southern chernozems, sometimes saline, and in drier southern regions - fescue-feather grass steppes on chestnut and cryptogley soils, gley solonetzes and solonchaks.

Environmental issues and protected natural areas

In areas of oil production due to pipeline breaks, water and soil are polluted with oil and oil products. In forestry areas - overcutting, waterlogging, the spread of silkworms, fires. In agricultural landscapes, there is an acute problem of lack of fresh water, secondary salinization of soils, destruction of soil structure and loss of soil fertility during plowing, drought and dust storms. In the north, there is degradation of reindeer pastures, in particular due to overgrazing, which leads to a sharp reduction in their biodiversity. No less important is the problem of preserving hunting grounds and natural habitats of fauna.

Numerous reserves, national and natural parks have been created to study and protect typical and rare natural landscapes. Among the largest reserves: in the tundra - the Gydansky reserve, in the northern taiga - the Verkhnetazovsky reserve, in the middle taiga - the Yugansky reserve and Malaya Sosva, etc. The national park Pripyshminsky Bory was created in the subtaiga. Natural parks are also organized: in the tundra - Deer streams, in the north. taiga - Numto, Siberian Ridges, in the middle taiga - Kondinsky lakes, in the forest-steppe - Bird's harbor.

The first acquaintance of Russians with Western Siberia took place, probably, as early as the 11th century, when the Novgorodians visited the lower reaches of the Ob River. With the campaign of Yermak (1582–85), a period of discoveries began in Siberia and the development of its territory.

And the river of the West Siberian lowland. West Siberian Plain: location and extent

I. Physical and geographical characteristics of the mainland

3. Physical and geographical characteristics

1.1 Physical and geographical characteristics of Russia

2. Physical and geographical characteristics

6. Prospects for the development of Western Siberia

CHAPTER 1. PHYSICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICA

2.1 Physical and geographical characteristics

Chapter 2. Landscapes of Western Siberia

1.1. General physical and geographical characteristics

Chapter II. Physico-geographical characteristics.

1. Physical and geographical characteristics of Indochina

1. Physical and geographical characteristics of Australia

1 Physical and geographical characteristics

Chapter 1. Physical and geographical characteristics of Australia

1. City: main features and properties

1. Fauna of Western Siberia

1.1 Characteristics of the natural conditions of Western Siberia

1.2 General characteristics and species composition of the fauna of Western Siberia

2. Protection and rational use of the fauna of Western Siberia

1. Natural and climatic characteristics of the territory of Western Siberia

1.1 Climate of Western Siberia

1.3 Forest soils of Western Siberia

2.1 Types of forests in Western Siberia

3. The main patterns of distribution and development of forest vegetation and the principles of forestry in Western Siberia

2.2 Neotectonics

2.2 Features of the geological structure and relief

2. Environmental pollution as a global problem in Western Siberia

1.1 The significance of the relief as a factor in swamp formation

Chapter 1. Environmental impact in Western Siberia

1. West Siberian lowland

2.

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6.

7.

8.

9.

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11.

12.

West Siberian Lowland

Features of Western Siberia

Map of Western Siberia

General information about Western Siberia

Relief and geological structure

Climate

Hydrography

natural areas

Gallery

see also

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Notes

Links

An excerpt characterizing the West Siberian Plain

Relief of Western Siberia

The geographical structure of the West Siberian Plain

Geological structure of the West Siberian Plain

Central Siberian Plateau

median ridge

Ural mountains

Baltic Shield

Kola Peninsula

Khibiny

Relief

Climate

surface water

Landscape types

Environmental issues and protected natural areas