Description of the West Siberian Plain according to plan. West Siberian Plain. Borders and area

The West Siberian Plain is not only one of the largest objects of this kind in the world globe. It is the most developed and populated part of Siberia. Its borders are marked by the steppes of Kazakhstan, the shores of the Kara Sea, the Urals and the Central Siberian Plateau. The first characteristics of the West Siberian Plain were formed after Ermak’s campaign and his conquest of the region. But serious study was carried out much later.

Speaking the language of numbers

The shape of the plain resembles a trapezoid with a narrow side in the north. Its width ranges from 800 to 1900 km, its length is about 2500 km. The total area of the area is almost three million square kilometers. The plain has a slope coming from the south. But its entire territory is distinguished by an exceptionally flat surface without large differences in altitude (up to one hundred meters above sea level). Only near the borders (except for the northern part) there are hills reaching up to 300 m.

Composition of the plain

To give full description West Siberian Plain, it is necessary to describe its components separately. The entire territory is divided into several parts. This:

The Ishim Plain, located between the Irtysh and Tobol rivers. This is a flat area, indented by basins, hollows, and ridges. It has a large number of lakes (fresh, salty, bitter-salty). The soil is suitable for farming, so almost the entire plain is plowed.
The Kulunda Plain is located between the Irtysh and Ob. It is distinguished by the presence of high ridges, depressions filled with rivers, drainless lakes and deposits of salt and soda. Much of the plain is used for agriculture.
The Baraba Lowland is an undulating plain dominated by birch forests, swamps, salt marshes and meadows. Part of it is plowed, land reclamation is being carried out, and the area specializes in agriculture and dairy farming.
The Vasyugan Plain is a heavily swampy area between the Ob and Irtysh. Here is the largest swamp in the world (Vasyuganskoye), and many rivers. Rich deposits of oil, gas, peat and iron ore have been discovered.
Siberian Uvaly is a chain of hills that stretches from the Ob from west to east to the Yenisei. The area is covered with coniferous and small-leaved trees (taiga).
The Irtysh Plain stretches for 800 km along the Irtysh. Used for agricultural work (farming and dairy farming) in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Other terrain features

The characteristics of the West Siberian Plain will be incomplete without mentioning the climate, rivers, flora and fauna. There is a very harsh continental climate here. In the southern part, droughts are common; snow cover lasts up to six months. The region is rich in underground water; there are many rivers on the surface. The largest of them are the Ob, Yenisei and Irtysh, which are characterized by a slow and calm current. They contain bream and carp. Trees on the plain include birch, linden, pine, cedar, and aspen. The fauna is represented by almost five hundred species, among which the most common are: hamster, chipmunk, mink, and teledut squirrel.

The eastern territories of Russian Asia open from the Ural Mountains to the West Siberian Plain. Its settlement by Russians began in the 16th century, from the time of Ermak’s campaign. The expedition's route ran from the south of the plain.

These territories are still the most densely populated. However, we must remember that already in the 11th century the Novgorodians established trade relations with the population on the lower Ob.

Geographical position

The West Siberian Plain is washed from the north by the harsh Kara Sea. In the east, along the border of the Yenisei River basin, it neighbors the Central Siberian Plateau. The southeast is protected by the snowy foothills of Altai. In the south, the Kazakh small hills became the border of flat territories. The western border, as stated above, is the oldest mountains of Eurasia - the Ural Mountains.

Relief and landscape of the plain: features

A unique feature of the plain is that all the heights on it are very weakly expressed, both in absolute and relative values. The area of the West Siberian Plain, very low-lying, with many river channels, is swampy on 70 percent of the territory.

The lowland stretches from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to the southern steppes of Kazakhstan and almost all is located within the territory of our country. The plain provides a unique opportunity to see five natural zones with their characteristic landscape and climate conditions.

The relief is typical of low-lying river basins. Small hills alternating with swamps occupy the interfluve areas. The south is dominated by areas with saline groundwater.

Natural areas, cities and plain regions

Western Siberia is represented by five natural zones.

(Swampy area in the tundra of the Vasyugan swamps, Tomsk region)

The tundra occupies a narrow strip in the north of the Tyumen region and almost immediately turns into forest-tundra. In the extreme northern areas you can find massifs of a combination of lichens and mosses of Western Siberia. The area is dominated by swampy terrain, turning into open forest-tundra. Vegetation here includes larch and bushes.

The taiga of Western Siberia is characterized by dark coniferous zones with a variety of cedar, northern spruce and fir. Occasionally you can find pine forests occupying areas between the swamps. Most of the lowland landscape is occupied by endless swamps. One way or another, the whole of Western Siberia is characterized by swampiness, but there is also a unique natural massif here - the largest swamp in the world, the Vasyugan swamp. It occupied large territories in the southern taiga.

(Forest-steppe)

Closer to the south, nature changes - the taiga brightens, turning into forest-steppe. Aspen-birch forests and meadows with coppice appear. The Ob basin is decorated with pine island forests that arose naturally.

The steppe zone occupies the south of the Omsk and southwestern parts of the Novosibirsk regions. Also, the area of distribution of the steppe reaches the western part of the Altai Territory, which includes the Kulundinskaya, Aleiskaya and Biyskaya steppes. The territory of ancient water drainages is occupied by pine forests

(Fields in the taiga of the Tyumen region, Yugra)

The West Siberian Plain provides the opportunity for active land use. It is very rich in oil and almost all of it is lined with production rigs. The region's developed economy attracts new residents. Large cities in the northern and central parts of the West Siberian Plain are well known: Urengoy, Nefteyugansk, Nizhnevartovsk. In the south are the cities of Tomsk, Tyumen, Kurgan, Omsk.

Rivers and lakes of the plain

(Yenisei River on hilly-flat terrain)

Rivers flowing through the West Siberian Lowland flow into the Kara Sea. The Ob is not only the longest river of the plain, but together with its tributary the Irtysh, it is the longest water artery in Russia. However, there are also rivers on the plain that do not belong to the Obi basin - Nadym, Pur, Taz and Tobol.

The territory is rich in lakes. They are divided into two groups according to the nature of their occurrence: some were formed in pits dug by a glacier passing through the lowlands, and some - in places of ancient swamps. The area holds the world record for swampiness.

Plain climate

Western Siberia in its north is covered with permafrost. A continental climate is observed throughout the plain. Most of the plain's territory is very susceptible to the influence of its formidable neighbor - the Arctic Ocean, whose air masses unhindered dominate the lowland region. Its cyclones dictate precipitation and temperature patterns. In areas of the plain where the Arctic, subarctic and temperate zones converge, cyclones often occur, leading to rain. In winter, cyclones generated at the junctions of the temperate and arctic zones soften the frosts in the north of the plains.

More precipitation falls in the north of the plain - up to 600 ml per year. Temperatures in the north in January on average do not rise above 22°C, in the south at the same time frosts reach 16°C. In July in the north and south of the plain, it is 4°C and 22°C, respectively.

The West Siberian Plain (West Siberian Lowland), one of the largest low-lying accumulative plains on the globe. It occupies most of Western Siberia, stretching from the coast of the Kara Sea in the north to the Kazakh hillocks and the foothills of Altai in the south, between the Urals in the west and the Central Siberian Plateau in the east. The area is about 3 million km2.

The surface is slightly dissected, with slight elevation differences (from 50 to 300 m). Wide, flat interfluves predominate, complicated by moraine hills and ridges (in the north) or low ridges (in the south); The Vasyugan Plain, Barabinskaya, Ishimskaya, Kulundinskaya steppes stand out. Small elevations are characteristic (Priobskoe plateau, Sibirskie Uvaly).

The climate is continental. Precipitation per year ranges from 200 mm in the tundra and steppe zones to 600 mm in the forest zone. There are over 2000 rivers on the plain. The largest of them (Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei) are navigable. There are many lakes (Chany, Ubinskoye, etc.), including salty and bitter-salty ones.

In the northern part of the plain there is tundra and forest-tundra, in the southern part there is forest-steppe and steppe; Most of the territory belongs to the forest zone. A characteristic feature of most zones is the spread of swamps, giving way to salt licks and salt marshes to the south.

The West Siberian Plain is one of the largest accumulative lowland plains on the globe. It extends from the shores of the Kara Sea to the steppes of Kazakhstan and from the Urals in the west to the Central Siberian Plateau in the east. The comparative uniformity of the relief (Fig. 3) determines the clearly defined zoning of the landscapes of Western Siberia - from tundra in the north to steppe in the south (Fig. 4). Due to the poor drainage of the territory within its boundaries, hydromorphic complexes play a very prominent role: swamps and swampy forests occupy a total of about 128 million hectares, and in the steppe and forest-steppe zones there are many solonetzes, solods and solonchaks. The plain has the shape of a trapezoid tapering 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 km 2.

Geographical position The West Siberian Plain determines the transitional nature of its climate between the moderate continental Russian Plain and the sharply continental climate of Central Siberia. Therefore, the country’s landscapes are distinguished by a number of peculiar features: natural areas here they are somewhat shifted to the north compared to the Russian Plain, there is no zone of broad-leaved forests, and landscape differences within the zones are less noticeable than on the Russian Plain. The West Siberian Plain is the most populated and developed (especially in the south) part of Siberia. Within its boundaries are Tyumen, Kurgan, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, a significant part of the Altai Territory, as well as some eastern regions Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk region and western regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Rice. 3

Rice. 4

Provinces: 1 - Yamailskaya; 2 - Tazovskaya; 3 - Gydanskaya; 4 - Obsko-Tazovskaya; 5 - Yeniseisko-Tazovskaya; 6 - Severososvinskaya; 7 - Ob-Purskaya; 8 - Prieniseiskaya: 9 - Poduralskaya; 10 - Sredneobskaya; 11 - Vasyuganskaya; 12 - Chulym-Yenisei; 13 - Nezhneobskaya; 14 - Trans-Ural; 15 - Priishimskaya; 16 - Barabinskaya; 17 - Verkhneobskaya; 18 - Priturgayskaya; 19 - Priirtyshskaya; 20 - Kulundiyskaya.

The first acquaintance of Russians with Western Siberia probably took place in the 11th century, when the Novgorodians visited the lower reaches of the Ob. The campaign of Ermak (1581-1584) opens the brilliant period of the Great Russians geographical discoveries in Siberia and the development of its territory. However, scientific study of the country’s nature began only in the 18th century, when detachments of first the Great Northern and then academic expeditions were sent here. In the 19th century Russian scientists and engineers are studying the conditions of navigation on the Ob, Yenisei and the Kara Sea, the geological and geographical features of the route of the then designed Siberian railway, salt deposits in the steppe zone. A significant contribution to the knowledge of the Western Siberian taiga and steppes was made by the research of soil-botanical expeditions of the Resettlement Administration, undertaken in 1908-1914. in order to study the conditions of agricultural development of areas allocated for the resettlement of peasants from European Russia.

The study of the nature and natural resources of Western Siberia acquired a completely different scope after the Great October revolution. In the research that was necessary for the development of productive forces, it was no longer individual specialists or small detachments that took part, but hundreds of large complex expeditions and many scientific institutes created in various cities of Western Siberia. Detailed and comprehensive studies were carried out here by the USSR Academy of Sciences (Kulundinskaya, Barabinskaya, Gydanskaya and other expeditions) and its Siberian branch, the West Siberian Geological Department, geological institutes, expeditions of the Ministry Agriculture, Hydroproject and other organizations. As a result of these studies, ideas about the country's topography changed significantly, detailed soil maps of many regions of Western Siberia were compiled, and measures were developed for the rational use of saline soils and the famous Western Siberian chernozems. Big practical significance had forest typological studies by Siberian geobotanists, studying peat bogs and tundra pastures. But the work of geologists brought especially significant results. Deep drilling and special geophysical research have shown that in the depths of many regions of Western Siberia there are rich deposits natural gas, large reserves of iron ore, brown coal and many other minerals, which already serve as a solid basis for the development of industry in Western Siberia.

The West Siberian Plain (it won’t be difficult to find it on a world map) is one of the largest in Eurasia. It stretches for 2500 km from the harsh shores of the Arctic Ocean to the semi-desert territories of Kazakhstan and for 1500 km - from the Ural Mountains to the mighty Yenisei. This entire area consists of two cup-shaped flat depressions and many wetlands. Between these depressions stretch the Siberian Ridges, which rise 180-200 meters.

The West Siberian Plain is a rather interesting and fascinating point that deserves detailed consideration. This natural object is located almost at the same distance between the Atlantic and the continental center of the mainland. About 2.5 million sq. km covers the area of this huge plain. This distance is very impressive.

Climatic conditions

The geographical position of the West Siberian Plain on the mainland causes interesting climatic conditions. Therefore, the weather in most of the plain is temperate continental. Large Arctic masses enter this territory from the north, bringing with them intense cold in winter, and in summer the thermometer shows from + 5 °C to + 20 °C. In January, on the southern and northern sides the temperature can vary from -15 °C to -30 °C. The lowest winter indicator was recorded in the northeast of Siberia - down to -45 °C.

Humidity on the plain also spreads gradually from south to north. With the beginning of summer, most of it falls on the steppe zone. In mid-summer, in July, the heat takes over the entire south of the plain, and the humid front moves to the north, thunderstorms and showers sweep over the taiga. At the end of August, the rains reach the tundra zone.

Water streams

When describing the geographical position of the West Siberian Plain, it is necessary to talk about water system. A huge number of rivers flow through this territory, and there are also numerous lakes and swamps. The largest and deepest river is the Ob with its tributary Irtysh. It is not only the largest in the region, but also one of the greatest in the world. In terms of its area and length, the Ob dominates among the rivers of Russia. The Pur, Nadym, Tobol and Taz water streams suitable for navigation also flow here.

The plain holds the world record for the number of swamps. Such huge territory not found on the globe. The swamps cover an area of 800 thousand square meters. km. There are several reasons for their formation: excess moisture, flat surface of the plain, a large amount of peat, and low air temperature.

Minerals

This region is rich in mineral resources. This is largely influenced by the geographical location of the West Siberian Plain. Oil and gas deposits are concentrated here in huge quantities. Its vast wetland areas contain a large reserve of peat - approximately 60% of the total amount in Russia. There are iron ore deposits. Siberia is also rich in its hot waters, which contain salts of carbonates, chlorides, bromine and iodine.

Animal and plant worlds

The climate of the plain is such that the flora here is quite poor compared to neighboring regions. This is especially noticeable in the taiga and tundra zones. The reason for such poverty of plants is long-term glaciation, which does not allow plants to spread.

The fauna of the plain is also not very rich, despite the enormous extent of the territories. The geographical position of the West Siberian Plain is such that it is almost impossible to meet interesting individuals here. There are no unique animals living only in this territory. All species that live here are common to other regions, both neighboring and the entire continent of Eurasia.