The lowest point of the West Siberian Plain. History of the formation of the territory. Relief of Western Siberia

Peculiarities geographical location Western Siberia

Note 1

East of Ural mountains there are vast expanses of the Asian part of Russia. This territory has long been called Siberia. But due to the diversity of the tectonic structure, this territory was divided into several separate regions. One of them is Western Siberia.

The basis of Western Siberia is West Siberian Plain. It is bounded in the west by the Ural Mountains, and in the east by the Yenisei River. In the north, the plain is washed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean. The southern borders approach the Kazakh small hills and the Turgai plateau. The total area of ​​the plain is about $3$ million km²$.

The characteristic features of the West Siberian Plain are the following:

• slight fluctuations in altitude over such a vast area;
• the extension from north to south and the almost flat topography determined a clear change in natural zones with latitude (classical latitudinal zoning);
• the formation of the largest areas of swamps in the taiga and landscapes of salt accumulation in the steppe zone;
• A transitional climate is formed from the temperate continental Russian Plain to the sharply continental Central Siberia.

History of the formation of the plain

The West Siberian Lowland lies on the Upper Paleozoic plate. Sometimes this tectonic structure is also called epihercynian. The crystalline slab foundation contains metamorphosed rocks. The foundation sinks towards the center of the slab. The total thickness of the sedimentary cover exceeds $4$ km (in some areas – up to $6-7$ km).

As already mentioned, the foundation of the plate was formed as a result of the Hercynian orogeny. Next, peneplanation occurred (relief leveling through erosion processes) of the ancient mountainous country. In the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, troughs formed in the center, and the foundation was flooded by the sea. Therefore, it is covered with a significant thickness of Mesozoic sediments.

Later, during the Caledonian folding era, the southeastern part of the plain rose from the bottom of the sea. In the Triassic and Jurassic, the processes of relief denudation and formation of strata prevailed sedimentary rocks. Sedimentation continued into the Cenozoic. During the Ice Age, the north of the plain was under a thick glacier. After its melting, a significant area of ​​Western Siberia was covered with moraine deposits.

Characteristics of the relief of Western Siberia

As already noted, geological history determined the formation of flat relief on the territory of the West Siberian Plain. But a more detailed study of the physical and geographical features of the region showed that the orography of the territory is complex and diverse.

The major relief elements on the plain are:

• lowlands;
• sloping plains;
• hills;
• plateau.

In general, the West Siberian Plain has the shape of an amphitheater, open to the Arctic Ocean. Plateau and upland areas predominate in the western, southern and eastern periphery. IN central regions and in the north lowlands predominate. The lowlands are represented by:

• Kandinskaya;
• Nizhneobskaya;
• Nadymskaya;
• Purskoy.

Among the plateaus, the Priobskoye Plateau stands out. And the hills are represented by:

• Severo-Sosvinskaya;
• Turinskaya;
• Ishimskaya;
• Chulymo-Yeniseiskaya and others.

The relief includes zones of glacial-marine and permafrost-solifluction processes (tundra and northern taiga), fluvioglacial forms of glaciolacustrine plains (up to the middle taiga) and a zone of semiarid structural-denudation plateaus with erosion processes.

Note 2

Currently, human economic activity plays an important relief-forming role. The development of Western Siberia is accompanied by the development of mineral resources. This causes changes in the structure of rock layers and changes the course of physical and geographical processes. Erosion processes are intensifying. In the south during development Agriculture A large amount of minerals is introduced into the soil. Chemical erosion develops. It is necessary to carefully approach the issues of developing the nature of Siberia.

The vast territory of the Russian Federation is located on 2 continents - Europe and Asia, which border each other along the line of the Ural Mountains. In the west of the Asian part of the Russian state, between the Ural Mountains and Far East, the expanses of Siberia are located. In accordance with tectonic boundaries and characteristics of geographical zones, it is divided into several natural areas. In a more generalized form, Siberia is divided into 2 parts - Western and Eastern.

The basis of Western Siberia

The fundamental element of this region is the lowland, which is called the West Siberian Plain. The geographical feature constitutes approximately 80% of the entire geographical region, which is approximately equal to 3 million km². On the map, its boundaries resemble a trapezoid with a wide base (south) and a narrow apex (north).

Boundaries of the Plain

• From the west it is supported by the mountain ranges of the Urals.
• On opposite side limited by the Yenisei watershed.
• On the south side – Kazakhstan small hills of Sary-Arka and foothills Altai Territory.
• The north of the lowland is outlined by the winding coast of the Kara Sea and its bays.

Character traits

There are several features that most clearly characterize the West Siberian Plain:

• The fluctuation in heights has a very small amplitude (only 200 m) for such a large space.
• Natural-climatic zones in the north-south direction are widely covered, tied to latitudes and have distinct transitions, which is due to long distance and smooth terrain. This latitudinal zonation is called classical.
• The absence of slopes at the surface forms a large number of swamp landscapes in the northern part of the lowland and salt accumulation landscapes in the southern part.
• The climate is transitional between moderate continental in the west and sharply continental in the east.

Geological structure

The tectonic plate on which the West Siberian Plain is located bears the same name. The plate belongs to the Hercynian orogeny, characterized by the collapse of sediments into mountain folds - the Hercynides. In accordance with the name of the era of tectogenesis, the plate is also called Hercynian or Epihercynian.

The foundation of the plate was based on Paleozoic sediments, which, as a result of subsequent tectonic movements (folded dislocation), changed the original structure of the formations.

At the end Jurassic period, due to destruction and fractures, a huge area mining education fell below sea level. The result was the formation of a new basin followed by sedimentogenesis (deposition of particles).

In the last Paleogene era, a reverse movement occurred, the plate rose and got rid of the waters of the world's oceans. However, this was not the end of the alternating lowering and raising of the slab - it was repeated again.

Therefore, a powerful, leveling cover of loose substance, both marine and continental deposits of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic, was formed on top of the Hercynides basement. Ice ages added moraine deposits in the northern part.

The average thickness of the sedimentary cover is more than 1 km, and in low areas of the basement the thickness reaches 4 km.

Relief characteristics

Despite the meager elevation difference, the plain still has a varied topography. That is, here you can observe the presence of both lowlands and hills. There are also sloping plains in the range of reliefs. There are also a fair amount of plateaus.

The north and center are represented mainly by low areas, among which the following lowlands can be noted:

• Nizhneobskaya, Nadymskaya and Purskaya in the north
• Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya in the center

Elevated areas are located mainly on 3 sides on the periphery, among which are:

• North Sosva Upland and Turin Sloping Plain in the west
• Ishim steppe, Chulym-Yenisei and Priob plateaus in the south
• Ket-Tym Upland in the east

Some changes in topography have recently occurred as a result of human activity - mining and agriculture. As a result of disruption of the natural structure of rocks, as well as chemicalization of the soil with fertilizers, erosion processes are accelerated.

West Siberian Plain with a total area of ​​3.5 million square meters. km belongs to the accumulative type of plains. It is one of the largest low-lying swampy areas on earth, covered with tundra and taiga. For a long time the harsh climate and frozen ground prevented geological exploration of the territory. Today, geologists attribute the plain to the presence of the tectonic plate of the same name. Its foundation is best studied along the periphery. By drilling deep and ultra-deep wells quite well studied by geologists southern region and center. If drilling is not available, scientists use geophysical data. The tectonic structure and structure of the large West Siberian plate is very diverse and not entirely clear. It is the structure of the foundation that generates lively scientific discussion. Most scientists agree that the crystalline basement consists of large geoblocks, consolidated and separated by deep faults.

Geology of the West Siberian Plain

The plain of Western Siberia is located on the epihercynian tectonic plate of the same name, which has a clearly defined two-tier structure. At its base, it is represented by a heterogeneous foundation of different ages from the Precambrian to the Paleozoic. The base of the tectonic plate is primarily a depression with steep sides to the northeast. It is exposed in a few elevated areas along the edges of the lowlands. The basement rocks are covered with a layer of marine and continental Mesozoic and Cenozoic geological deposits of clays and sandstones up to 1000 meters thick. In depressions at the base of the plate, the thickness of sediments reaches up to 3-4 thousand meters. In the basement of the plate, geologists distinguish three ophiolitic volcanic belts. They were named Nizhnevartovsk-Aleksandrovsk, Trans-Ural and Western Surgut based on their location; schist deposits, siliceous shales and jaspers of Devonian age appear here.

Scientists determine the age of the foundation as pre-Paleozoic, ancient Baikal, and subsequent Caledonian and Hercynian folds. It is dissected by deep tectonic faults of different geological ages. The Omsk-Pursky and Trans-Ural fault lines extend submeridionally. Schemes of the location of isolated tectonic structures on the plain show that in the foundation of the plate one can distinguish between the edge and extensive internal areas; it has depressions and uplifts. It is covered by a cover of sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic and Cenozoic age. The cover includes marine and coastal-continental deposits up to 3-4 thousand meters in the south and 7-8 thousand meters in the north. In the south, young alluvial and lacustrine sedimentary strata formed; to the north, marine and glacial sediments formed.

History of the formation of the territory

The formation of the plate began in the Late Jurassic period. Then, as a result of the action of the geological forces of the earth, the huge area between the Urals and the Siberian platform gradually began to descend. During its development, the plate was repeatedly exposed to marine transgressions. During the Oligocene period, the ancient sea left the West Siberian plate, and a huge lacustrine alluvial alluvial plain was formed here. In the Oligocene and later in the Neogene, its individual parts experienced tectonic uplift and subsidence under the influence of the internal forces of the earth. During its development, the territory was repeatedly flooded by the sea in the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene periods. This is the reason for the constant swampiness of the plain over vast areas.

In the Upper Triassic, the plate subsided differentially and gradually accumulated sedimentary cover. In Mesozoic and Cenozoic geological times, these processes continued with prolonged subsidence of the plate. Today the cover is composed of sandy, siltstone, mudstone, continental and clayey deposits up to 8 km in the north of the plain. When tectonic movements occurred at different stages of development, local geological structures arose in the cover. In such uplifts on the territory of near-fault zones, reservoirs of gas and oil were formed.

In the Oligocene, tectonic movements separated the sea of ​​Western Siberia from the large Arctic basin. For a short time, the marine regime remained in the center of the plate, but in the Oligocene the sea left the plain. Therefore, the upper horizon of the cover is composed of continental lacustrine-alluvial and sandy-clay deposits up to 2 km thick.

In the Neogene period, the Ob-Yenisei sublatitudinal uplifts gradually began to separate; they are located above the large Trans-Siberian Fault and clearly correspond to the Siberian Uvaly hills. It was then, in the Neogene period, that the main features of the orographic pattern of the plain gradually formed. Depressions in the relief corresponded to troughs; large rivers flowed through them. The ancient sea was 200 meters below the modern level, the bottom of the Kara Sea was dry land.

Tectonic structures

In the most submerged northern region of the plate there are the Yamalo-Gydan and Nadym-Taz syneclises. They are separated by the narrow sublatitudinal Messoyakha megaswell. In the center of the slab there is a large Khantei anteclise. In it, geologists distinguish two formed vaults, they were called Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk. Large anteclises are Ket-Vakh and Khantei. To the south of them are the sublatitudinal Kulunda and Middle Irtysh syneclises. The Khantymansi and Chulym syneclises stand out in size. The Pursky Trench is located above the Koltogorsk-Urengoy rift zone. The Khudosei tectonic trench connects with the small Chulman syneclise.

Between the cover and the pre-Paleozoic foundation there is a transition layer of rocks of Triassic and Jurassic geological age. Geologists associate its formation with movements of the foundation, which resulted in the formation of a rift zone inside the continent with graben-like depressions. Sedimentary and volcanogenic coal-bearing horizons accumulated in them; their thickness reaches up to 5 km. The volcanic strata of the transitional geological layer are basaltic lavas. The formation of the rift zone on the continent in Western Siberia did not continue, and a new ocean did not form.

The connection between tectonics and minerals

In the deposits of the sedimentary cover of the plain, horizons of pure fresh, mineralized underground water and brine are concentrated. Some areas have hot springs with temperatures ranging from 100°C to 150°C. In the depths of the slab there are industrial scale richest deposits natural gas and oil. They are concentrated in the depths of the West Siberian oil and gas basin, which is promising for production. At a depth of more than two kilometers in the sediments of the Khanty-Mansi large syneclise, in the Salym, Surgut and Krasnoselsky regions, the richest shale oil deposits in the country are concentrated in layers that belonged to the Bazhenov formation.

Relationship between tectonic structure and relief

Modern forms of plain relief are often caused by long geological development territory, its tectonic structure and the influence of physical weathering processes. The modern orographic pattern depends on the tectonic structure and plate structure. This gradually occurs even under conditions of long-term Meso-Cenozoic subsidence and the process of accumulation of thick layers of loose sediments. Such accumulation levels out all the irregularities of the Epi-Hercynian basement, which is in relative late Cenozoic peace. The small amplitude of new tectonic movements determines the low-lying hypsometric status of the plain. The maximum amplitudes of uplifts on the plain are heights from 100 to 150 m on the periphery; identical subsidences are observed to the north and closer to the center. On the vast territory of the plain, lowland and elevated areas can be distinguished.

The entire territory of the Western Siberian plain plunges stepwise from south to north and looks like a stepped giant amphitheater in the orographic picture; it is open to the coast of the Kara Sea. In its orographic structure, geomorphologists distinguish three altitude levels. Half of the territory belongs to the first level with a height of up to 100 meters. The second hypsometric level is heights from 100 m to 150 m, the third from 150 m to 200 m, some areas up to 250-300 m.

The relief of Western Siberia is monotonous, almost flat, with a predominant height of 100 meters. Only on the periphery, in the west, north and south, the height of orographic structures reaches 300 meters. In the center of the plain there are large Sredneobsky and Kondinsky lowland areas. In the north lie the vast Nadym, Lower Ob and Pur lowlands. Along the periphery of the plain there are low Turin, Ishim, North Sosvinsk plains, the Chulym-Yenisei and Priobskoe plateaus, the Lower Yenisei, Verkhnetazovsk and Tym uplands. The 150-meter individual ridges of the Siberian Uvals run in a single chain inside the plain. Parallel to them is the vast Vasyugan Plain.

A clear correspondence is observed between the Lyulimvor and Verkhnetazovskaya heights with anticlinal tectonic structures. Syneclises in the foundation of the slab correspond to the Kondinskaya and Barabinskaya lowlands. Disconformity or inversion structures are often found on the plain. Thus, the Vasyugan Plain was formed on a gently sloping syneclise, and the Chulym-Yenisei Plateau is located on a tectonic trough of the plate foundation.

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan

West Siberian Plain- the plain is located in the north of Asia, occupies the entire western part Siberia from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Central Siberian Plateau in the east. In the north it is limited by the coast of the Kara Sea, in the south it extends to the Kazakh small hills, in the southeast the West Siberian Plain, gradually rising, gives way to the foothills of Altai, Salair, Kuznetsk Altai and Mountain Shoria. The plain has the shape of a trapezoid tapering towards 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 populated and developed (especially in the south) part of Siberia. Within its borders 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, western regions 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 fairly insignificant difference in elevation. However, the relief of the plain is quite diverse. The lowest areas of the plain (50-100 m) are located mainly in the central (Kondinskaya and Sredneobskaya lowlands) and northern (Nizhneobskaya, Nadymskaya and Purskaya lowlands) parts. Along the western, southern and eastern outskirts stretch low (up to 200-250 m) hills: North Sosvinskaya and Turinskaya, Ishim Plain, Priobskoye and Chulym-Yenisei Plateau, Ket-Tymskaya, Verkhnetazovskaya and Lower Yenisei uplands. A clearly defined strip of hills is formed in the inner part of the Sibirskie Uvaly plain (average height - 140-150 m), stretching from the west from the Ob to the east to the Yenisei, and the Vasyuganskaya, parallel to them, is equal.

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 sediments. The formation of the West Siberian plate began in the Upper Jurassic, when, as a result of breaking off, destruction and degeneration, a huge area between the Urals and the Siberian platform sank, and a huge sedimentation basin arose. During its development, the West Siberian Plate was repeatedly captured 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 Northern part The plate experienced uplift, which gave way to subsidence in Quaternary time. The general course of development of the plate with the subsidence of colossal spaces resembles an incomplete process of oceanization. This feature of the slab is emphasized by the phenomenal development of wetlands.

Individual geological structures, despite the thick layer of sediments, are reflected in the relief of the plain: for example, the Verkhnetazovskaya and Lyulimvor hills correspond to gentle anticlinal uplifts, and the Barabinskaya and Kondinskaya lowlands are confined to the syneclises of the foundation of the plate. However, in Western Siberia, discordant (inversion) morphostructures are also common. These include, for example, the Vasyugan Plain, formed on the site of a gently sloping syneclise, and the Chulym-Yenisei Plateau, located in the zone of basement deflection.

Horizons are enclosed in a collar of loose sediments groundwater- fresh and mineralized (including brine), there are also hot (up to 100-150°C) waters. There are industrial deposits of oil and natural gas (West Siberian oil and gas basin). In the area of ​​the Khanty-Mansi syneclise, Krasnoselsky, Salymsky and Surgut districts, in the layers of the Bazhenov formation at a depth of 2 km there are the largest reserves of shale oil in Russia.

Climate

The West Siberian Plain is characterized by a harsh, fairly continental climate. Its large extent from north to south determines a clearly expressed climate zonation and significant differences in the climatic conditions of the northern and southern parts Western Siberia. The continental climate of Western Siberia is also significantly influenced by the proximity of the Arctic Ocean. Flat terrain promotes exchange air masses between its northern and southern regions.

IN cold period within the plain there is interaction between a region of relatively high atmospheric pressure located above the southern part of the plain and the region low blood pressure, which in the first half of winter stretches in the form of a trough of the Icelandic pressure minimum over the Kara Sea and the northern peninsulas. In winter, continental air masses of temperate latitudes predominate, which come from Eastern Siberia or are formed locally as a result of cooling of the air over the plain.

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

In the warm season, low pressure is established over Western Siberia, and an area of ​​higher pressure forms over the Arctic Ocean. high pressure. In connection with this summer, weak northern or northeasterly winds and the role of westerly air transport is noticeably increasing. Happens in May rapid rise temperatures, but often, when arctic air masses invade, 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 arrival of heated continental air from the south - from Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Autumn comes late.

Duration of occurrence snow cover in the northern regions it 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 forest-swamp 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 soil freezing and widespread permafrost. On the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas, permafrost is found everywhere. In these areas of continuous (merged) distribution, the thickness of the frozen layer is very significant (up to 300-600 m), and its temperatures are low (in watershed areas - 4, -9°, in valleys -2, -8°). To the south, within the northern taiga to a latitude of approximately 64°, permafrost occurs 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 rocks.

Hydrography

The territory of the plain is located within the large West Siberian artesian basin, in which hydrogeologists distinguish several second-order basins: Tobolsk, Irtysh, Kulunda-Barnaul, Chulym, Ob, etc. Due to the large thickness of the cover of loose sediments, consisting of alternating water-permeable (sands) , sandstones) and water-resistant rocks, artesian basins are characterized by a significant number of aquifers confined to formations of various ages - Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Quaternary. The quality of groundwater in 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 2,000 rivers flow on the territory of the West Siberian Plain, the total length of which exceeds 250 thousand km. These rivers carry about 1,200 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 topography and climatic features: in the Tavda basin it reaches 350 km, and in the Barabinsk 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 areas of closed drainage and are distinguished by an abundance of drainless lakes.

The main sources of nutrition for most rivers are melted snow waters and summer-autumn rains. In accordance with the nature of the food sources, the runoff is uneven over the seasons: 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 large rivers rises to 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), Western Siberian rivers are frozen. Therefore, no more than 10% of the annual runoff occurs in the winter months.

The rivers of Western Siberia, including the largest ones - the Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei, are characterized by slight slopes and low flow speeds. For example, the fall of the Ob riverbed in the area from Novosibirsk to the mouth over a distance of 3000 km is only 90 m, and its flow speed does not exceed 0.5 m/sec.

On the West Siberian Plain there are about one million lakes, the total area of ​​which is more than 100 thousand km². Based on the origin of the basins, they are divided into several groups: those occupying the primary unevenness of the flat terrain; 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, overflow 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: excess moisture, flat topography, permafrost and the ability of the peat available here to large quantities, hold a significant mass of water.

Natural areas

The large extent 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-swamp, forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert (in the extreme south) zones. In all zones, lakes and swamps occupy fairly large areas. Typical zonal landscapes are located on dissected and better drained upland and riverine areas. In poorly drained interfluve spaces, where drainage is difficult and the soils are usually highly moist, swamp landscapes predominate 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-swamp zone occupies about 60% of the territory of the West Siberian Plain. There are no broad-leaved and coniferous-deciduous forests here. Behind the strip coniferous forests followed by a narrow zone of small-leaved (mainly birch) forests. The increase in climate continentality causes a relatively sharp transition, compared to the East European Plain, from forest-swamp 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 smaller than on the East European Plain, and the tree species found in it are mainly birch and aspen. In the extreme southern part of the West Siberian Lowland there is a steppe zone, which is mostly plowed. The flat landscape of the southern regions of Western Siberia is added to the variety of manes - sandy ridges 3-10 meters in height (sometimes up to 30 meters), covered with pine forest.

Gallery

Siberian plain.jpg

Landscape of the West Siberian Plain

Steppe in the outskirts of Mariinsk1.jpg

Mariinsky forest-steppes

see also

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Notes

Links

• West Siberian Plain // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• in the book: N. A. Gvozdetsky, N. I. Mikhailov. Physiography THE USSR. M., 1978.
• Kröner, A. (2015) The Central Asian Orogenic Belt.

An excerpt characterizing the West Siberian Plain

- Marya Bogdanovna! It seems it has begun,” said Princess Marya, looking at her grandmother with frightened, open eyes.
“Well, thank God, princess,” said Marya Bogdanovna without increasing her pace. “You girls shouldn’t know about this.”
- But how come the doctor hasn’t arrived from Moscow yet? - said the princess. (At the request of Lisa and Prince Andrey, an obstetrician was sent to Moscow on time, and he was expected every minute.)
“It’s okay, princess, don’t worry,” said Marya Bogdanovna, “and without the doctor everything will be fine.”
Five minutes later, the princess heard from her room that they were carrying something heavy. She looked out - the waiters were carrying a leather sofa that was in Prince Andrei's office into the bedroom for some reason. There was something solemn and quiet on the faces of the people carrying them.
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 happening in the corridor. Several women walked in and out with quiet steps, looked at the princess and turned away from her. She did not dare to ask, she closed the door, returned to her room, and then sat down in her chair, then took up her prayer book, then knelt down in front of the icon case. Unfortunately and to her surprise, she felt that prayer did not calm her anxiety. Suddenly the door of her room quietly opened and her old nanny Praskovya Savishna, tied with a scarf, appeared on the threshold; almost never, due to the prince’s prohibition, did not enter her room.
“I came to sit with you, Mashenka,” said the nanny, “but I brought the prince’s wedding candles to light in front of the saint, my angel,” she said with a sigh.
- Oh, I'm so glad, nanny.
- God is merciful, my dear. - The nanny lit candles entwined with gold in front of the icon case and sat down with the stocking by the door. Princess Marya took the book and began to read. Only when steps or voices were heard, the princess looked at each other in fear, questioningly, and the nanny. In all parts of the house the same feeling that Princess Marya experienced while sitting in her room was poured out and possessed everyone. I believe that what less people knows about the suffering of the mother in labor, the less she suffers, everyone tried to pretend not to know; no one spoke about it, but in all people, except for the usual sedateness and respectfulness good manners, who reigned in the prince’s house, one could see some kind of common concern, a softness of heart and an awareness of something great, incomprehensible, taking place at that moment.
No laughter could be heard in the big maid's room. In the waitress all the people sat and were silent, ready to do something. The servants burned torches and candles and did not sleep. The old prince, stepping on his heel, walked around the office and sent Tikhon to Marya Bogdanovna to ask: what? - Just tell me: the prince ordered me to ask what? and come tell me what she says.
“Report to the prince that labor has begun,” said Marya Bogdanovna, looking significantly at the messenger. Tikhon went and reported to the prince.
“Okay,” said the prince, closing the door behind him, and Tikhon no longer heard the slightest sound in the office. A little later, Tikhon entered the office, as if to adjust 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, left without adjusting the candles or saying why he had come. The most solemn sacrament in the world continued to be performed. Evening passed, night came. And the feeling of expectation and softening of the heart in the face of the incomprehensible did not fall, but rose. Nobody was sleeping.

It was one of those March nights when winter seems to want to take its toll and pours out its last snows and storms with desperate anger. To meet the German doctor from Moscow, who was expected every minute and for whom a support was sent to the main road, to the turn to the country road, horsemen with lanterns were sent to guide him through the potholes and jams.
Princess Marya had left the book long ago: she sat silently, fixing her radiant eyes on the wrinkled, familiar to the smallest detail, face of the nanny: on a lock gray hair, escaped from under the scarf, onto the hanging bag of skin under the chin.
Nanny Savishna, with a stocking in her hands, in a quiet voice told, without hearing or understanding her own words, what had been told hundreds of times about how the late princess in Chisinau gave birth to Princess Marya, with a Moldavian peasant woman instead of her grandmother.
“God have mercy, you never need a doctor,” she said. Suddenly a gust of wind hit one of the exposed frames of the room (by the will of the prince, one frame was always displayed with larks in each room) and, knocking off the poorly closed bolt, fluttered the damask curtain, and, smelling cold and snow, blew out the candle. Princess Marya shuddered; The nanny, having put down the stocking, went to the window and leaned out and began to catch the folded frame. Cold wind ruffled the ends of her scarf and gray, stray strands of hair.
- Princess, mother, someone is driving along the road ahead! - she said, holding the frame and not closing it. - With lanterns, it should be, doctor...
- Oh my god! God bless! - said Princess Marya, - we must go meet him: he doesn’t know Russian.
Princess Marya threw on her shawl and ran towards those traveling. When she passed the front hall, she saw through the window that some kind of carriage and lanterns were standing at the entrance. She went out onto the stairs. There was a tallow candle on the railing post and it was flowing from the wind. The waiter Philip, with a frightened face and another candle in his hand, stood below, on the first landing of the stairs. Even lower, around the bend, along the stairs, moving footsteps in warm boots could be heard. And some familiar voice, as it seemed to Princess Marya, said something.
- God bless! - said the voice. - And father?
“They’ve gone to bed,” answered the voice of the butler Demyan, who was already downstairs.
Then the voice said something else, Demyan answered something, and footsteps in warm boots began to approach faster along the invisible bend of the stairs. "This is Andrey! - thought Princess Marya. No, this cannot be, it would be too unusual,” she thought, and at the same moment as she was thinking this, on the platform on which the waiter stood with a candle, the face and figure of Prince Andrei appeared 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 alarming expression on his face. He walked onto the stairs and hugged his sister.
-You didn’t receive 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 entered after him (he met with him at the last station), with quick steps he again entered the the stairs and hugged his sister again. - What fate! - he said, “Dear Masha,” and, throwing off his fur coat and boots, he went to the princess’s quarters.

The little princess was lying on pillows, wearing a white cap. (Suffering had just released her.) Black hair curled in strands around her sore, sweaty cheeks; her rosy, 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, scared and excited, stopped at him without changing expression. “I love you all, I haven’t done harm to anyone, why am I suffering? help me,” her expression said. She saw her husband, but did not understand the significance of his appearance now before her. Prince Andrei walked around the sofa and kissed her on the forehead.
“My darling,” he said: a word he had never spoken to her. - God is merciful. “She looked at him questioningly, childishly and reproachfully.
“I expected help from you, and nothing, nothing, and you too!” - said her eyes. She wasn't surprised that he came; she did not understand that he had arrived. 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 Marya. Prince Andrey 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 groans were heard from behind the door. Prince Andrei stood up, went to the door and wanted to open it. Someone was holding the door.
- You can’t, you can’t! – a frightened voice said from there. – He began to walk around the room. The screams stopped and a few 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 scream stopped, and the cry of a child was heard.
“Why did they bring the child there? thought Prince Andrei at the first second. Child? Which one?... Why is there a child there? Or was it a baby born? When he suddenly realized all the joyful meaning of this cry, tears choked him, and he, leaning with both hands on the windowsill, sobbed, began to cry, as children cry. The door opened. The doctor, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, without a frock coat, pale and with a shaking jaw, left the room. Prince Andrey turned to him, but the doctor looked at him in confusion and, without saying a word, walked past. 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 ago, and the same expression, despite the fixed eyes and the paleness of her cheeks, was on that charming, childish face with a sponge covered with black hairs.
“I love you all and have never done anything bad to anyone, so what did you do 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, shaking hands.

Two hours after this, Prince Andrei entered his father’s office with quiet steps. The old man already knew everything. He stood right at the door, and as soon as it opened, the old man silently, with his senile, hard hands, like a vice, grabbed his son’s neck and sobbed like a child.

Three days later the funeral service was held for the little princess, and, bidding farewell 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?” it said everything, and Prince Andrei felt that something was torn away in his soul, that he was guilty of a guilt that he could not correct or forget. He couldn't cry. The old man also entered and kissed her wax hand, which lay calmly and high on the other, and her face said to him: “Oh, what and why did you do this to me?” And the old man turned away angrily when he saw this face.

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

Rostov's participation in Dolokhov's duel with 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 his whole family, but remained with his new position all summer in Moscow. Dolokhov recovered, and Rostov became especially friendly with him during this time of his recovery. Dolokhov lay sick with his mother, who loved him passionately and tenderly. The old woman Marya Ivanovna, who fell in love with Rostov for his friendship with Fedya, often told him about her son.
“Yes, Count, he is too noble and pure of soul,” she used to say, “for our current, corrupted world.” Nobody likes virtue, it hurts everyone's eyes. Well, tell me, Count, is this fair, is this fair on Bezukhov’s part? And Fedya, in his nobility, loved him, and now he never says anything bad about him. In St. Petersburg, they joked about these pranks with the quarterly, because they did it together? Well, Bezukhov had nothing, but Fedya bore everything on his shoulders! After all, what did he endure! Suppose they returned it, but how could they not return it? I think there weren’t many brave men and sons of the fatherland like him there. Well now - this duel! Do these people have a sense of honor? Knowing that he The only son, challenge for a duel and shoot straight! It's good that God had mercy on us. And for what? Well, who doesn’t have intrigue these days? Well, if he is so jealous? I understand, because he could have made me feel it before, otherwise it went on for a year. And so, he challenged him to a duel, believing that Fedya would not fight because he owed him. What baseness! That's disgusting! I know you understood 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 have been expected from him. “They consider me an evil person, I know,” he used to say, “so be it.” I don’t want to know anyone except those I love; but whom I love, I love him so much that I will give my life, and I will crush the rest if they stand on the road. I have an adored, unappreciated 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 everyone is harmful, especially women. Yes, my soul,” he continued, “I have met loving, noble, sublime men; but I haven’t met women yet, except for corrupt creatures - countesses or cooks, it doesn’t matter. I have not yet encountered that heavenly purity and devotion that I look 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, then I value it only because I still hope to meet such a heavenly being who would revive, purify and exalt me.” But you don't understand this.
“No, I understand very much,” answered Rostov, who was under the influence of his new friend.

In the fall, the Rostov family returned to Moscow. At the beginning of winter, Denisov also returned and stayed with 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 brought many young people with him to his parents’ house. Vera was twenty years old, a beautiful girl; Sonya sixteen summer girl in all the beauty of a newly bloomed flower; Natasha is half a young lady, half a girl, sometimes childishly funny, sometimes girlishly charming.
In the Rostov house at that time there was some kind of special atmosphere of love, 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, smiling girlish faces for something (probably at their happiness), at this animated running around, listening to this inconsistent, but affectionate to everyone, ready for anything, hope-filled babble of a woman The youth, listening to these inconsistent sounds, now singing, now music, experienced the same feeling of readiness for love and expectation of happiness, which the youth of the Rostov house themselves experienced.
Among the young people introduced by Rostov, one of the first was Dolokhov, who was liked by everyone in the house, with the exception of Natasha. She almost quarreled with her brother over Dolokhov. She insisted that he evil person that in the duel with Bezukhov Pierre was right, and Dolokhov was to blame, that he was unpleasant and unnatural.
“I don’t understand anything,” Natasha shouted with stubborn willfulness, “he’s angry and without feelings.” Well, 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 a different matter,” answered Nikolai, making him feel that in comparison with Dolokhov, even Denisov was nothing, “you need to understand what kind of soul this Dolokhov has, you need to see him with his mother, this is such a heart!”
“I don’t know this, but I feel awkward 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 the company of ladies, began to visit the house often, and the question of who he was traveling for was soon (although no one spoke about it) was resolved so that he was traveling for Sonya. And Sonya, although she would never have dared to say this, knew this and every time, like a redneck, she blushed when Dolokhov appeared.
Dolokhov often dined with the Rostovs, never missed a performance where they were present, and attended adolescentes [teenagers] balls at Yogel’s, where the Rostovs always attended. He paid preferential attention to Sonya and looked at her with such eyes that not only she could not stand this look without blushing, but also the old countess and Natasha blushed when they noticed this look.
It was clear 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 to himself what kind of new relationship this was. “They are all in love with someone there,” he thought about Sonya and Natasha. But he was not as comfortable with Sonya and Dolokhov as before, and he began to be at home less often.
Since the autumn of 1806, everything again started talking about the war with Napoleon even more fervently than last year. Not only were recruits appointed, but also 9 more warriors out of a thousand. Everywhere they cursed Bonaparte with anathema, and in Moscow there was only talk about the upcoming war. For the Rostov family, the whole interest of these preparations for war lay only in the fact that Nikolushka would never agree to stay in Moscow and was only waiting for the end of Denisov’s leave in order to go with him to the regiment after the holidays. The upcoming departure not only did not prevent him from having fun, but also encouraged him to do so. Most He spent time outside the home, at dinners, evenings and balls.