More recently, the list of protected areas in Russia was replenished with another reserve - the Great Vasyugan Swamp. One of the seven natural wonders of the Tomsk region and a semi-finalist all-Russian competition“Seven Wonders of Russia” has finally received its long-awaited status. Vasyugan swamps in Novosibirsk region, which are in the list of objects World Heritage UNESCO since 2007, have become recognized government agencies and our country.
On the squares of three regions
The Great Vasyugan Swamp, whose area is more than 5 million hectares, is located in the center Western Siberia in the border areas of three regions (Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk) and the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug. This swamp occupies 0.03% of the area of Russia and occupies the entire northern interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh. This is the second largest swamp in the world after the Pantanal swamps (South America). Within the boundaries of the Vasyugan swamps there are 800 thousand lakes, many rivers originate, and the amount of peat is 2% of all world reserves (1 billion tons). And in the middle of the last century, large oil reserves were discovered here, which are today produced in several fields.
Settlement history
These places do not indulge in human settlements. Historical data about the first settlers appears in 1882. Then the Russian Geographical Society received information about 726 schismatic settlers who had settled thoroughly in these places. After Stolypin’s reforms, about 300 thousand settlers settled here. Then these places were called the Vasyugan Sea after the name of the Vasyugan River. Later these places became favorite place exile of prisoners from both imperial and Soviet Russia. Interesting fact: for the city of Tomsk, these swamps are the same symbol as Klyuchevskaya Sopka for Kamchatka.
Narym region
“God created paradise, and the devil created the Narym region” - this is what an ancient proverb says about these places, covered in legends about evil spirits, and which are places of exile for Russian prisoners. Local legend tells that at the beginning of creation there was no land, and God walked on water. And then he ordered the devil to be brought from the bottom of the earth. He brought it, but hid part of the earth in his mouth. So God created dry land, and the land that the Devil spat out formed the Vasyugan swamps.
But the Vasyugan swamps are not just aggressive swamps, but a phenomenon unique in the composition of natural complexes. Complex landscape structures and special types of marsh massifs are presented here. In this natural zone, taiga and small-leaved forest, autotrophic and pine-sphagnum swamps come into contact, making the composition of the plants of the Vasyugan swamps unique. This is a region of nature untouched by humans, which has enormous ecological significance for the entire planet.
Air conditioners of the planet
If a tropical forest The Amazons are the lungs of the planet, then these swamps are natural absorbers of carbon dioxide and coolers of the planet. The absorption of carbon and toxic substances by peat, which lies at a depth of about 2.5 meters in the Vasyugan swamps, prevents the development of the greenhouse effect. These areas accumulate up to 10 million tons of carbon dioxide per year and emit up to 4 million tons of oxygen.
In addition, the Vasyugan swamps are a global repository fresh water. According to some estimates, it contains about 400 square kilometers.
Geological history
These swamps appeared in the last post-glacial period - the Holocene - more than 10 thousand years ago. Separate wetlands then merged, forming an area of about 45 thousand square kilometers. Over the past period of existence of the Vasyugan swamps in the Novosibirsk region, they continue to advance on land. There is evidence of an increase in their area by 4 times over the past 500 years. On average, the area of wetlands increases annually by 18 square kilometers.
Unique flora and fauna
The flora of these swamps is represented by more than 242 species, of which 26 are rare and endangered. The fauna includes 41 species of mammals, about 195 species of birds (22 species are included in the Red Books of various levels), many reptiles, amphibians and insects.
Rare and endangered plant species listed in the Red Book are not uncommon here. Entire swamp communities are unique in their species composition. There are representatives of the orchid family, as well as downy moss, sedum, and rare species of sedges. And also blueberries, cloudberries and cranberries.
The Vasyugan swamps are home to a huge number of animals, especially their forested part. From the Red Book this is reindeer, slender-billed curlews, peregrine falcons, white-tailed eagles. And also moose, sable, mink, otters, brown bears and wolverines. Black grouse and wood grouse breed in the swamps, and white partridges and hazel grouse live.
A network of rivers and lakes serves as a transit point for migratory birds. Ornithologists say that 60% of ducks migrate through this wetland in the spring.
Environmental threats
Despite the historically sparse population of the area and the lack of developed economic activity, these territories were under the influence of environmental pressure. The development of oil and gas development in Western Siberia violates the integrity of unique landscapes and leads to a decrease in biodiversity.
No less dangerous is the influence natural factor– fires. They occur even in winter time and cause irreparable damage to swamp areas. As a result of one of the fires in the 20s of the last century, the most big lake V this region- Tennis. Today its depth reaches 18 meters, and the area of the water surface is about 20 square kilometers.
Another unsightly one environmental threat- the second stages of rockets launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome fall here. With each such step, the ecosystem receives great amount heptyl - toxic fuel residues. In some areas the content of this substance exceeds acceptable standards 5 times. One of the directions in which work is currently underway to eliminate this factor of influence on the swamps is the transfer of the launch site from Baikonur to the Vostochny cosmodrome (Amur region).
That is why with the Government Decree Russian Federation dated December 16, 2017 No. 1563, the Vasyugansky State Nature Reserve was created and preparations began for a project to introduce a special environmental regime in these territories. So far, its territories include 615 thousand hectares of swamps. Is not optimal sizes which are planned to be expanded.
How to get there
You can see unique swamps, but getting there is extremely difficult. You can get to the outlying villages by all-terrain vehicles, and then only by tracked vehicles, and then with restrictions. You will have to go deep into the swamps on foot, which is already quite dangerous without the necessary experience.
Tourists can view the swamps from a helicopter. Such services are offered by travel companies in Tomsk. And there is something to see: the endless expanses of the moss carpet, which seems to be higher than its banks due to the seething processes of peat formation.
Alluring abysses
For extreme tourists, visiting these places becomes a mystical obsession, covered in legends about swamps in which people and jeeps disappear. Since ancient times, sparsely populated areas abound with abandoned villages and eerie landscapes of the Vasyugan swamps. Interesting fact: it is simply impossible to get to these swamps in any jeep.
In the warm season, you can only get there by tracked vehicles. And then the landscape of the thawed tundra opens up, a continuous carpet of many meters of moss, which floats on the surface of a huge freshwater lake. Untouched and ruined places - it’s dangerous to linger. The moss carpet is torn and you can simply go under this carpet. Well, you can drink water from every puddle - moss is a natural antiseptic and eliminates rot.
The road through the Vasyugan swamps is safe only in winter; only then can one penetrate into the very depths of these swamps.
Be careful, weary traveler
This section is for those who still decide to watch “Russian Amazon”. This is not like cooking kebabs in nature! Not only are these regions called bear regions for a reason, there are a lot of snakes and hornets (more dangerous than snakes). There is nothing to say about the swamps, where even heavy tracked vehicles are sucked in. And many abandoned villages with strange sounds and paranormal phenomena are not easy for you Interesting Facts. The Vasyugan swamps keep many secrets about people missing in the swamps and ghosts wandering through this area, luring kikimoras and demonic lights that drive you crazy.
Let's sum it up
The Vasyugan swamps are not only a unique natural landscape phenomenon of Western Siberia, but also an important biosphere component of our planet. Its geoecological functions are irreplaceable and irreplaceable natural resources. The biosphere reserve in these swamps is important for shaping the climate on Earth and preserving biodiversity on a planetary scale. Continuation of work in the direction of greening economic activity, carried out by the main scientific centers of the country, is aimed at establishing the maximum permissible environmental restrictions. Only in this way will we be able to preserve another natural pearl - the “Russian Amazon”, a unique feature of our homeland and a place that attracts with its mysterious grandeur and unsolved secrets.
Why swamps “gurgle” and burn: 10 facts
Editor's responseOn February 2, 1971, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar. AiF.ru has collected interesting facts about such lands.
The largest swamp in Russia and Europe
The largest swamp in Russia and Europe is Vasyugan. It occupies 53 thousand square meters. km between the major rivers of Siberia - the Irtysh and Ob, and is located on the territory of three regions - Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk. The Vasyugan swamp was formed approximately 10 thousand years ago. The process of swamping the territory continues and, perhaps, the land will soon become the largest in the world. In the meantime, the largest swamp on the planet is considered to be the Pantanal in the center of South America, the total area of which is 150 thousand square meters. km.
In total, there are currently 35 swamps in Russia - their total area is 10.7 million hectares. All of them, according to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated September 13, 1994 No. 1050, are of international importance and are located on the territory of 21 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Swamps are reservoirs of clean water
Swamps are repositories clean water. Contrary to popular belief, the water in swamps is not stagnant: if in lakes the water is completely renewed on average in 17 years, then in swamps it takes five years. Swamp moss (sphagnum) is an excellent antiseptic; it prevents the development of even those bacteria that can exist without oxygen. In addition, peat in the thickness of the swamp binds harmful substances into insoluble compounds, thanks to which the swamp system is a natural filter for fresh water. Today, in swamps around the world there is a reserve of 11.5 thousand km³ of fresh water - five times more than in all the rivers of the world.
Wetlands reduce the greenhouse effect
Wetlands are climate regulators. The only ecosystem on the planet that counteracts the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere and, accordingly, the greenhouse effect is swamps. One hectare of such land is 10 times more effective in harvesting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than a forest of the same area. Swamps accumulate peat, which consists mainly of carbon, and swamps, by removing it from the atmosphere and accumulating it, are natural “traps” for this gas. Thus, bogs protect the atmosphere from overheating, reduce the greenhouse effect and cool the planet.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com Small bubbles constantly appear on the surface of the swamp. This is swamp gas that accumulates under the silt. It is formed as a result of the rotting of plants, which at the bottom of the swamp do not have access to oxygen. The composition of swamp gas mainly includes methane. The formation of methane is continuous and its presence can be proven if you touch the swamp silt with a stick - gas bubbles immediately float to the surface of the water.
Swamps may burn due to underground flames
Peat in wetlands is a flammable material. When water is replaced by air in its thickness, the peat layer after some time acquires the ability to burn throughout its entire depth. The depth can be two, 10 or even 20 meters. Therefore, it is useless to pour a flame from above - water stops the fire only on the surface, and in the depths the peat continues to smolder, burning out huge voids. Only nature itself can extinguish an underground fire, when after prolonged rains the level groundwater will rise, and the swamps will again be filled with moisture.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Swamps prevent floods
The swamps support water balance. By storing water, they prevent floods and save money on the construction of expensive dams and reservoirs. Unlike mineral soils, peat deposits have greater moisture capacity and water-holding capacity.
Rivers disappear after swamps are drained
Draining swamps disrupts the nutrition of small rivers flowing from the swamp. As a result of the massive drainage of swamps, many rivers disappeared and dried up. One of the properties of the bog is the collection of rain and melt water. Consuming it gradually during the dry season, the swamps prevent the rivers flowing through them from becoming shallow, and also feed the streams through groundwater.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The myth about fertile lands
At the beginning of the 20th century, swamps were considered completely unnecessary and, if possible, they sought to drain them in order to use the vacated lands for arable land, pastures and hayfields. However, it soon became clear that the drained swamps were completely unsuitable for agriculture without long-term tillage and the application of large amounts of mineral fertilizers.Swamps are an excellent preservative
The swamp environment slows down the growth of bacteria, which is why bodies of organic origin that drown in the swamp are not destroyed. Over hundreds of millions of years, layers of peat have preserved various strange animals and plants. If there were no swamps, people would hardly know that magnolias and palm trees once upon a time grew in Greenland and Spitsbergen. Over the past 300 years in abandoned peat bogs Well-preserved human bodies were discovered in Britain and Ireland. Most of these mummies date back to the 1st century. BC e. - IV century n. e.
A relic of the Ice Age - the butterwort plant (Pinguicula vulgaris) Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Swamps preserved Ice Age plant
Thanks to the swamps, the only relic of the Ice Age still remains on earth - the butterwort plant (Pinguicula vulgaris). It grows in the Northern Hemisphere in tundra and forest zones on wet rocky slopes and swamps. In Russia it is found in Western Siberia, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.
Zhiryanka leaves prevent rotting, so the plants are widely used to make bactericidal agents that stop the growth of harmful microflora. Shepherds have long applied the plant to the wounds of cattle to prevent infections.
© / Shrek 2001 DreamWorks Animation
The Adventures of Pinocchio 1975
© / flying ship 1979 Soyuzmultfilm
© Flickr.com/mafue
© / The Adventures of Pig Funtik 1986 TO “Ekran”
Marya the Mistress 1959 Gorky Studio
A brief definition of the word “swamp” is a part of an ecosystem, a swampy place.
A bog is a part of the hydrosphere, an area of landscape characterized by low acidity, high degree moisture. Popularly, especially in fairy tales, it is often described as a lost place.
Although the soils are not fertile, various representatives of the flora grow here and animals and birds live here. In human life they also have great importance. Exist Various types(classifications) of swamps, which will be discussed below.
Origin of the term
The word was formed a very long time ago and has roots in the dialects of the ancient Slavs. It was also found among the Balts.
An early meaning of "white", resulting from white grass growing in places or the ash-gray color of dried mud.
Why do swamps form?
Causes of swamps:
- Reservoirs are overgrown with algae and grass.
- Waterlogging of the area. Bogs are formed by human activities (such as dam construction) or animals (such as beavers).
Conditions of education:
- lowland;
- high humidity;
- water stagnation.
Fresh water serves as a source of swamp formation. But there is an exception - there are salt pans. A salt marsh is formed by flooding with salt water (periodically or continuously).
Swamps of Russia
Mokhovinas cover approximately 1/10 of the entire area of the country. The main part is located on the West Siberian Plain and in the center of Russia.
Map of Russian swamps (click to enlarge)
A large percentage of the taiga and half of the tundra area are swamps. Moreover, their predominant part is peat swamps.
The meaning of swamps
Muds play an important role in nature:
- water filtration;
- preventing the greenhouse effect;
- promoting the formation of charcoal and peat;
- source of methane.
Types of swamps
Some types of shaky terrain:
- If honeydew is fed by groundwater, and rich vegetation grows on its surface, then this lowland (eutrophic) swamps.
- If nutrition occurs with the help of groundwater and atmospheric precipitation, but not so much is observed on the surface rich variety flora, then this transitional (mesotrophic) swamps.
- If the moss fly is fed by atmospheric precipitation, and poor flora is observed on the surface, then this raised (oligotrophic) bogs.
Classification of swamps
Bogs are classified according to various criteria:
- by the nature of the macrorelief— watershed, slope, floodplain, valley, etc. swamps;
- by the nature of the microrelief- lumpy, flat, convex, etc.;
- by dominant vegetation-shrubs, moss, forest, herbaceous.
- by the nature of the climate- subtropical, topical, temperate, subarctic.
Swamp inhabitants
Various animals live here: raccoons, muskrats, minks, otters.
From major representatives fauna - moose. The marsh turtle lives on some hummocks.
IN large quantities Insects, amphibians (frogs, toads), and reptiles are represented.
Marsh sandpiper
Birds include moorhens, partridges, lapwings, ducks, waders, etc.
Swamp plants
The most important plant is sphagnum moss.
Especially in large quantities it is common in oligotrophic swamps.
Many berries grow here: cloudberries, lingonberries, blueberries, cranberries. As a rule, they can be collected by residents of surrounding villages who know the extent and specifics of the bog.
The flora is also represented by such plants as calamus, sundew, wild rosemary, cotton grass, bladderwort, and sedge. Swamp cypress is found in the Danube region. A swampy forest is growing.
The problem of preserving wetlands
Currently, there is an acute problem of protecting the rapids as an important part of the ecosystem.
The main reasons for the disappearance of swamps, violation of the ecological integrity of nature:
- In the twentieth century, a policy of marsh reclamation was pursued. During this process, the entire system changed, including flora and fauna specific and characteristic only of swampy areas. Drainage has led to a decline in the population of some animal species. Reasons for the spread forest fires in 2010, over a large area, it is also associated with the absence of swamps.
- Peat extraction in industrial scale negatively affects swamps.
- Water intake will change the swamp's water system.
- The construction of infrastructure (roads, gas pipelines) changes the ecosystem of swamps and forests in general.
Swamps - botanical natural monuments
Wetlands are needed to preserve the overall ecosystem as well as botanical diversity.
Many plants can develop in conditions such as swampiness, high humidity, freshwater, stagnant water, and highly acidic soil. These conditions are optimal for the development of berries, sphagnum moss, and lichens.
Properties of swamps
Let's name two interesting properties, which not many people know about:
- Glow- explained by the release of methane.
- Mummifying effect- the absence of oxygen allows the mummification and preservation of living beings.
Swamps are dangerous (they have a marshy bottom), but at the same time interesting. It will be especially interesting for children to learn that swamps can keep big secrets.
Due to the mummifying effect of swamps, animals, including extinct ones (mammoths) and people (one of the illustrative examples is a medieval knight) can be preserved in excellent condition in its depths.
In the center of Siberian federal district, in the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh, is the Vasyugan Swamp, the largest in Russia and the world. Most of this unique natural zone is located on the territory of the Tomsk region, also covering the Novosibirsk, Omsk region and Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous region.The area of this swamp is the largest in the world and is about 53–55 thousand square meters. km, which exceeds the size of such European countries like Switzerland, Denmark or Estonia. The length of the swamp is approximately 570 by 320 km, it is truly huge, you can see it on the map.
According to scientists' calculations, swamping of this area began about 10,000 years ago ago and continues to this day - over the past 500 years the swamp has quadrupled in size. Local legends speak of the ancient Vasyugan sea-lake, but research by geologists says that the Great Vasyugan swamp did not occur through the overgrowth of ancient lakes, but as a result of the advance of swamps onto land under the influence of humid climate and favorable orographic conditions. Initially, on the site of the current single swamp massif there were 19 separate areas with total area 45000 sq. km, but gradually the quagmire consumed the surroundings, like the advance of desert sands.
Today, this region is still a classic example of active, "aggressive" bog formation: an interesting fact is that the bogs continue to grow, increasing on average by 800 hectares per year. There are more than 800 thousand lakes here, many rivers and streams originate, and moisture evaporated from the surface maintains climate balance and is carried even into the territory Eastern Siberia and Kazakhstan. The climate in the Vasyugan swamp area is continental and humid. The average temperature in January is -20 °C, in July +17 °C. Snow cover 40–80 cm high lies from October to April on average 175 days a year.
Flora and fauna
Wetlands are the last refuge of many rare and endangered species of animals and birds, driven away from their habitats transformed by humans, and the basis for maintaining the traditional environmental management of small peoples, in particular the indigenous inhabitants of Western Siberia. Among the plants of swamps and lakes, the main value is provided by various medicinal herbs, as well as berries that are found in abundance in swamps: cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries, etc.
Vasyugansky swamps are considered their home by a variety of insects, animals, fish, birds. During the migration period, waterfowl and waders stop there to rest. According to the Institute of Animal Ecology and Taxonomy of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, up to 60% of the total number of ducks flies during the spring migration as a diffuse front through swamp systems, and only 40% - along valleys large rivers. Godwits and curlews, as well as various birds of prey, including the peregrine falcon, make nests in the swamps. It was on the Vasyugan Plain that the slender-billed curlew, which is considered an almost extinct bird species, was last seen.
In places where swamps border with forests and there are rivers and lakes, there are moose, minks, sables, otters, hazel grouse and wood grouse. Until the mid-80s of the last century, reindeer were found in the swamps, but today their population has practically disappeared.
About 20 species of fish live in the tributaries of the rivers originating from the Great Vasyugan Swamp. In recent years, bream, pike perch, carp, and verkhovka have become common in local reservoirs. Vulnerable and rare fish species in the area are nelma, peled, lamprey, and ruff.
The Vasyugan swamp is the main source of fresh water in the region (water reserves up to 400 km³), this is the region where there are huge reserves of peat. Explored reserves amount to more than 1 billion tons (2% of the world), the average depth is 2.4 m, the maximum is 10 m. The most important function of the swamp is to purify the atmosphere, for which it is called a giant natural filter. The peat bogs of Siberia absorb toxic substances , bind carbon and thus prevent the greenhouse effect by saturating the air with oxygen.
The deserted Vasyugan moss peat bogs are a “geographical trend” in the north of the Tomsk region, which in the old days was called the Narym region. Historically, these were places of exile for political prisoners. Russian pioneers founded Tyumen (1586), Narym (1596) and Tomsk (1604) forts shortly after the completion of Ermak’s military expedition (1582–1585), which marked the beginning of the conquest of the Siberian Khanate in 1607. Judging by the documents found in peat bogs, by 1720 in the Narym region the newly arrived population lived in 12 settlements. Since 1835, the systematic settlement of exiles began (a new influx of exiles came to Vasyugan in the 1930–1950s), it was mainly at their expense that the local population increased.
Black gold
Later, more active development of Western Siberia was facilitated by the dispossession of land among the peasants of the central provinces as a result of the reforms of 1861, and especially the Stolypin reforms. agrarian reform 1906 In 1949, oil was discovered in the western part of the swamp, The Kargasok region was nicknamed the “oil Klondike”; by the early 1970s, more than 30 oil and gas fields had already been discovered in the Vasyugan (Pionerny) and Luginets (Pudino) regions. In 1970, construction of the Aleksandrovskoye–Tomsk–Anzhero-Sudzhensk oil pipeline began, and in 1976, the Nizhnevartovsk–Parabel–Kuzbass gas pipeline.
Ecology of the Vasyugan swamp
Despite the virtual complete absence of the Vasyugan swamps in the area settlements, with the development of civilization to a unique natural object began to provide bad influence the most various factors. Peat extraction disturbs the natural landscape of the Vasyugan Plain, there is Negative consequences drainage of swamps and poaching lead to the destruction of unique flora and fauna. Heavy tracked vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, construction and drilling activities, oil spills, and the use of water in drilling processes harm the wetland ecosystem.
Industrial wastewater constantly flows into the rivers, and tourists leave behind garbage. Second stages of rockets also pose a big problem., launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome: falling into swamps, they pollute them with the remains of highly toxic rocket fuel - heptyl. As shown by analyzes of samples of water, soil and plants of raised bogs collected in areas of pollution, the heptyl content in some of them is 5 times higher than the maximum permissible concentration.
Fires in the swamps
However, the most dangerous and most frequently repeated anthropogenic impacts on the Vasyugan ecosystems are those that destroy all natural complexes swamps, including in winter. As a result, many intra-swamp lakes of pyrogenic genesis appear, tree stands and many animals die. The increase in lake density reduces the flow of water from already swampy forest areas.
In the 20s of the last century, a seven-year fire in peat bogs on the territory of modern Northern region Novosibirsk region led to the formation of Lake Tenis, the largest in the south of Western Siberia. Subsequently, its basin deepened in places to 11–18 meters, the area of the water surface approached 19 square meters. km, and the total water reserves accumulated from swampy catchment areas are about 47 million cubic meters. m.UNESCO reserve
Assessing the role and significance of the Great Vasyugan Swamp as a complex and multifunctional ecosystem and taking into account its uniqueness and significance, as well as the increasing scale of anthropogenic impacts, we have to recognize the urgent problem of its protection. However, for a long time the Vasyugan swamps were not even included in the preliminary lists of objects that need to be assigned the status of specially protected ones.
The situation moved from a dead point in 2006. The administration of the Tomsk region created the Vasyugansky complex reserve. Currently there are plans to give it the status of a World Heritage Site. natural heritage UNESCO. The Vasyugansky Nature Reserve includes a ban on hunting and logging. Although this will deprive a significant part of work local residents, among whom there are many professional hunters, the administration of the reserve hopes to attract former hunters to the rangers to combat poaching.
Possible solutions
Creation of a specially protected natural area on the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh represents scientific interest from a monitoring and research perspective natural processes in the largest wetland region in the world. The purpose of their organization is to preserve the complex of swamp systems of the Great Vasyugan Swamp and maintain ecological balance in the region. This corresponds not only to the general goals of preserving biological diversity and wise use of natural resources (plants, oil), but also maintaining the balance of ecosystems in adjacent territories.
Scientists' opinions
According to scientists, the design of a large protected area - an ecological reserve - within the Vasyugan swamp system will be very promising. This should be a single massif, the basis of which can be the spaces of watershed swamps.
Within this zone, it is advisable to establish a series of scientific testing grounds similar to biosphere ones, since the allocation of only one specially protected area, even a very large area and fairly representative in terms of the characteristics of the swamp process and the structure of the swamp landscapes of the region, would be a half-measure that does not guarantee the safety of this entire territory as an ecologically valuable landscape system.
Educational establishments Russia which conducts research in the field environmental problems.
For environmental pollution in our country, see the review.
What is the policy of states aimed at solving global problems of the biosphere? Find out more at the link.
Development of territories
Development of the western part of the Great Vasyugan Swamp oil industry cannot serve as a factor contributing to the reduction of the boundaries of the ecological reserve. These areas are of interest for organizing a system for monitoring the progress of natural processes under conditions of anthropogenic influence, and in practice for monitoring the exploitation oil fields. As the first step of environmental and practical actions, it is necessary to form a state interregional complex nature reserve of federal significance.
A separate point of the program for the protection of the Vasyugan swamp should be a program for reforming the Russian rocket and space industry, providing for the cessation of the use of heptyl and nitrogen tetroxide as rocket fuel and oxidizer, as well as the transfer of the main rocket launch site from Baikonur to the Vostochny cosmodrome under construction in Amur region.From the above it becomes quite clear that the Vasyugan swamp massif not only represents unique natural phenomenon Western Siberia, but also acts as such for Russia and the world. The geoecological functions it performs are irreplaceable and irreplaceable, therefore the only way conservation of this natural heritage could be the creation of a biosphere reserve within its boundaries. Considering the high cost of implementing such a project, its solution is possible at least in stages: at the first stage there are various kinds of economic restrictions, at the second stage it is possible to create the Vasyugansky nature reserve, and, finally, its transformation into a biosphere reserve.
Few people know that the “homeland” of humans, like all terrestrial life forms, is a swamp. It is believed that the first swamps arose about 350 million years ago, at the end geological period Silurian - early Devonian. Before finally getting out onto the ground, plants and animals lived in swamps.
Swamps are a chronicle of nature. It is in the swamps that the only relic of the Ice Age on earth still grows - the butterwort plant (Pinguicula vulgaris). And what is preserved in peat reaches our days in its original form. Over hundreds of millions of years, layers of peat turned into horizons coal. And in them, in the form of imprints, skeletons of strange animals and bizarre species of plants appeared. If there were no swamps on Earth, we would hardly have known that magnolias and palm trees once upon a time grew in Greenland and Spitsbergen.
However, people are in no hurry to develop this natural storehouse. People burst into space and sink to the bottom of the oceans, but still shun the swamps. Even the most desperate berry pickers and hunters who visit the swamps say that as soon as you find yourself in the middle of a swamp, a strange ringing in your ears suddenly appears, you feel dizzy, your legs become weak, and you have a serious desire to run. Inexplicable fear grips you from head to toe, you want to forget this place forever. Hunters gloomily joke that it is impossible to quickly drown in a swamp; there remains “time to eat the toffee.” A person who is not familiar with the “rules of behavior in the swamps” seems to be paralyzed. Shackled by horror and swamp ligature, he can no longer move and seems to be watching his death from the sidelines. This can last from several minutes to several days. Until the swamp water begins to fill your lungs...
It’s not for nothing that swamps in Rus' are called Adovo, Sukino, Chertovo... These names reflect the people’s fear of the mystery and enigma of swamps.
Kikimora is stolen from the womb
None of the natural treasures are shrouded in so many secrets, legends and mysticism as swamps. Their fame is not good, so people bypass the kingdom of kikimora on the tenth road. And she loves uninvited guests. He drags unwary travelers into his quagmire. True, she rarely shows herself to people - she prefers to be invisible and only screams from the swamp in a loud voice. But if he gets naughty, he might even take a ride on a scared-to-death traveler. According to legend, girls cursed by their mother in the womb or in infancy before baptism, as well as girls born to a woman from a fiery serpent, turn into kikimoras.
It was believed that such children were kidnapped and carried away devilry. Sometimes - straight from the mother's womb. After seven years, these children turn into kikimore. Children who died unbaptized could also turn into kikimora. In most beliefs, kikimora is an evil spirit. If she marries a brownie, she takes up residence in the house and causes chaos. Sometimes even forcing the owners to leave their home. If a goblin took her fancy as her husband, then from now on her home is a swamp. Children are born to the kikimora and the goblin - lesavki. They play pranks, lead travelers off the road, and do their best to help their parents lure travelers into the swamps.
Kikimora - drags unwary travelers to his quagmire
Again the dead man lit a candle
The swamp beckons. The wings of abandoned mills in the swamps constantly rotate, smoke comes from the chimneys. Everyone living nearby bypasses these mills on the tenth road. The sounds that the swamp makes are similar to the speech of a giant living creature. And lonely travelers often mistake the will-o'-the-wisps in the swamps for the lights of their homes and come straight into the swamps. Because of the characteristic location of the lights - at the height of a human hand - they were called "dead man's candles." It was believed that the one who saw them received a warning about imminent death, and they were carried by aliens from the other world. In Germany they said that the lights in the swamp are the ghosts of those who stole the land from their neighbors. The Finns called them "lecchio" and believed that they were the souls of children buried in the forest. In Northern Europe, it was believed that the lights in the swamp were the spirits of ancient warriors guarding treasures.
In fact, lights in the swamps are not fantasies or inventions of dense grannies. In warm weather dark nights in swamps or fresh graves you can actually observe pale bluish, faintly flickering lights. They seem to be dancing in the air, tracing a complex trajectory. It is hydrogen phosphide that “burns.” Phosphorus compounds, which are part of animal and human corpses, decompose under the influence of groundwater to form hydrogen phosphide. When there is a loose embankment over a grave or a small layer of water in a swamp, the gas, coming to the surface, is ignited by the vapor of liquid hydrogen phosphide.
A secret covered in peat
For us, swamps are an undiscovered treasury from which we can draw information not only about past landscapes, but also learn about our history. This historical book can be read endlessly, page after page, making new discoveries. But peat bogs indicate not only changes in bog vegetation. Often they also store tools of labor and wars of the past buried in them. And even the remains of the owners of these guns. Sphagnum moss and its decomposition products, including humic acid, react with calcium and nitrogen to make human flesh incorruptible.
In May 1950, two Danish farmers were digging in the bogs of Bjeldskovdal, Jutland, when they came across a corpse. They decided that they had found a schoolboy from Copenhagen who had disappeared in the swamps the year before. The police were called. Could they have imagined that they had found the corpse of a man who died in the 4th century BC?.. The eyelids of the “man from Tollund” were tiredly lowered, he seemed to be sleeping. The swamps even preserved his mustache and beard, and cuts from walking on sharp stones were clearly visible on his feet. The cause of death of the “man from Tollund” is shrouded in darkness (more precisely, peat), but forensic research has revealed many interesting details. For example, the last thing he ate before his death was a porridge made from barley, wild oats, buckwheat, flaxseed and mari - about thirty different herbs in total. Two English archaeologists tried the dish prepared according to this recipe and found its taste disgusting. Botanists have established the conditions in which he lived, and archaeologists have clarified his age.
In total, about 2,000 mummies have been discovered in the swamps of Europe over the past hundred years. These unfortunates were able to tell us something about the customs of ancient Northern Europe, which before today remained a sealed secret for historians and archaeologists.
In 1984, an excavator digging for peat in the Lindow bog, south of Manchester, dug up a human leg, and then the whole body was found. This discovery is associated with the most thorough study of swamp mummies carried out so far. A team of fifty experts - from pathologists to paleobiologists - studied the "Lindov Man", whose age is estimated at two thousand years. It was determined that this man's last food was a flat loaf of wheat and barley. They even found out that the bread was briefly heated before eating at a temperature of 200 to 250 degrees. The “Man from Lindov” was no older than thirty, suffered from arthritis of the lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and had a blood type zero (I). And perhaps the skin of this ancient Briton was colored blue or green. What was that - war paint? Julius Caesar in his War with Gaul writes: “All the Britons rub themselves with vitrum, which colors their skin so that they look even more fearsome in battle.” The only thing researchers are missing is the DNA formula. Humic acids in the swamps destroyed this hereditary material as thoroughly as they helped preserve hair and skin covering. Presenting to descendants a man made of flesh, but without blood.
But still main question, over which scientists will have to struggle for a long time: why did contemporaries treat these people so cruelly, why were they drowned in the black mud of swamps?.. Traces of blows were found on the body of the “man from Lindov”; the skull was pierced with an ax. The executioners tightened the animal's veins around the neck, after which they cut the throat - this increased the flow of gushing blood.
Under long braids The young "Elling woman" was found with a deeply impressed inverted V on the back of her head. A teenager of 10-14 years old, who was exhumed from a grave in a bog near Kayhausen in Lower Saxony, was bound so tightly that he could not even move. He was stabbed in the throat several times. The "Woman from Huldremose" had her hand cut off. There were several puncture wounds on the thigh and foot. After death, the killers mutilated the face of another Jutland woman beyond recognition and, apparently, scalped her...
Were they victims to the gods, criminals, or worthy members of society, who, following some mysterious rituals, were sent to other world? Since ancient times, the swamp was considered a transitional place from the real world to the afterlife, which is why it was chosen as a place of sacrifice. After delving into folklore, researchers proposed a version: these people were drowned in a swamp so that they could not rise from the dead and begin to take revenge on the living. In their assumptions, scientists rely on the same shaky ground as the one in which these unfortunates were found. Scientists have yet to unravel the mysteries of the ancient swamp mummies.
Where did Susanin lead his enemies?
And in Russia at the beginning of last year, the legend about the brave Russian peasant Ivan Susanin, who started Polish army into the swamp and thereby saved Russia from ruin. Near the village of Isupovo, Susaninsky district, Kostroma region, where a century ago there was a swamp, archaeologists discovered hundreds of human remains and 40 pectoral crosses, presumably belonging to soldiers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One of the crosses is made in the tradition Orthodox Church and, most likely, adorned the chest of a heroic villager. Such pectoral crosses were made in the XVI - XVII centuries. In addition, the cross is not whole, but consists of fragments.
It was possible to establish that it was chopped down - probably by the sabers of Polish soldiers. It is known that none of the Polish detachment survived. The only documentary evidence of Susanin's feat was the tsar's letter. In it, Mikhail Fedorovich gave Susanin’s son-in-law Bogdan Sabinin half of the village of Dereveshchi: “Knowing about us, Susanin endured unbearable torture, did not tell about us, and for that he was tortured to death by Polish and Lithuanian people.” So, after several centuries, the swamp revealed another secret to people.
Fayustov M.V. Ivan Susanin. 2003
Witch
Not all swamp mysteries can be explained by the results chemical reaction. And then the terrible swamp mysticism bursts into real life.
Tikhvinsky district Leningrad region reputed to be a bearish angle. The places here are remote, swampy and sparsely populated, which makes them attractive to hunters and fishermen. One autumn, the leading engineer of the Elektrosila plant, Yakov Aizeman, came to hunt. He stayed with a friend in the village of Volozhba.
In the morning Eiseman went into the forest. And I didn’t notice how lost I was. This did not frighten him; the engineer considered himself a good expert on the Tikhvin forests. All day he wandered through completely unfamiliar places, and towards evening he came out onto a barely noticeable forest road. The road led him to an abandoned farm on the edge of a large swamp.
Apparently, the farm was abandoned quite a long time ago. Eiseman climbed onto the porch and pushed open the front door of the hut. It opened with a creak. There was nothing remarkable inside the house, except for the traces of someone's long-ago overnight stay: several empty tin cans, vodka bottles and an armful of firewood thrown near the stove bench.
It was getting dark quickly. A whitish fog was creeping in from the swamp in wisps, and there was a chilly dampness. “I’ll spend the night in the house, and in the morning I’ll find out where the devil has taken me,” Eiseman decided and began to settle down for the night.
At night he suddenly woke up from wild horror. Someone shuffled past him. The engineer lay motionless for several seconds, but then stood up in fear on his bed. Nothing was visible in the pitch darkness, but Eiseman sensitively sensed someone’s presence in the hut and realized that the one hidden in the darkness was mortally dangerous. He hastily flicked his lighter. A flickering tongue of flame snatched out of the darkness the corner of the couch and the stooped figure of an old woman standing a few steps away from it.
Eiseman screamed in surprise. The old woman slowly, as if blind, moved towards him, spreading both her arms. A sweetish smell of decomposition flowed through the hut, and Eiseman clearly saw that... a corpse was approaching him! In desperation, he threw a Neva lighter at the deceased, still Soviet-made, hefty and weighty, like a chair. She hit the old woman hard on the rotten forehead and, rebounding, instantly went out. A scream was heard in the darkness. Eiseman rushed into the hallway. Fear gave him strength, and with one jerk he pulled out of the closed front door hook, jumped out onto the porch.
The rest of the night he ran over some unsteady hummocks, every now and then falling into the peat slurry. At dawn I felt solid ground under my feet and collapsed exhausted. Having caught my breath, I looked around and realized that I was not far from Volozhba.
When Eiseman appeared in the village, he caused a stir among the local residents - his appearance was so wild. However, everything he told did not surprise the villagers at all, since there had been bad rumors about the farm on the swamp for a long time. It was rumored that the old woman was a witch and kept an old book on witchcraft in her house.
Eiseman left Volozhba for St. Petersburg, not even remembering the backpack, bandoleer and double-barreled gun abandoned on the farm. Upon arrival in the city, he underwent a medical examination for a mental disorder, which could be attributed to everything that happened to him on the farm. But the engineer’s health was like that of an astronaut; doctors did not find any hints of mental instability. Then Yakov turned to a St. Petersburg researcher for clarification. anomalous phenomena Andron Friedman. The expert's opinion was:
IN northern regions In Russia, according to an ancient witchcraft ritual, a sorcerer or witch needed to find a successor in order to transfer to him all his forbidden knowledge before his death, usually in the form of a handwritten code. Otherwise, their black souls could not find peace and were doomed to eternal torment. Sudden death Korenikha (she was killed by a shell fragment during the shelling of the village by the Germans) violated this ritual and became the reason for the appearance of the ghost of a witch.
In addition, Andron Friedman put forward the version that the farm most likely contains a rare handwritten code of witchcraft - the Russian version of the terrible Necronomicon, known since the 13th century. The researcher intends to go in search of him, although such an undertaking will be incredibly dangerous. After all, a witch won’t just give up a witchcraft book...
Fact
Three quarters of all swamps are concentrated in Russia. In the south of the Tomsk region, on its very border with Novosibirsk, is the Vasyugan swamp. Stretching over 500 kilometers in length and from 15 to 120 in width, it is the largest swamp on the globe.
Vasyugan swamp
Myth
As stated in the creation myth, initially the earth was completely covered with water. One day, while walking along it, God saw a cloudy bubble from which a devil jumped out. Then God told the Devil to get the earth from the bottom. The devil complied with the order, but hid a handful of earth behind his cheek. At this time, God created dry land from the brought earth, on which beauty appeared extraordinary trees, bushes and grass. However, they began to grow in the mouth of the Devil, who began to frantically spit out the earth. This is how, according to legend, swamps appeared on earth.
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