Vasyugan bogs are located in places where small-leaved forests turn into the southern taiga. 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 as Switzerland, Denmark or Estonia. The size of the swamp is approximately 570 x 320 km in length, it is truly enormous. This is approximately two percent of the total area of all peat bogs on Earth.
The Vasyugan swamps were formed about ten thousand years ago and since then their territory has been constantly growing. They stretch for about 570 km from west to east and more than 300 km from north to south.
Swamping of the area has been especially rapid in recent years, for example, in the last five hundred years alone, the area occupied by swamps has increased by about 75%.
In the warm season, the Vasyugan bogs are almost completely impassable for any equipment.
The movement of geological parties and cargo transportation to the developing oil fields is carried out only in winter.
How the swamp appeared
According to scientists, the swamping of the area began about 10 thousand years ago. But the growth of the swamp does not stop even now. Over the past 500 years, the natural area has increased by about 4 times. There is a legend where the ancient Vasyugan sea-lake is mentioned. However, studies have shown that this natural zone was not formed as a result of waterlogged water bodies. In this case, everything happened for a different reason. The unique natural zone was formed as a result of the attack on the land of swamps. This happened under the influence of favorable orographic conditions, as well as a humid climate.
Initially, there were 19 plots on the site of the swamp. Their area was approximately 45 thousand square kilometers. However, the quagmire gradually swallowed up the surrounding lands. It can be compared to an offensive in a desert of sands. It should be noted that the Vasyugan bog is a classic example of "aggressive" and active swamp formation.
Legend of creation
There is a legend about the creation of the Vasyugan swamp, according to which at first there was only water on the earth, and nothing else. The Lord walked on the water and noticed a cloudy bubble floating on the surface, from which the devil suddenly jumped out. The Lord ordered the devil to go down deep to the bottom and get the earth.
During the execution of this order, the devil took and hid some earth behind both cheeks. God scattered the earth brought by the devil from the bottom, and in those places where it fell, a land with lush vegetation appeared. But the plants began to sprout not only on land, but also in the mouth near the devil, and he, unable to bear it, began to spit out the earth.
Swamp climate
The climate in this natural zone is humid and continental. In January, the average temperature is about 20 ° C below zero, and in July - 17 ° C above zero. The snow cover lasts about 175 days a year, and its height ranges from 40 to 80 centimeters. Thanks to this climate, the Big Vasyugan bog is a unique reserve, home to many endangered species of birds and animals.
Flora and fauna of the Vasyugan swamps
The Vasyugan swamps are home to numerous local fauna, including rare ones. The swamps are inhabited, in particular, by the reindeer, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, osprey, gray shrike, peregrine falcon. Squirrels, moose, sables, wood grouses, ptarmigan, hazel grouse, black grouse are found in significant quantities, mink, otter, and wolverine are found in smaller quantities. Flora also includes rare and endangered plant species and plant communities. Of the wild plants, the following are widespread: cranberries, blueberries, cloudberries.
Now the fauna and flora of swamps is under threat in connection with the development of the territory during the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas fields. Whereas the falling second stages of carrier rockets, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, bring the remains of unburned heptyl into the territory.
In summer, the swamps are practically impassable even for specialized equipment. Cargo transportation to oil fields and geological exploration parties is carried out in the winter.
The meaning of swamps
The Vasyugan bogs are of great ecological importance for the entire region, and also perform a number of biospheric functions. They represent a natural reserve for various marsh landscapes and flora and fauna inhabiting them.
The total water reserves are approximately 400 cubic kilometers, making them an important storage of fresh water. There are numerous small lakes here. In the Vasyugan bogs there are the sources of the Vasyugan, Tara, Om, Parabig, Chizhapka, Uy and some others.
In addition, the area is rich in peat. Studies show that the known deposits contain just over 1 billion tons of useful rock. This is approximately 2% of the world's reserves. The average depth of peat is 2.4 meters, and the maximum is 10 meters.
Do not forget that the main function of swamps is to cleanse the atmosphere. It is for this reason that they are also called "natural filter". It should be noted that the Vasyugan peat bog absorbs toxic substances, binds carbon, saturates the air with oxygen and prevents the formation of the greenhouse effect.
Ecological problems
Although there are almost no settlements on the Vasyugan bogs and economic activity is minimal, humans still harm the unique and rather fragile ecosystem.
Among the environmental problems of the region, one can note deforestation, peat extraction, oil development, poaching, etc. The development of local deposits is associated with a negative impact on the soils of all-terrain vehicles, oil spills and other unfavorable factors.
A serious problem is created by the second stages of rockets falling here, which are launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. These steps pollute the area with heptyl, which has a strong toxic effect.
Until recently, almost no attempts were made to protect this unique natural landscape. Only in 2006, in the east of the Vasyugan bogs, the Vasyugansky complex was created, the territory of which totals 5090 sq. km.
In 2007 they were included in the preliminary list of heritage sites in Russia. It is understood that the nominated property will include the territory of an existing reserve. There is a question of giving, at least part of the Vasyugan bogs, the status of a reserve, which would practically exclude any economic activity here.
How to get there?
The Great Vasyugan bog is distinguished by its extreme inaccessibility. Some villages on the outskirts can still be reached by off-road vehicle, however, the further path will most likely have to be overcome only on foot.
A trip on a tracked all-terrain vehicle is possible, but its use is also quite limited due to the swamps. There is also an opportunity to view the swamps from the air - some Tomsk travel agencies organize helicopter tours.
Visiting the Vasyugan swamps is quite dangerous and requires some preparation and experience in moving around such places. There are numerous swamps and a huge number of bears.
The Vasyugan bogs are the largest swamps in the world, located in Western Siberia, in the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh rivers, on the territory of the Vasyugan plain, which is mostly within the Tomsk region, and in small parts - in the Novosibirsk and Omsk regions and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
The area of the swamps is 53 thousand km² (for comparison: the area of Switzerland is 41 thousand km²), the length from west to east is 573 km, from north to south - 320 km, coordinates - from 55 ° 40 "to 58 ° 60" N. sh. and from 75 ° 30 "to 83 ° 30" in. etc.
Are included in the hundred wonders of Russia!
Deserted Vasyugan bogs are a "geographical trend" in the north of the Tomsk region, which in the old days was called the Narym Territory. Historically, these were places of exile for political prisoners.
“God created paradise, and the devil created the Narym region,” the first wave of Russian immigrants condemned - “service people by order” and “exile” (almost from the very beginning, Narym, standing in the middle of the swamps, was used as a place of exile). The second wave of exiles (political prisoners since the 1930s) echoed: "God created Crimea, and the devil created Narym." But this was said by those who turned out to be here against their will. The indigenous inhabitants are the Khanty (obsolete "Ostyaks") and Selkups (obsolete "Ostyak-Samoyeds"), whose ancestors, as evidenced by the archaeological finds of the Kulai culture (bronze casting: hunting weapons and cult artifacts), lived in semi-dugouts on the elevated areas of Vasyugane at least three thousand years, this would never have been said. But the Narym Territory is the land of swamps, and in Slavic folklore, swamps are always associated with evil spirits.
The Vasyugan swamps appeared about 10 thousand years ago and have been constantly increasing since then - 75% of their modern area was swamped less than 500 years ago. Swamps are the main source of fresh water in the region (water reserves are 400 km³), there are about 800 thousand small lakes, many rivers originate from swamps, in particular: Ava, Bakchar, Bolshoi Yugan, Vasyugan, Demyanka, Iksa, Kargat, Kyonga , Nyurolka, Maly Tartas, Tartas, Maly Yugan, Om, Parabel, Parbig, Tara, Tui, Uy, Chaya, Chertala, Chizhapka, Chuzik, Shegarka, Shish. Vasyugan swamps 
The Vasyugan swamps are home to numerous local fauna, including rare ones. Of the rare animal species, the swamps are inhabited, in particular, by the reindeer, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, osprey, gray shrike, peregrine falcon. Squirrels, moose, sables, wood grouses, ptarmigan, hazel grouse, black grouse are found in significant quantities, mink, otter, and wolverine are found in smaller quantities. Flora also includes rare and endangered plant species and plant communities. From wild plants, cranberries, blueberries, cloudberries are widespread.
Now the fauna and flora of swamps is under threat in connection with the development of the territory during the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas fields. An environmental hazard is also posed by the falling second stages of launch vehicles launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which pollute the territory with heptyl residues. Vasyugan swamps 
VASYUGAN PLAIN
The Vasyugan inclined stratum-accumulative plain (Vasyugan'e) is a plain in Western Siberia, part of the West Siberian Plain, located within the Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk regions, in the interfluve of the Ob and Irtysh rivers.
The plain drops to the north, absolute heights vary from 100 to 166 m.
The territory is very swampy, one of the largest swamps in the world is located here - Vasyugan, from which many rivers originate, in particular: Ava, Bakchar, Bolshoi Yugan, Vasyugan, Demyanka, Iksa, Kenga, Nyurolka, Maly Tartas, Tartas, Maly Yugan , Om, Parabel, Parbig, Tara, Tui, Uy, Chaya, Chertala, Chizhapka, Chuzik, Shegarka, Shish.
Fossils: oil, natural gas, peat, iron ore. Vasyugan swamps
RIVER VASYUGAN
Vasyugan is a river in the south of the West Siberian Plain, a left tributary of the Ob. It flows entirely through the territory of the Kargasoksky district of the Tomsk region.
Length - 1082 km, navigable at a distance of 886 km from the mouth, basin area - 61 800 km ². Average long-term annual runoff: 345 m³ / s, 10.9 km³ / year.
It originates from the Vasyugan swamps. Vasyugan swamps 
Largest tributaries:
right-wingers: Elizarovka, Petryak, Polovinka, Ershovka, Kalganak, Penorovka, Nyurolka, Winter, Chizhapka, Pasil, Silga, Naushka, Kochebilovka, Slogan.
left: Bolshoy Petryak, Listvenka, Korovya, Staritsa, Garchak, Kyn, Nalimya, Deaf, Chertala, Yagyl'yakh, Egol'yakh, Olenevka, Kelvat, Lontyn'yakh, Katylga, Cheremshanka, Prudovaya, Makhnya, Kedrovka, Martynovka, Ekhen-Yeghyom , Kacharma, Malaya Kuletka.
Settlements (from source):
With. Novy Vasyugan, village Aipolovo, s. New Tevriz, s. Middle Vasyugan, s. Staraya Berezovka, s. Ust-Chizhapka, s. Naunak, s. Big Mane, s. Staroyugino, s. Novoyugino, s. Bondarka.
There are oil and gas fields in the Vasyugan basin.
RIVER BIG YUGAN
Big Yugan - a river in Russia, flows through the territory of the Surgut and Nefteyugansk regions of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, the left tributary of the Ob, flows into the Yugansk Ob. 
The length of the river is 1063 km, the area of its drainage basin is 34,700 km². At 118 km from the mouth, the average annual water discharge is 177.67 m³ / s.
The source in the Vasyuganya swamps (Vasyugan bogs), flows through the swampy territory of the West Siberian Plain.
There are many tributaries, the largest of which is the right Maly Yugan. There are about 8000 lakes in the basin, with a total area of 545 km². The river is fed by snow. Freezing up from October to early May.
The main settlements from the mouth to the source:
Yugan, Maloyugansky, Ugut, Kogonchins, Kayukovs, Taurova, Taylakovo, Larlomkins. 
RIVER DEMYANKA
Demianka is a river in Western Siberia, the right tributary of the Irtysh.
The sources are in the marshes of Vasyuganya in the north-east of the Omsk region. Then it flows through the territory of the Uvat district of the Tyumen region. Tributaries: Keum, Tyamka - right; Tegus, Urna, Imgyt, Bolshoi Kunyak - leftists.
The total length of the river is 1159 km, the catchment area is 34 800 km² with an average height of 90 m, it receives 50 tributaries with a length of more than 10 km. The total number of watercourses in the river basin reaches an impressive value: 1,689, with a total length of 10,913 km. The density coefficient of the river network is 0.31 km / km².
The weighted average slope of the river is 0.07 ‰, which indicates a calm current, moderate deformation processes and a fine fractional composition of bottom sediments.
The river valley, both in the upper and middle reaches, has a trapezoidal shape. The slopes of the river valley are relatively steep, steep in places, and have a variety of taiga vegetation.
Woody vegetation is represented by mixed forests, conifers: cedar, pine, spruce, fir; deciduous species: aspen, birch, willow. Of the shrubs, bird cherry and willow tree prevail.
The river bed is unbranched, highly winding. The bottom of the channel is silty-sandy. During the spring rise in the water level, the river becomes partially navigable. The channel in shallow water is littered with fallen trees and bushes. The type of channel process is free meandering. Low-water longitudinal slope is insignificant - 0.034 ‰. Ice drift occurs on the rise of floods.
The Demyanka basin is significantly swampy and is distinguished by a huge number of small lakes: boggy - 50%, forest - 45%.
The lake area is not so large and does not exceed 2.0%, which is caused by the extremely small size of the bog lakes.
There is a settlement on the river Demyanka, but in general, the Demyanka basin is poorly populated. There are no large settlements.
ARTICLE ABOUT VASYUGAN SWEETS
Russian pioneers founded the Tyumen (1586), Narymsky (1596) and Tomsk (1604) forts shortly after the completion of the military expedition of Ermak (1582-1585), which marked the beginning of the conquest of the Siberian Khanate in 1607. Judging by the documents , by 1720 in the Narym Territory the newly arrived population lived in 12 settlements, but the times were turbulent, the resistance of the local population was not broken, the nature was harsh, so only “service people”, recruited “according to the tsar's extortion,” settled among the Khanty and Selkups (Cossacks), missionary clergy. Peasants, artisans and merchants bypassed the Vasyugan jungle, moving to more favorable lands for living, but on the other hand, places were suitable for the Kerzhaks-Old Believers pursued by the authorities - deaf, impassable.
Since 1835, a systematic settlement of exiles began (a new influx of exiles came to Vasyugane in the 1930-1950s), it was mainly due to them that the local population increased. Later, the more active development of Western Siberia was facilitated by the landlessness of the peasants of the central provinces as a result of the reforms of 1861, and especially the Stolypin agrarian reform of 1906. It was necessary to look for land for arable land, and the expedition in 1908, directed by the resettlement administration of the Tomsk district to Vasyugane, passed from the village Orlovka through the Vasyugan bogs to the Chertalinsky yurts and along the Vasyugan river and found suitable sites for several more villages. On the winter road, frozen fish, meat, fowl, furs, berries, pine nuts were transported by Vasyugan carts to Tomsk, and back they brought flour, manufactory, and salt. Bread was not born, but later Siberians adapted to growing potatoes, cabbage, turnips, carrots; the cattle were also found where to graze.
In 1949, oil was found 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 began on the Aleksandrovskoye - Tomsk - Anzhero - Sudzhensk oil pipeline, and in 1976 - on the Nizhnevartovsk - Parabel - Kuzbass gas pipeline. New tracked vehicles and helicopters made the Vasyugan swamps more accessible - but also more vulnerable. Therefore, it was decided to preserve a large part of the bog adjacent to the Ob-Irtysh watershed, in order to preserve this natural phenomenon and the ecological regulation of the region.
The natural region of Vasyugane covers not only the Vasyugan swamps, but also the basins of the right tributaries of the Irtysh and the left tributaries of the Ob. It is a flat or gently undulating plain with a slight slope to the north, cut by a network of valleys of the Bolshoi Yugan, Vasyugan, Parabel, etc. The swamp lies on the Ob-Irtysh watershed and is constantly growing.
The swamp is a repository of large reserves of fresh water. Swamp peat is a valuable raw material and a giant natural filter that removes excess carbon and toxic substances from the atmosphere, thereby preventing the so-called greenhouse effect. Thus, bogs have a beneficial effect on the formation of the water balance and climate in large areas. Also, wetlands are the last refuge of many rare and endangered species of animals and birds, driven from habitats transformed by humans, and the basis for maintaining the traditional use of natural resources of small peoples, in particular, the indigenous inhabitants of Western Siberia.
The Vasyugan bogs are the largest bog system in the Northern Hemisphere, a unique natural phenomenon that has no analogues. They cover about 55 thousand km2 in the northern part of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve on the inclined Vasyugan plateau, rising in the center of the West Siberian Plain. Peat bogs rest on a thick layer of clay and loamy deposits, their formation is facilitated by excessive moisture.
According to scientists, swamps appeared in Western Siberia in the early Holocene (about 10 thousand years ago). Local legends speak of the ancient Vasyugan Sea-lake, but geologists' studies say that the Great Vasyugan swamp did not come about by overgrowing ancient lakes, but as a result of the advance of swamps on land under the influence of a humid climate and favorable orographic conditions. Initially, there were 19 separate sections with a total area of 45 thousand km2 on the site of the present unified swamp massif, but gradually the bog swallowed up the surroundings, like the onset of the desert sands. Today the region is still a classic example of active, “aggressive” swamp formation: more than half of its current area has been added over the last 500 years, and the bogs continue to grow, increasing by an average of 800 hectares per year. In the central part, more intensive upward growth of peat occurs, which is why the Vasyugan bog has a convex shape and rises 7.5-10 m above the edges; at the same time on the periphery there is an increase in the area. Vasyugan swamps 
The Great Vasyugan bog at the junction of the southern taiga, middle taiga and subtaiga (small-leaved) subzones is distinguished by a wide variety of vegetation and is heterogeneous in landscape and type of bogs (upland, lowland and transitional). The landscape alternates between ridges and depressions, swamps, bog lakes, streams and rivers (tributaries of the Irtysh and Ob).
The diversity of the marsh landscape is reflected in the local names of individual sites. So, "ryams" designate areas of Siberian oligotrophic (low in nutrients, infertile) bogs with pine-dwarf shrub-sphagnum (sphagnum mosses - the source of peat formation) vegetation. "Shelochki" are separate islands with pine-dwarf shrub-sphagnum vegetation (like on ryamas) up to several tens of meters in diameter, towering 50-90 cm above the surface of sedge-hypnum bogs. "Veretya" are narrow (1-2 m wide) and long (up to 1 km long) areas lying perpendicular to the surface runoff and rising above monotonous sedge-hypnum swamps by 10-25 cm; on the spindles, singly or in small groups, birches, pines, Lapland willow and rose-leaved willow, sedge and leafy-stem mosses grow (as in depressions).
A characteristic feature of the Vasyugan bog are special spindle-swamp low-lying bogs with a polygonal-cellular pattern of the surface (a subspecies of a ridge-hollow-lake bog), confined to saucer-like depressions at the top of the watershed, devoid of runoff. Their "geometric ornament" is clearly visible from the airplane and on aerial photographs. Vasyugan swamps 
GENERAL INFORMATION
The giant swamp system of Western Siberia, the largest swamp in the Northern Hemisphere.
Location: in the northern part of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve, on the Vasyugan plateau in the center of the West Siberian Plain.
Administrative affiliation: a swamp on the border of the Tomsk and Novosibirsk regions, in the north-west it enters the Omsk region.
The sources of the rivers: the left tributaries of the Ob - Vasyugan, Parabel, Chaya, Shegarka, the right tributaries of the Irtysh - Om and Tara, and many others.
The nearest settlements: (the swamp itself is not inhabited) Kargasok, Novy Vasyugan, Maysk, Kedrovo, Bakchar, Pudino, Parbig, Podgornoye, Plotnikovo, etc.
The nearest airports: Tomsk international airport, Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut.
Area: approx. 55,000 km2.
Length: from west to east 573 km and from north to south about 320 km.
Waterlogs annually: about 800 hectares.
Average heights: from 116 to 146 m (at the source of the Bakchar river), slope to the north.
Fresh water reserves: up to 400 km3.
Number of small lakes: about 800,000.
Number of rivers and streams originating from peat bogs: about 200.
CLIMATE AND WEATHER
Continental, humid (excessive moisture zone).
Average annual temperature: -1.6 ° С.
Average January temperature: -20 ° С (up to -51.3 ° С).
Average July temperature: + 17 ° С (up to + 36.1 ° С).
Average annual rainfall: 470-500 mm.
Snow cover (40-80 cm) from October to April (175 days on average).
ECONOMY
Mineral resources: peat, oil, natural gas.
Industry: peat mining, logging, oil and gas (in the western part of the swamp).
Agriculture (in dry areas in the vicinity of the swamp): animal husbandry, growing potatoes and vegetables.
Traditional crafts: hunting and fur procurement, gathering (berries: cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries, cloudberries; medicinal herbs), fishing.
Service sector: not developed (potentially - ecotourism, extreme tourism, commercial hunting and fishing outside the territory of the reserve).
ATTRACTION
■ Natural: the Vasyugan biosphere reserve of federal significance (since 2014, its inclusion in the List of UNESCO sites is under consideration; 1.6 million hectares in the Novosibirsk region and 509 hectares in the Tomsk region are reserved) - on the watershed of the Ob-Irtysh interfluve.
■ Fauna: reindeer, elk, bear, wolverine, otter, sable, beaver, squirrel, etc .; waterfowl, capercaillie, hazel grouse, ptarmigan, osprey, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, sandpipers (curlews and fowls, including the rarest, almost extinct species - the thin-billed curlew), etc.
■ The richest berry lands: cranberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, blueberries.
■ Cultural and historical (in the vicinity): Museum of Political Exile (Narym).
FUN FACTS
■ There is a legend about the creation of a swamp by the Devil - a liquefied earth with small, twisted trees and rough grass: “At first, the earth was completely water. God walked along it and one day he met a floating cloudy bubble, which burst, and the devil jumped out of it. God commanded the devil to go down to the bottom and get earth from there. Following the order, the devil hid some earth behind both cheeks. Meanwhile, God scattered the delivered earth, and where it fell, dry land appeared, and on it trees, bushes and grasses. But the plants began to sprout in the mouth of the devil, and he, unable to bear it, began to spit out the earth. "
■ In 1882, the Western Siberian Department of the Russian Geographical Society commissioned N.P. Grigorovsky to check whether “on the upper reaches of the Vasyugan and the rivers flowing into it, peasants from the Russian provinces, the schismatic Old Believers, have really settled; as if they had set up villages for themselves, brought arable land and cattle and live, secretly indulging in their fanatical devotion. " According to the report, “726 souls of both sexes, including youngsters,” lived in Vasyugan, and this was over 2000 miles!
■ In 1907, immediately after Stolypin's land reforms, up to 200 thousand family settlers and about 75 thousand walkers came to Tomsk province in search of land for setting up a farm.
■ For Tomsk, the Vasyugan bogs have become the same symbol as the Klyuchevskoy volcano for Kamchatka or the Kivach waterfall for Karelia.
■ In addition to heavy tracked vehicles, drilling rigs and oil spills at production sites, the falling second stages of launch vehicles launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome also pose an environmental hazard to the Vasyugan swamps. They pollute the environment with toxic rocket fuel residues.
■ When the Nizhnevartovsk - Parabel - Kuzbass gas pipeline was put into operation, blue fuel from the Myldzhinskoye, Severo-Vasyuganskoye and Luginetskoye gas condensate fields came to homes and factories in Tomsk, to enterprises in Kuzbass ... But only the residents of the Kargasoksky region, where this gas is produced, this gas is not received (according to information from the local website).
■ The Vasyuganskiy Nature Reserve envisages a ban on hunting and logging, and this will deprive a significant part of local residents of work, including many professional hunters. The administration of the reserve hopes to attract former hunters into gamekeepers to combat poaching ...
■ The name of the oil workers' village Novy Vasyugan strongly resembles the popular ironic name “New Vasyuki” ascribed to Ostap Bender. However, neither in the book nor in the films ("The Twelve Chairs") this name does not appear. The colorful toponym arose among the people from a confused phrase: "Vasyuki are renamed to New Moscow, Moscow to Old Vasyuki."
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SOURCE OF MATERIAL AND PHOTOS:
Team nomad
A.A. Zemtsov, N.V. Savchenko The modern geoecological state of the Vasyugan bog massif. // e-lib.gasu.ru.
Vasyugan bog (natural conditions, structure and functioning) / Ed. L. I. Inisheva. - Tomsk: TsNTI, 2000 .-- 136 p.
Inisheva L.I., Zemtsov A.A., Inishev N.G. Vasyugan bog: exploration, structure, directions of use // Geography and natural resources. 2002. No. 2. P. 84-89.
http://geosfera.info/evropa/russia/1644-vasyuganskie-bolota.html
Big Vasyugan bog: Current state and development processes / Under total. ed. M.V. Kabanova. - Tomsk: Publishing house of the Institute of Atmospheric Optics SB RAS, 2002. - 230 p.
Ezupenok AE To the question of preserving part of the Vasyugan bog // Swamps and biosphere: materials of the first scientific school (23-26 September 2002). - Tomsk, 2003. - S. 104-107.
Ippolitov II, Kabanov MV, Kataev SG et al. On the influence of the Vasyugan bog on the ambient temperature // Swamps and biosphere: materials of the first scientific school (23-26 September 2002). - Tomsk, 2003. - S. 123-135.
Zdvizhkov M.A., Hydrogeochemistry of the Vasyugan bog massif. - Tomsk, 2005.
Official site of JSC "West Siberian River Shipping Company".
Fundamental problems of water and water resources: Mater. III vseros. conf. with int. participation (Barnaul, August 24-28, 2010). - Barnaul: Publishing house ART, 2010. - P. 137-140.
Wikipedia website
In the center of the Siberian Federal District, between the Ob and Irtysh rivers, there is the Vasyugan Swamp, the largest in Russia and the world. Most of this unique natural area is located on the territory of the Tomsk region, including the Novosibirsk, Omsk regions and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. 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 as Switzerland, Denmark or Estonia. The size of the swamp is approximately 570 x 320 km in length., it is truly huge, you can see it on the map.
According to the calculations of scientists, waterlogging of this area began about 10,000 years back and continues to this day - over the past 500 years, the swamp has quadrupled. Local legends speak of the ancient Vasyugan Sea-lake, but geologists' studies say that the Great Vasyugan swamp did not come about by overgrowing ancient lakes, but as a result of the advance of swamps on land under the influence of a humid climate and favorable orographic conditions. Initially, on the site of the current unified swamp massif, there were 19 separate sections with a total area of 45,000 sq. km, but gradually the quagmire swallowed up the surroundings, like the onset of the desert sands.
Today the region is still a classic example of active, "aggressive" swamp formation: an interesting fact is that swamps continue to grow, increasing by an average of 800 hectares per year. There are more than 800 thousand lakes here, many rivers and streams originate, and the moisture evaporated from the surface maintains the climatic balance and is carried even to the territory of Eastern Siberia and Kazakhstan. The climate in the Vasyugan bog zone is continental and humid. The average temperature in January is -20 ° C, in July +17 ° C. Snow cover with a height of 40–80 cm 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 from habitats transformed by humans, and the basis for maintaining the traditional use of natural resources by small peoples, in particular, the indigenous inhabitants of Western Siberia. Among the plants of swamps and lakes, the main value is represented by various medicinal herbs, as well as berries, which are found in abundance in the swamps: cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries, etc.
Vasyugan swamps consider a variety of insects, animals, fish, birds as their home... During the migration period, waterfowl and waders stop there for rest. According to the Institute of Ecology and Systematics of Animals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, up to 60% of the total number of ducks flies in a diffuse front during the period of spring migration through bog systems, and only 40% - along the valleys of large rivers. Swamps and curlews, various birds of prey, including the peregrine falcon, nest in the swamps. It was on the Vasyugan Plain that the thin-billed curlew was seen for the last time, which is considered an almost extinct species of birds.
In places where swamps border forests and rivers and lakes lie, elks, minks, sables, otters are found, hazel grouses and wood grouses are found. 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 are found in the tributaries of the rivers that originate from the Bolshoi Vasyugan bog. In recent years, bream, pike perch, carp, and verkhovka have become common in local water bodies. Vulnerable and rare fish species in the area are nelma, peled, lamprey, ruff.
The Vasyugan bog 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 of occurrence is 2.4 m, the maximum depth is 10 m. The most important function of the swamp is to purify the atmosphere, for which it is called a giant natural filter. 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 Territory. Historically, these were places of exile for political prisoners. Russian pioneers founded the Tyumen (1586), Narymsky (1596) and Tomsk (1604) forts shortly after the completion of the military expedition of Ermak (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 the newly arrived population in the Narym Territory lived in 12 settlements. Since 1835, a systematic settlement of exiles began (a new influx of exiles came to Vasyugane in the 1930s – 1950s), it was mainly due to them that the local population increased.
Black gold
Later, the more active development of Western Siberia was facilitated by the landlessness of the peasants of the central provinces as a result of the reforms of 1861, and especially the Stolypin agrarian reform of 1906. Oil was found in the western part of the swamp in 1949, Kargasoksky district 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 Luginetsky (Pudino) districts. In 1970 the construction of the Aleksandrovskoe-Tomsk-Anzhero-Sudzhensk oil pipeline began, in 1976 - the Nizhnevartovsk-Parabel-Kuzbass gas pipeline.
Ecology of the Vasyugan bog
Despite the practical complete absence of settlements in the area where the Vasyugan bogs are located, with the development of civilization, a variety of factors began to exert a negative influence on the unique natural object. Peat mining violates the natural landscape of the Vasyugan Plain, it exists, the negative consequences of drainage of swamps and poaching lead to the destruction of unique flora and fauna. Heavy tracked vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, construction and drilling operations, oil spills and the use of water in drilling processes damage the swamp ecosystem.
Industrial wastewaters constantly get into the rivers, tourists leave trash behind. The second stages of missiles are also a big problem. launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome: falling into the swamps, they pollute them with the remains of the highly toxic rocket fuel - heptyl. As shown by analyzes of samples of water, soils and plants of raised bogs collected in areas of contamination, the content of heptyl in some of them has a 5-fold excess of the MPC.
Swamp fires
However, the most dangerous and most frequently repeated anthropogenic impact on the Vasyugane ecosystems is those that destroy all natural complexes of bogs, including in winter. As a result, many intra-boggy lakes of pyrogenic genesis appear, forest stands and many animals perish. The increase in the amount of grassland reduces the flow of water in already swampy forests.
In the 1920s, a seven-year fire in peat bogs on the territory of the modern Northern District of the 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 catchments are about 47 million cubic meters. m.UNESCO nature reserve
Assessing the role and importance of the Big Vasyugan bog as a complex and multifunctional ecosystem and taking into account its uniqueness and significance, as well as the increasing scale of anthropogenic impacts, it is necessary to recognize the urgent problem of its protection. However, for a long time, the Vasyugan bogs were not even included in the preliminary lists of objects that need to be assigned the status of specially protected.
The situation got off the ground in 2006. The administration of the Tomsk region has created a complex nature reserve "Vasyuganskiy". Currently, it is planned to give it the status of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The Vasyugansky nature reserve presupposes a ban on hunting and logging. While this will disrupt a significant portion of the local population, including many professional hunters, the reserve's administration hopes to recruit former hunters into gamekeepers to combat poaching.
Possible solutions
The creation of a specially protected natural area between the Ob and Irtysh rivers is of scientific interest from the point of view of monitoring and researching natural processes in the largest swampy region of the world. The purpose of their organization is to preserve the complex of bog systems of the Great Vasyugan bog and to maintain the ecological balance in the region. This is consistent not only with the general goals of preserving biological diversity, wise use of natural raw materials (plant, oil), but also maintaining a balanced ecosystem of adjacent territories.
Scientists' opinions
According to scientists, it will be very promising to design a large protected area - an ecological reserve within the Vasyugan bog system. This should be a single massif, the basis of which can be the watershed swamps.
Within this zone, it is advisable to lay a series of scientific polygons of the type of biosphere, since the allocation of only one specially protected area, even a very large area and sufficiently representative in terms of the bog process and the structure of bog landscapes in the region, would be a half-measure that does not guarantee the safety of this entire territory as an ecologically valuable landscape system.
Educational institutions in Russia that conduct research in the field of environmental problems.
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 here.
Development of territories
The development of the western part of the Big Vasyugan bog by the 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 course of natural processes under conditions of anthropogenic impact, and in practice, for monitoring the exploitation of oil fields. As a first step in environmental and practical actions, a state interregional complex nature reserve of federal significance.
A separate item in the protection program for the Vasyugan bog should be the program for reforming the rocket and space industry in Russia, which provides for the abandonment of the use of heptyl and nitrogen tetroxide as rocket fuel and oxidizer, as well as the transfer of the main rocket launch pad from Baikonur to the Vostochny cosmodrome under construction in the Amur Region.From the above, it becomes quite clear that the Vasyugan bog massif is not only a unique natural phenomenon of 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 to preserve this natural heritage may be to create a biosphere reserve within it. Given the high cost of implementing such a project, its solution is possible at least in stages: at the first stage, these are various kinds of economic restrictions, at the second stage, it is possible to create a Vasyugan reserve, and, finally, to transform it into a biosphere reserve.
Vadim Andrianov / wikipedia.org
The Vasyugan swamps are one of the largest on Earth. They are located between the Ob and Irtysh rivers, on the Vasyugan plain, within the boundaries of the Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk regions.
The Vasyugan bogs are a very interesting natural phenomenon with a variety of landscapes. In 2007, they were included in the preliminary list of UNESCO heritage sites in Russia.
Vasyugan bogs are located in places where small-leaved forests turn into the southern taiga. Their area is approximately 53,000 square meters. km, which exceeds the territory of some European states. This is approximately two percent of the total area of all peat bogs on Earth.
The Vasyugan swamps were formed about ten thousand years ago and since then their territory has been constantly growing. They stretch for about 570 km from west to east and more than 300 km from north to south.
Swamping of the area has been especially rapid in recent years, for example, in the last five hundred years alone, the area occupied by swamps has increased by about 75%.
In the warm season, the Vasyugan bogs are almost completely impassable for any equipment.
The movement of geological parties and cargo transportation to the developing oil fields is carried out only in winter.
Flora and fauna of the Vasyugan swamps
The Great Vasyugan bog is home to many animals, some of which are rare. Mammals include elk, bear, sable, squirrel, otter, wolverine and others. Until recently, it was possible to meet the reindeer, but today, most likely, its population has completely disappeared. From birds there are hazel grouses, black grouse, curlews, golden eagles, peregrine falcons, etc.
Medicinal herbs and berries grow from the plants here, blueberries, cloudberries and cranberries are especially numerous.
The meaning of swamps
The Vasyugan bogs are of great ecological importance for the entire region, and also perform a number of biospheric functions. They represent a natural reserve for various marsh landscapes and flora and fauna inhabiting them.
The total water reserves are approximately 400 cubic kilometers, making them an important storage of fresh water. There are numerous small lakes here. In the Vasyugan bogs there are the sources of the Vasyugan, Tara, Om, Parabig, Chizhapka, Uy and some others.
The Great Vasyugan bog contains a significant amount of peat. Its proven reserves alone exceed a billion tons. Peat occurs on average at a depth of about 2.5 meters. Peat bogs sequester carbon, thereby lowering carbon in the atmosphere and reducing the greenhouse effect. In addition, marsh vegetation produces oxygen.
Ecological problems
Although there are almost no settlements on the Vasyugan bogs and economic activity is minimal, humans still harm the unique and rather fragile ecosystem.
Among the environmental problems of the region, one can note deforestation, peat extraction, oil development, poaching, etc. The development of local deposits is associated with a negative impact on the soils of all-terrain vehicles, oil spills and other unfavorable factors.
A serious problem is created by the second stages of rockets falling here, which are launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. These steps pollute the area with heptyl, which has a strong toxic effect.
Until recently, almost no attempts were made to protect this unique natural landscape. Only in 2006, in the east of the Vasyugan bogs, the Vasyugansky complex was created, the territory of which totals 5090 sq. km.
In 2007 they were included in the preliminary list of heritage sites in Russia. It is understood that the nominated property will include the territory of an existing reserve. There is a question of giving, at least part of the Vasyugan bogs, the status of a reserve, which would practically exclude any economic activity here.
How to get there?
The Great Vasyugan bog is distinguished by its extreme inaccessibility. Some villages on the outskirts can still be reached by off-road vehicle, however, the further path will most likely have to be overcome only on foot.
A trip on a tracked all-terrain vehicle is possible, but its use is also quite limited due to the swamps. There is also an opportunity to view the swamps from the air - some Tomsk travel agencies organize helicopter tours.
Visiting the Vasyugan swamps is quite dangerous and requires some preparation and experience in moving around such places. There are numerous swamps and a huge number of bears.
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