Natural conditions and resources of Western Siberia
1. Lowland is also a plain. With the help of a physical map, give a proof that the relief of Western Siberia would be correctly called flat. What events of geological history explain the structure of its relief?
According to the Geographical encyclopaedic dictionary, plains are relatively flat surfaces, sometimes significant in area, with small variations in heights and low slopes; one of the most important elements of the relief of the globe. They occur at various heights and depths both within the land and at the bottom of the oceans and seas. On land, there are plains lying below sea level, lowland plains, or lowlands, at a height of up to 200 m, elevated plains at an altitude of 200-500 m, upland plains at an altitude of more than 500 m. The plains surface in platform areas is most often horizontal or almost horizontal, characterized by an open, continuous horizon line. This is also the West Siberian Plain, which is based on a young platform.
2. Show on the map the
From the north to the south in the territory of Western Siberia, the tundra, forest-tundra, north-, middle – and south-taiga, small-leaved, forest-steppe and steppe landscapes replace each other. The main deer pastures are concentrated in the forest-tundra. The main wealth of the taiga zones is wood. True, the taiga zone of Western Siberia is rightly called a forest-billed one, and trees grown on swamps give low-quality wood. The swamps of Western Siberia are rich in peat, which can be used as chemical raw materials, fuel, fertilizer. The steppes and forest-steppes are the main granary of Siberia, chernozem and chestnut soils give good harvests of grain crops. Floodplain meadows of wide river valleys are an excellent source of feed for livestock.
The impoverishment of the forest zone complicates the development of the territory and the use of resources. The steppe zone is used almost 100%. It is only necessary to pass to the path of intensive development-to use fertilizers, plant protection
3. The greater part of Western Siberia is characterized by an excess of surface waters, while the south suffers from their lack. Do you consider it necessary to eliminate this disproportion?
Since this disproportion has developed naturally, such is the combination of the whole complex of natural conditions, its elimination is possible only at the highest level of development of science and technology, and detailed study of all possible consequences. In the near future this is impossible. One of the basic rules of the environment – “Nature knows best”, they need to be guided.
In the 1980s. The project of transferring part of the runoff of the rivers of Western Siberia to the Asian republics of the USSR was widely discussed. Central Asia and Kazakhstan experienced a serious shortage of water resources. These republics were major suppliers of cotton, necessary not only for the cotton industry, but also for strategic industries. The intelligentsia and the public opposed this project, the scientists presented weighty arguments, showing possible environmental consequences. The collapse of the Soviet Union made the problem of river transfer temporarily irrelevant. However, at the beginning of the XXI century. was put forward a new project for laying a channel length of 2,550 km from the merger of the Ob and Irtysh in the Khanty-Mansiysk area to the Amu Darya through the territory of three states. The canal is supposed to be stretched along the riverbed of Tobol, then along the Turgai hollow and revive the dying Aral. It is assumed, that the water will be distributed as follows: the regions of Russia will receive 4.9 km3 of water, North Kazakhstan -3.4 km3, for feeding the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya -16.3 km3. The cost of the project is estimated at $ 40 billion. And the profit from the great construction is very doubtful. Most likely, the entire volume of incoming water will be spent on irrigation of fields, and not reaching the Aral Sea. And for the Ob River basin, the transfer of even part of the river runoff will result in ecological catastrophe and socio-economic disasters, as the hydrological regime of rivers, the local climate, threaten the existing ecosystems, undermine fishing and shipping. And the profit from the great construction is very doubtful. Most likely, the entire volume of incoming water will be spent on irrigation of fields, and not reaching the Aral Sea. And for the Ob River basin, the transfer of even part of the river runoff will result in ecological catastrophe and socio-economic disasters, as the hydrological regime of rivers, the local climate, threaten the existing ecosystems, undermine fishing and shipping. And the profit from the great construction is very doubtful. Most likely, the entire volume of incoming water will be spent on irrigation of fields, and not reaching the Aral Sea. And for the Ob River basin, the transfer of even part of the river runoff will result in ecological catastrophe and socio-economic disasters, as the hydrological regime of rivers, the local climate, threaten the existing ecosystems, undermine fishing and shipping.
4. The South of Western Siberia is the absolute opposite of its central and northern parts. Nevertheless, find the features of similarity and determine their mutual influence. Continental air masses of the temperate climatic belt circulate throughout the territory, except for the Arctic Circle. Most except for the southeast corner of the mountain is a flat plain. All parts of Western Siberia are connected by the great rivers Ob and Irtysh, flowing from the south to the north.
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