Western Siberia is the greatest plain of Eurasia with vast swamp areas, oil and gas reserves of world importance; Russia's main fuel base.

The area occupies the territories of the West Siberian lowland and the mountainous regions of Altai, Kuznetsk Alatau and Salair Ridge.

How is the nature of Western Siberia different?

In the formation of the modern relief of the West Siberian lowland, a large role was played by the repeated advances of the sea and glaciers, which deposited a thick layer of sedimentary rocks. Therefore, the relief has a leveled character. Through Western Siberia from the Ob to the Yenisei in the latitudinal direction for 900 km, a system of moraine heights - Siberian Uvals - stretches with a maximum height of 286 m.

Rivers flow very slowly along this slightly inclined surface of the huge West Siberian "bowl". There are more than 2 thousand of them. A distinctive feature of the Siberian rivers is their shallow, but extremely wide valleys with numerous channels and oxbow lakes. In spring, rivers overflow for many kilometers around. Western Siberia accounts for a quarter of the flow of Russian rivers. Large rivers are of great importance for navigation. In the arid southern part of Western Siberia, on the border with Kazakhstan, river water is used for irrigation.

The climate of Western Siberia is characterized by continental features, intensifying in the south of the plain. Windless sunny frosty weather prevails in winter. In summer, when arctic air masses collide with heated southern air, cyclones occur, accompanied by precipitation. The hot West Siberian summer is very hard to bear because of the high humidity and countless hordes of midges: mosquitoes, midges and horseflies.

The kingdom of swamps and taiga of Western Siberia is countless, incalculable clouds of all kinds of blood-sucking insects. And here, perhaps, with full right one can call not a bear, a wolverine or a sable, but an ordinary mosquito, the owner of the taiga. It was established by special consideration that in places where there is a lot of midges, over a thousand mosquitoes, more than 2 thousand midges, attack a person within 3 minutes!

D. Utenkov. Discovery of Siberia

What natural and economic zones are represented in the area?

The huge length in the meridional direction led to a clear manifestation of latitudinal zonality in the nature of Western Siberia.

Rice. 141. Natural zones of Western Siberia

Only zones of broad-leaved and mixed broad-leaved-coniferous forests are absent here.

The Far North of Western Siberia (the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas) is occupied by the tundra zone.

The forest-tundra is a larch and birch crooked forest, to which pine and cedar are added at the southern border. Forest tracts in the forest-tundra are confined to river valleys, the most drained and warm, since river water brings heat here from the south. The main reindeer pastures are concentrated in the tundra and forest-tundra.

Due to the wide distribution of swamps in the forest zone of Western Siberia, it is called the forest-bog zone. Flat non-drained areas are occupied by swamps, while taiga forests proper occupy mainly the slopes of river valleys, sloping and elevated areas of interfluves. The forests of Western Siberia constitute its most important natural resource, however, local wood grown on wetlands is generally of poor quality.

Nearly 40% of the area is occupied by swamps. The Vasyugan plain (Tomsk region), located between the Ob and Irtysh rivers, is one giant impenetrable swamp stretching for many hundreds of kilometers.

High swampiness complicates the development of the richest resources of this region, complicates the construction of roads and settlements. In many areas, land travel is only possible in winter, when the swamps freeze over. At the same time, the West Siberian swamps have countless reserves of peat, which can be used as chemical raw materials, fuel, organic fertilizer, bedding material in animal husbandry.

The extreme south of Western Siberia is a steppe zone with plowed chernozem and chestnut soils. Vast tracts of former virgin lands are occupied mainly by fields of spring wheat.

The floodplain meadows of the largest West Siberian rivers, the most important pasture and hayfields of the region, are of particular high value. Meadows of the Barabinsk forest-steppe (Novosibirsk region) is the most important area for butter-making in Western Siberia.

How can one explain that the largest oil and gas fields are concentrated in Western Siberia?

The West Siberian Lowland was formed on the West Siberian Plate with a deeply lowered folded Paleozoic basement. On it lies a powerful, almost six-kilometer thickness of the "layer cake", consisting of sedimentary rocks, represented by clays, sandstones and sands of marine and continental origin.

The largest oil and natural gas deposits in the country (the West Siberian oil and gas region) are connected with the sedimentary cover of the West Siberian Plain. More than 500 deposits of these most important combustible minerals have been discovered here, which contain more than 60% of Russian oil reserves and about 90% of natural gas. The most important oil fields are concentrated in the Khanty-Mansiysk (Samotlor, Megionskoye, Salymskoye, Mamontovskoye, Ust-Balykskoye and others), and natural gas - in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the world's largest Urengoyskoye and Yamburgskoye deposits, as well as Medvezhye near the city of Nadym , Zapolyarnoye, etc.). Intensive oil production, an ever-expanding network of pipelines has already caused irreparable harm to the natural complexes of Western Siberia: oil spills during extraction and transportation (pipes laid right on the surface of the earth burst in winter) turned into ruined deer pastures and forest lands, dead fish in the tundra and taiga rivers and lakes.

The intensive industrial development of the natural resources of Western Siberia caused serious damage not only to nature, but also to the indigenous peoples (Nenets, Khanty, Mansi and others), depriving them of a significant part of their hunting and fishing grounds. In order to protect the traditional economic activities and culture of these peoples, in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, for example, special areas of priority nature management were allocated - tribal lands.

findings

The greatest plain in the world, the West Siberian Lowland has huge resources: forest, mineral, agro-climatic, soil and others. These riches are the basis for the development of the region's economy; strategic reserve of our country.

Questions and tasks

1. The lowland is also a plain. Using a physical map, provide evidence that the relief of Western Siberia would be correctly called flat. What events of geological history explain the structure of its relief?
2. Show on the map the main natural zones of Western Siberia. What natural resources do they bestow on man? How are these resources used?
3. Most of Western Siberia is distinguished by an excess of surface water, while the south suffers from their lack. Do you think it is necessary to eliminate this disproportion?
4. The south of Western Siberia is the absolute opposite of its central and northern parts. However, look for similarities and determine their mutual influence.

Development of productive forces Western Siberia determined primarily by the use of natural resources. A special place among them is occupied by fuel and energy resources.

Western Siberia has large geological reserves of mineral fuel, which make it possible to meet not only local needs, but also the needs of other regions of the country. Of the general geological reserves of mineral fuel, most of the area is coal.

The West Siberian economic region concentrates 42.7% of the all-Russian reserves of conditioned coal (categories A + B + C 1). The leading place belongs to the Kuznetsk basin.

It covers an area of ​​26 thousand square meters. km. The depth of coal in most deposits is small (150-300 m, on average - 185 m), and only in some deposits it reaches 450-600 m.

Promising industrial areas are located in underdeveloped areas with a fairly calm and simple geological structure and favorable mining and geological conditions. Coals - with a low ash content, low sulfur content, easily enriched. The basin contains 206 billion tons of conditioned coking coal (55% of the total Russian reserves).

In terms of total coal reserves (725 billion tons), the Kuznetsk basin ranks third in Russia (behind the Tunguska and Lena basins) and first in terms of conditioned reserves (643 billion tons). In terms of accessibility for industrial development, the high quality of coals, the basin has no equal in Russia.

The role of the region as a fuel and energy base of the Russian Federation has increased significantly in connection with the discovery of the largest oil and gas basin in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions. More than 300 oil, gas, gas condensate and oil and gas fields have been discovered here, containing over 60% of the geological oil reserves and up to 90% of the country's natural gas.

The northern gas-bearing province of Western Siberia is completely unique. It covers an area of ​​620 thousand square meters. km. Three groups of gas-bearing regions are distinguished here: Northern, Central, South-Western.

The most saturated among them in terms of gas reserves is the Central Group, which includes the Urengoyskoye, Yamburgskoye, Medvezhye and Tazovskoye fields. The total potential gas reserves in Western Siberia reach 86 trillion cubic meters. m (90% of all-Russian reserves), industrial reserves - 30 trillion cubic meters. m (80% of all-Russian reserves).

The most powerful Urengoy field. Its reserves in only one gas deposit in the Upper Cretaceous deposits are estimated at 5.5 trillion cubic meters. In its lower horizons, still insufficiently studied, a large high-debit deposit of gas, gas condensate and oil has been discovered. The second place in terms of natural gas reserves is occupied by the Yamburgskoye field (over 5 trillion cubic meters). In terms of reserves, these two natural gas fields have no equal in the world.

A characteristic feature of all gas fields in the northern regions of Western Siberia is the enormous size and large thickness of the deposits, reaching 120-180 m in the arch, and 200-250 m in unique fields (Urengoyskoye, Yamburgskoye, Tazovskoye and Zapolyarnoye). Two fields (Urengoyskoye and Yamburgskoye) provide annual natural gas production in the amount of 280 and 220 billion cubic meters, respectively. m. The volume of natural gas production in Western Siberia in 1995 exceeded 500 billion cubic meters. m.

The reduced production costs for 1 tce West Siberian gas is the lowest in comparison with all other types of fuel. They account for 46% of the cost of mining Donetsk coal, 53% of underground Kuznetsk coal, 33% of Moscow region coal, and 1.8 times lower than in the country's oil industry.

The productivity of one worker in the gas industry is 60 times higher than in the coal industry. Capital investments in the gas industry pay off 2-4 times faster than in the coal industry.

Western Siberia is rich in oil. According to the economic conditions and sequence of development in the region, four oil regions can be distinguished: Central (Priobsky), Northern, Eastern and Southern.

The central district occupies the territory in the middle reaches of the Ob River, the area is 250 thousand square meters. km. 90% of the industrial oil reserves of Western Siberia are concentrated here. The largest oil fields include: Samotlorskoye, Fedorovskoye, Salymskoye, Zapadno-Surgutskoye, Mamontovskoye, Sovetskoye and others. The oil of the Middle Ob region is of high quality. It is distinguished by lightness, low sulfur content, high yield of light fractions and contains a relatively large amount of associated gas, which is a valuable chemical raw material.

Oil deposits at depths of up to 3,000 m in soft, but stable, easily drillable rocks are distinguished by a significant, and in a number of fields, exceptionally high concentration. This explains the incomparable efficiency of oil exploration and oil production with other oil regions of the country. The cost of oil production in Western Siberia is the lowest in Russia, in terms of conventional fuel (7000 kcal), in general, it is 4 times lower than the cost of coal mining, the labor productivity of a worker in oil production (in conventional fuel) is almost 10 times higher than in coal mining.

About 0.9 million sq. km, or almost 38% of the entire territory of Western Siberia, is occupied by swamps. This is approximately 40% of all swamps in the world. Half of the wetland is a peat bog. There are 4700 peat deposits here. The average thickness of the peat layer is 3-5 m. In Western Siberia, 100 billion tons of peat are concentrated, or more than half of the all-Russian reserves. Peat in the future will be used mainly as an organic fertilizer.

Water resources, their quantity, quality and territorial distribution are of great importance. River runoff is the main source of water resources. In Western Siberia, it is 506.3 cubic meters. km, or 24% of the flow of rivers in Russia.

Western Siberia accounts for 10.5% of the total Russian hydropower potential (250 billion kWh). In terms of the efficiency of using hydropower resources, the region is inferior to Eastern Siberia and the Far East. The hydropower resources of Western Siberia belong to the second and third groups. The second group consists of medium and small rivers - Biya, Katun Tom, Chulym. The construction of hydroelectric power plants on these rivers is expedient if, along with obtaining electricity, water management problems (irrigation, improvement of water supply and navigation) are solved. The third group consists of the Ob and Irtysh, where the construction of hydroelectric power stations is inefficient. They flow across the plain, the construction of hydroelectric facilities requires the flooding of large areas of floodplain lands.

Western Siberia has large mineral resources. The total reserves of iron ore in categories A + B + C 1 + C 2 are estimated at 4.5 billion tons. Currently, the most important exploited iron ore deposits are located in Gornaya Shoria and Kuznetsk Alatau, they supply the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant (KMK). The share of local iron ores used at the West Siberian Metallurgical Plant is 6%. Raw materials for it are supplied from Eastern Siberia (Korshukovskoye deposit, Khakass group of deposits), Kazakhstan (Lisakovskoye deposit) and partly from the Kursk magnetic anomaly. Transportation costs more than double the price of iron ore.

The world's largest iron ore basin, the West Siberian, has been discovered on the territory of Western Siberia. He is poorly explored. The ore horizon of the deposit is on average 26 m with an iron content of 37%. By their composition, the ores are close to the Kerch and Lisakovsky ores. If we compare the West Siberian iron ore basin with the largest exploited or planned for exploitation deposits in Siberia, then it will replace almost 400 such deposits.

One of the country's largest deposits of manganese is located in Western Siberia. It is located on the territory of Kuzbass. Its reserves are estimated at 100 million tons, and promising - twice as much.

Aluminum raw materials are available in many regions of Western Siberia, but their reserves are small. The Vaginskoye, Tyukhtinskoye and Smaznevskoye bauxite deposits are located in the Salair Ridge. Of great importance is the Kiya-Shaltyrskoye nepheline deposit, located in the east of the Kemerovo region. It supplies raw materials to the Achinsk Alumina Refinery. Mining is carried out in an open way. In terms of chemical composition, the Kiya-Shaltyr nephelines are better than the Kola nephelines, since they contain more calcium and less silica, which simplifies the ore processing technology. In terms of costs, the Kiya-Shaltyr nephelines are cheaper than the Kola ones.

Western Siberia has ores of non-ferrous and precious metals. Salair and Altai gold deposits are being developed, which are located in Gornaya Shoriya and Rudny Altai.

In the Altai Mountains, the only Siberian Chagan-Uzun mercury deposit (Akshat mine) is being developed.

The Tugan ilmenite-zirconium deposit is of great importance. The thickness of the ore layers in it is 5-9 m. The depth of occurrence varies from 1 to 90 m. This allows open-pit mining. The exploitation of this deposit is economically efficient. The level of profitability reaches 160%. The West Siberian economic region is rich in raw materials for the chemical industry. The Gorno-Shorsky phosphorite basin was found here. The largest deposit is Belkinskoye. Explored reserves of karst phosphorites amount to 25 million tons, and stratal - 146 million tons. The level of extraction of useful substances reaches 38-40%.

There are significant resources of mineral salts on the territory of the region. There are more than 60 sodium sulfate deposits here. The lakes of the Kulunda steppe are of great economic importance. Industrial reserves of sulfate raw materials are concentrated in four lakes: Kulundinsky, Kuchuksky, Bolshoi Lomov, Bolshoy Mormyshansky. The total (industrial) reserves of raw materials are estimated at 71 million tons. At the bottom there are large deposits of mirabilite (over 10 million tons).

Western Siberia is rich in non-metallic minerals. 1.1 billion tons of limestone, 0.4 billion tons of clay suitable for cement production and 0.25 billion tons of carbonate raw materials are concentrated here.

In Gornaya Shoria, the only talc deposit in Western Siberia, Svetly Klyuch, was discovered. Its balance reserves make up more than 35% of the total Russian reserves. The organization of extraction and processing of this raw material will make it possible to replace imported talc, the delivery of which to Siberia from the Urals and Karelia increases its cost by 1.8 times.

Western Siberia accounts for 146.7 million hectares (8.7 billion cubic meters) of the forest fund, or 12% of the total Russian reserves. The annual growth of forests in Western Siberia is 123 million cubic meters. This makes it possible to harvest more than 100 million cubic meters annually in the region. m of wood. In 1995, 30 million cubic meters were harvested. m.

The efficiency of the timber resources of Western Siberia is evidenced by the following data: the average volume of the tree in the Tomsk region is 0.44 m, and in the Tyumen region - 0.41 m compared to 0.26 m in the Arkhangelsk region and 0.19 m - in Komi.

The structure of the forests of Western Siberia is favorable for the development of the timber processing industry. Coniferous species here account for 73%, deciduous - 27%. The given costs for the preparation of 1 cu. m of wood is 12% lower than the national average.

Western Siberia has a large fund of land resources. It accounts for 35.8 million hectares of agricultural land (16.9% of the total Russian fund). The largest share belongs to agricultural (47.3%) and timber industry (43.4%) enterprises. The lands occupied by objects of industry, transport and settlements make up 1.3%, the state land reserve - 8%. Of the agricultural land, 19.7 million hectares (55%) are arable land, 7 million hectares (20%) are hayfields, and 8.8 million hectares (25%) are pastures.

consider the composition of the region;

determine the features of the geographical location;

get to know the characteristics of the population;

identify the difficulties of using resources located in extreme conditions;

to develop the cognitive interest of students;

cultivate a sense of pride in their country.

Equipment:

• interactive map "Socio-economic map of Western Siberia";
• atlas maps of grade 9, grade 8;
• contour maps of grade 9;
• wall map "Western Siberia" (physical map);
• political and administrative map of the Russian Federation;
• student notebooks;
• textbooks, paragraph 61;
• multimedia projector;
• screen.

During the classes

Organizational moment (checking the readiness of students and the classroom for the lesson).

Presentation of the topic and objectives of the lesson.

We work according to a familiar plan, our goal is to master 3 points:

1. Composition and geographical position of the West Siberian economic region.
2. Natural conditions and resources.
3. Population. Cities.

So, the geographical position of the region.

The West Siberian Plain within Russia stretches for almost 2,500 km from north to south (from the outskirts of the Yamal Peninsula to the state border with Kazakhstan).

The greatest length from west to east along the latitude of the city of Krasnoyarsk is about 1900 km (Plain - the 3rd largest plain in the world, after the Amazon and East European).

In addition to the plain in the West Siberian economic region, there are: the foothills of Altai, Salair, Kuznetsk Alatau.

Consider the composition of this economic region

(Show the region on the wall map)

Orally: calculate how many administrative units are included in the region (we will do this using the maps of the atlas p. 4)

1. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
2. Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
3. Tyumen region
4. Tomsk region
5. Omsk region
6. Novosibirsk region
7. Kemerovo region
8. Altai Republic
9. Altai region

On your own, in contour maps, apply these administrative units indicating their main cities.

(Self-check on interactive map)

Geographical position

AT . Let's discuss what features the region under study has due to its position.

In the conversation, features of nature were revealed:

• the relief of most of the region is monotonous, slightly rugged, with low elevations
• swampiness
• lakesideness
• forest cover
• pronounced latitudinal zonality

AT. What natural zones are taking place in Western Siberia?

(tundra, forest-tundra, forests, taiga (spruce, fir, cedar), birch-aspen forests, forest-steppe, steppe)

The West Siberian economic region borders on:

Ural economic region, East Siberian economic region, the state of Kazakhstan. It is washed by the Arctic Ocean (Kara Sea). There are port cities.

Western Siberia is located at the crossroads of railways and the great Siberian rivers.

AT. Does it help or hinder development?

And how do you assess the EGP of the region in general?

Students conclude: about the favorable economic and geographical position of the West Siberian economic region.

Let's move on to the second question. Let's try to evaluate the natural conditions. Let us recall the characteristics of the climate of Western Siberia.

(student performance)

"Western Siberia is located almost at the same distance from both the Atlantic Ocean and the center of Eurasia, so its climate is temperate continental. In winter and summer, when cyclonic activity, and with it the flow of Atlantic air, weakens, Western Siberia arctic air comes in. Deep penetration of arctic air masses is facilitated by the flatness of the terrain and its openness to the north.

The average temperature in January decreases from -15 o C in the southwest to -30 o C in the northeast of Western Siberia. The average July temperature increases from +5 o C in the north to +20 o C in the south.

The continentality of the climate in the expanses of the West Siberian Plain increases when moving from north to south. This is expressed in an increase in the annual temperature amplitude, a decrease in the amount of precipitation, and a reduction in the duration of spring and autumn - the transitional seasons of the year.

The amount of precipitation varies from 250 mm in the tundra to 500 mm in the taiga and about 300 mm in the steppes."

Let's use an interactive map to try to establish a list of available resources.

(The Ob River ranks 1st in terms of basin area in Russia; the West Siberian Plain ranks 1st in the world in terms of the number of swamps (Vasyuganye)).

Let's evaluate: +, -, that is, fill in the 3rd column.

Students conclude that the territory has enormous wealth.

Let's move on to the third question: the population of the West Siberian economic region. Population 15 mln. The national composition is simple, since 9/10 of the population are Russians. 72% - urban population.

Let's listen to a student's report about indigenous peoples.

Related message:

"Indigenous peoples of Western Siberia"

The indigenous peoples of Western Siberia include: Khanty, Mansi, Nenets. These peoples are traditionally engaged in:

• fishing (river);
• taiga hunting, and either meat or fur direction;
• gathering (berries, mushrooms, nuts);
• reindeer breeding, moreover, either meat-skin, or transport direction;
• handicrafts (sewing clothes, shoes, souvenirs from deer fur, suede, colored cloth, beads; traditional ornaments are used - hare ears, birch branches, sable footprints, deer antlers, pike teeth, etc.)

These peoples have similar temporary, seasonal dwellings - CHUM, framed from poles, covered with birch bark among the Khanty, reindeer skins among the Nenets, they began to use tarpaulin more often.

Their clothes are deaf and open winter - fur with hoods, summer - cloth for the Khanty and Mansi, and for the Nenets - from shabby reindeer skins without insulation. Women's clothing is more elegant, embroidered with beads among the Nenets, among the Mansi - stripes of colored fabric.

Traditional food is: meat and fish; Mansi love herring, from which fat is squeezed out and mixed with berries, they drink very strong tea; the meat is dried, dried, smoked, eaten boiled, raw, frozen; Nenets - eat deer meat, widely use stroganina, prepare yukola (dried fish) for future use; Khanty - fish is dried, smoked, boiled, eaten raw and frozen (stroganina), they drink fish oil.

Khanty and Mansi profess the cult of the bear, spend "bear" holidays; because they consider him a relative - an ancestor.

AT. Your task when listening is to pay attention to traditional activities.

Let's open the information on the board, check whether we have established all types of economic activity.

On the desk:

• fishing
• hunting (types of hunting)
• reindeer breeding (types of reindeer breeding)
• gathering (types of gathering)
• handicraft (types of trade)

AT. What do you think? Why this particular set of activities? What determined economic activity?

(student answers)

We must not forget that in modern conditions, representatives of indigenous peoples work in industry, in the service sector, and extract minerals. All this has to be done in very difficult conditions.

Huge diverse riches are not so easy to master. Nature "protected" the oil and gas fields of the region from humans both with thick swamps and frozen soils. Building in such conditions is extremely difficult. In winter, severe frosts, high humidity, and strong wind interfere with a person. In summer, numerous blood-sucking midges and mosquitoes torment people and animals.

Now let's get acquainted with the features of the main cities of the studied administrative units. You have tables that we will start working with today and finish in the next lesson in the study of the economy. Now, if possible, try to fill in the columns: "population and year of formation of cities."

(the informative part of the interactive map is used)

Let's summarize our lesson. What questions did we consider?

Giving grades to students.

Homework: paragraph 61; make a tourist route in Western Siberia from 2-3 points with the rationale for the chosen one.

№	Name of the main city of the administrative unit	Year of foundation	Population	Economic specialization	Interesting Facts
	Salekhard (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
	Khanty-Mansiysk (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
	Tyumen (Tyumen region)
	Omsk (Omsk region)
	Tomsk (Tomsk region)
	Novosibirsk (Novosibirsk region)
	Barnaul (Altai Territory)
	Gorno-Altaisk (Republic of Altai)
	Kemerovo (Kemerovo region)

Pick a couple

City	City information
Salekhard	a) the regional center of an agricultural region; in 1941 large factories were evacuated here; population less than a million
Khanty-Mansiysk	b) the emblem depicts a white running horse, the first university in the Asian part of the country was founded here
Tyumen	c) a large river port on the banks of the Irtysh (a former settlement of coachmen)
Omsk	d) the largest industrial, cultural, scientific center, the Siberian branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences are located here
Tomsk	e) founded due to the construction of a silver-smelting plant by Demidov, the center of the steppe Altai, there is a diamond-cutting plant
Novosibirsk city	f) the first Russian city of Siberia, the regional center, arose on the site of the Tatar Chingi-Tur
Barnaul	g) the capital of the republic, the main industry of the republic is animal husbandry, gold is mined
Gorno-Altaisk	h) at the beginning of the 20th century. the first coal mines were built here, the center of Kuzbass
Kemerovo	i) a city located on the Arctic Circle

1 - and	4 - a	7 - d
2 - in	5 B	8 - f
3rd	6 - g	9 - h

Western Siberia is the greatest plain of Eurasia with vast swamp areas, oil and gas reserves of world importance; Russia's main fuel base. The region occupies the territories of the West Siberian lowland and the mountainous regions of Altai, Kuznetsk Alatau and Salair Ridge.

How is the nature of Western Siberia different? In the formation of the modern relief of the West Siberian Lowland, a large role was played by the repeated advances of the sea and glaciers, which deposited a thick layer of sedimentary rocks. Therefore, the relief has a leveled character. Through Western Siberia from the Ob to the Yenisei in the latitudinal direction for 900 km, the system of moraine heights Siberian Uvaly stretches with a maximum height of 286 m.

On this slightly inclined surface of the huge West Siberian "bowl", rivers flow very slowly. There are more than 2 thousand of them. A distinctive feature of the Siberian rivers is their shallow, but extremely wide valleys with numerous channels and lakes - oxbow lakes. In spring, rivers overflow for many kilometers around. Western Siberia accounts for a quarter of the flow of Russian rivers. Large rivers are of great importance for navigation. In the arid southern part of Western Siberia, on the border with Kazakhstan, river water is used for irrigation.

The climate of Western Siberia is characterized by continental features, intensifying in the south of the plain. Windless sunny frosty weather prevails in winter. In summer, when arctic air masses collide with heated southern air, cyclones occur, accompanied by precipitation. The hot West Siberian summer is very hard to bear because of the high humidity and countless hordes of midges: mosquitoes, midges and horseflies.

D. Utenkov. Discovery of Siberia. The kingdom of swamps and taiga of Western Siberia is countless, incalculable clouds of all kinds of blood-sucking insects. And here, perhaps, with full right one can call not a bear, a wolverine or a sable, but an ordinary mosquito, the owner of the taiga. It was established by special consideration that in places where there is a lot of midges, over a thousand mosquitoes, more than 2 thousand midges, attack a person within 3 minutes!

Forest-tundra is a larch and birch crooked forest, to which pine and cedar are added at the southern border. Forest tracts in the forest-tundra are confined to river valleys, the most drained and warm, since river water brings heat here from the south. The main reindeer pastures are concentrated in the tundra and forest-tundra.

Due to the wide distribution of swamps in the forest zone of Western Siberia, it is called the forest-bog zone. Flat non-drained areas are occupied by swamps, while taiga forests proper occupy mainly the slopes of river valleys, sloping and elevated areas of interfluves. The forests of Western Siberia constitute its most important natural resource, however, local wood grown on wetlands is generally of poor quality.

High swampiness complicates the development of the richest resources of this region, complicates the construction of roads and settlements. In many areas, land travel is only possible in winter, when the swamps freeze over. At the same time, the West Siberian swamps have countless reserves of peat, which can be used as chemical raw materials, fuel, organic fertilizer, bedding material in animal husbandry.

How can one explain that the largest oil and gas fields are concentrated in Western Siberia? The West Siberian Lowland was formed on the West Siberian Plate with a deeply lowered folded Paleozoic basement. It is overlain by a thick, almost six-kilometer-long "layer cake" layer, consisting of sedimentary rocks represented by clays, sandstones and sands of marine and continental origin.

The largest deposits of oil and natural gas in the country (the West Siberian oil and gas region) are connected with the sedimentary cover of the West Siberian Plain. More than 500 deposits of these most important combustible minerals have been discovered here, which contain more than 60% of Russian oil reserves and about 90% of natural gas. The most important oil fields are concentrated in Khanty-Mansiysk (Samotlor, Megionskoye, Salymskoye, Mamontovskoye, Ust-Balykskoye and others), and natural gas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (the world's largest Urengoyskoye and Yamburgskoye deposits, as well as Medvezhye near the city of Nadym, Zapolyarnoye, etc.)
Intensive oil production, an ever-expanding web of pipelines have already caused irreparable harm to the natural complexes of Western Siberia: oil spills during extraction and transportation (pipes laid directly on the surface of the earth burst in winter) turned into ruined deer pastures and forest lands, dead fish in the tundra and taiga rivers and lakes.

The intensive industrial development of the natural resources of Western Siberia caused serious damage not only to nature, but also to the indigenous peoples (Nenets, Khanty, Mansi and others), depriving them of a significant part of their hunting and fishing grounds. In order to protect the traditional types of economic activity and culture of these peoples, in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, for example, special areas of priority nature management - tribal lands were allocated.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution

higher professional education

"SOUTH FEDERAL UNIVERSITY"

GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FACULTY

Department of Physical Geography, Ecology and Nature Protection

COURSE WORK

On the topic: "Natural areas of Western Europe, development dynamics and current state"

Completed: 2nd year student 3 gr. Stefanov V.A.

Checked by: Associate Professor, Candidate of Geographical Sciences

Dotsenko I.V.

Rostov-on-Don

Introduction……………………………………………………………………..3

1. Natural conditions and resources of Western Europe……………………....6

1.1. Natural conditions………………………………………………..... 6

1.2. Natural resources…………………………………………………….8

2.Western Europe…………………………………………………………...11

2.1. Latitudinal zonality………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2.1.1. Tundra and forest tundra zone ..…………………………………..12

2.1.2. Zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests……………….13

2.1.3. Zone of evergreen forests………………………………………...14

15

Conclusion………………………………………………………………….16

References………………………………………………………………18

Introduction

Natural zones are natural complexes that occupy large areas and are characterized by the dominance of one zonal landscape type. They are formed mainly under the influence of climate - the features of the distribution of heat and moisture, their ratio. Each natural zone has its own type of soil, vegetation and wildlife. The appearance of the natural zone is determined by the type of vegetation cover. But the nature of vegetation depends on climatic conditions - thermal conditions, moisture, illumination, soils, etc. As a rule, natural zones are elongated in the form of wide strips from west to east. There are no clear boundaries between them, they gradually pass into one another. The latitudinal location of natural zones is disturbed by the uneven distribution of land and ocean, relief, and remoteness from the ocean.

Table 1. Natural zones.

natural area	climate zone	Temperature
Permanently wet forests	Equatorial	above +24°C
Variable rainforests		20°-+24°C and above	1000-2000mm (most in summer)
Savannahs and woodlands	Subequatorial, Tropical	20°+24°C and above	250-1000mm (most in summer)
Tropical deserts and semi-deserts	Tropical	8+16°С in winter; +20+32°C and above in summer	less than 250 mm
hardwood forests	Subtropical	8+16°С in winter; +20+24°C and above in summer
Steppes and forest-steppes	Subtropical, Temperate	16+8°С in winter; +16+24°C in summer
broadleaf forests	Moderate	8+8°С in winter; +16+24°C in summer
mixed forests	Moderate	16 -8°C in winter; +16+24°C in summer
	Moderate	8 -48°C in winter; +8+24°С in summer
Tundra and forest tundra	Subarctic, Subantarctic	8-40°С in winter; +8+16°С in summer
Arctic and Antarctic deserts	Arctic, Antarctic	24 -70°C in winter; 0 -32°C in summer	250 or less

1. Natural conditions and resources of Western Europe.

1.1. Natural conditions.

In Western Europe, lowlands, hilly plains and young high mountains of alpine folding are widely represented, which form the main watershed of the mainland. Here are small mountains in area and height: the Central French Massif, the Vosges, the Black Forest, the Rhine Slate Mountains, the North Scottish Highlands, etc. The Alps are the highest mountains in Europe, their length is 1200 km, width is up to 260 km. The folded structure of the Alps was created mainly by movements of the Alpine age. The highest peak is Mont Blanc (4807 m). The high axial zone of the mountains is formed by ancient crystalline (gneisses, shales) rocks. The Alps are dominated by glacial relief and modern glaciation (up to 1,200 glaciers with a total area of ​​more than 4,000 km2). Glaciers and eternal snows decrease to 2500-3200 m. The mountains are cut by valleys, inhabited and mastered by man, railways and highways are laid through the passes. Plain territories are located mainly in coastal areas. The largest lowlands are North German, Polish and others. Almost 40% of the area of ​​the Netherlands is below sea level, these are the so-called "polders" - lowland lands, which are characterized by high fertility. The climate is temperate, partly subtropical Mediterranean (France, Monaco). The presence of active western transport of moist Atlantic air masses makes the climate mild and favorable for life and economic activity (including agriculture). The average temperatures of the coldest month are -1 .. +3 °С, warm +18 .. +20 °С. The annual amount of precipitation generally decreases from west to east. In the Atlantic regions and on the windward slopes of the mountains, it is 1000-2000 mm, on the other - 500-600 mm. The maximum amount of precipitation occurs in the summer months.

The distribution of river flow in the region is uneven: it decreases from west to east and from north to south. The largest rivers are the Danube, the Rhine, the Loire, the Seine, the Elbe, the Meuse, the Rhone, the Thames, etc. In the west, the rivers are fed mainly by rain, they do not freeze, or have a short, unstable freeze-up. In the eastern territories, rain food also predominates, and on the rivers of the high mountain regions of the Alps, glacial food is added to rain and snow. Large floods are typical here in summer, and runoff is very small or absent in winter. Some countries are constantly engaged in hydrotechnical construction and "fight against the sea." Thus, in the Netherlands, 2,400 km of dams and 5,440 km of canals have been built. A significant part of the lakes is located in tectonic depressions (hollows, grabens), characterized by a very indented coastline, considerable depth, and elongated shape. There are many such lakes in Switzerland: Geneva, Zurich, Constance, Neuchâtel, etc.

1.2. Natural resources.

The bowels of Western Europe in the past had a high potential for mineral raw materials, but due to long-term industrial use, they have been significantly depleted.

The region accounts for more than ¼ of hard coal reserves in Europe. The largest coal basins and regions are: in Germany - the Ruhr and Saar, in France - the Lille basin and the Massif Central, in Great Britain - the north of England and Scotland, in Belgium - the Liege region. Brown coal has Germany - the Cologne basin and Saxony.

The situation with oil and gas reserves improved after the discovery in the early 60s of huge natural gas fields in the Netherlands (1929 billion m3 - 1st place in Europe in terms of production), and subsequently - oil and gas in the British sector of the North Sea shelf ( explored oil reserves are 0.6 billion tons, gas - 610 m3).

Ireland has significant peat reserves. Great Britain - the only one of the four leading industrial countries in Europe, is fully provided with its own energy resources.

Relatively large deposits of iron ore in France (Lorraine), Luxembourg, polymetals - in Germany and Ireland, tin - in the UK (Cornwall Peninsula), bauxite - in France (Mediterranean coast), uranium - in France (Central Massif, where the largest European stocks).

Among non-metallic raw materials, rock salt reserves (Germany and France), very large reserves of magnesite and graphite (Austria) are noticeable.

Hydropower resources are very significant. The Alpine regions (Switzerland, Austria, France) and the mountainous regions of Scotland, the Pyrenean regions in the south of France are especially rich in them. France, Austria and Switzerland account for more than 2/5 of the countries' water resources.

The region is poor in forests, which cover only 22% of its territory. Significant forest areas in Austria (forest cover is 47%), Germany (31%), Switzerland (31%), France (28%). Most countries are dominated by artificial forests, many cultivated tree plantations that perform environmental, sanitary and recreational functions.

Agro-climatic and land resources are favorable for agriculture. Almost all suitable lands have been plowed up: from 10% in Switzerland to 30% in France, Germany and Great Britain. The most common are soils of medium and low fertility in their natural state. But everywhere they are significantly improved due to the high level of agricultural technology. The climate is favorable for growing many crops.

Natural recreational resources are very rich and varied: from the Alps, the high mountains of Europe, to the lowest in Europe, the Netherlands, from the subtropical Mediterranean of France to cool and humid Ireland. The region has a large recreational and tourist area. Attractive areas are the Cote d'Azur in France, the Alps, the Thuringian Forest, etc.

The countries of the region have a large number of reserves, reserves, national parks (91) protected by law. They cover large areas. For example, in France, the entire coastal Atlantic strip 2500 km long has been proclaimed a protected area, in Great Britain - almost 5% of its territory, etc.

The diversity of natural conditions and resources in different regions of the region has led to the formation of various types of economic activity, and, accordingly, their certain specialization.