What is a swamp? How a swamp is formed. Where are swamps found?

Fauna and a peat layer of at least 0.3 m. With the exception of the extremities, swamps are common in the subarctic and northern hemisphere no further south than 45° north latitude. In Russia, swamps occupy about 80% of the area.

Most often, swamps arise where they come to the surface, as well as in clearings and burnt areas: due to the lack of plants that “suction”, the groundwater level rises. There are a lot of swamps in... This is explained by the fact that the layer prevents surface water from penetrating into the ground. Swamps are often found at the mouths and floodplains of rivers, which are flooded during floods (see). Based on their food sources, swamps are divided into lowland, transitional and upland.

Raised bogs are located mainly in the tundra zone and, that is, in areas with excess moisture. These swamps, unlike lowland ones, are not fed by groundwater, but therefore there are fewer of them.

Lowland marshes can be located on large river watersheds, on river terraces. They are overgrown with a thick cover of sedges, horsetails and reeds, and moss. There is a rich bird population here, which also contributes nitrogenous fertilizers.

Raised bogs, as a rule, are located in the interfluves. They are overgrown with tough plant species: cotton grass, wild rosemary, dwarf birch species, rare trees, and most importantly, sphagnum moss.

However, there are increasing calls to protect the wetlands. It turns out that they play an important role in the life of birds, animals, and plants. Here you can get good harvests of herbs, berries, and medicinal plants. Reed and reed are used in paper production, sphagnum mosses are good antiseptics. They are also used as bedding for livestock. The swamps are home to many animals and birds of economic importance: muskrats, otters, wild boars, wood grouse, black grouse, and waders. It turned out that the air above the swamp is rich in oxygen. But the main importance of swamps is that they serve as a natural regulator of surface and groundwater. In some cases, swamps have caused a decrease in groundwater levels, which leads to a decrease in fertility in elevated areas. Peat is extracted from swamps. If previously it was used only for heating, today resin, purifying substances, water, and medicines are obtained from it. Feed mixtures, organic fertilizers and building materials are prepared from peat.

But swamps are different from swamps. Vast swampy expanses or the Arctic must be largely drained and peat bogs developed. But with the swamps of the European part of Russia, the situation is not so simple. Intensive management, the growth of cities and industrial enterprises, the reduction of forest area - all this makes it necessary to conserve and rationally use groundwater. There are even nature reserves that preserve swamps (for example, in Polesie). In the Ivanovo region, 20 forest swamps have been taken under protection. In the coming years, it is planned to increase the number of protected wetlands in our country. Raised bogs are the most in need of protection. They perform a very important function - they retain and regulate moisture, feed rivers, lakes, etc. But it's not only that. As practice has shown, on the site of drained swamps, a good harvest is harvested only for the first few years, and then the land is subject to (destruction). Therefore, the problem of draining swamps requires preliminary research and economic calculations.

), characterized by excessive moisture, high acidity and low soil fertility, the emergence of standing or flowing groundwater to the surface, but without a permanent layer of water on the surface. A swamp is characterized by the deposition on the soil surface of incompletely decomposed organic matter, which later turns into peat. The peat layer in swamps is at least 30 cm; if less, then these are wetlands. Swamps are an integral part of the hydrosphere. The first swamps on Earth formed at the junction of the Silurian and Devonian 350-400 million years ago.

They are more common in the Northern Hemisphere, in forests. In Russia, they are distributed in the north of the European part, in Western Siberia, and Kamchatka. In Belarus and Ukraine, swamps are concentrated in Polesie (the so-called Pinsk swamps). Research into the nature of swamps was started by M.V. Lomonosov, and a great contribution was made by the Soviet botanist V.S. Dokturovsky, the creator of a manual on swamp science.

Origin of the term

The word "swamp" has ancient Balto-Slavic origins. This root is found in all ancient and modern Balto-Slavic languages. It is no coincidence that the marshy area between Belarusian Polesie and the Baltic Sea is considered the ancestral home of the Slavs. The name Baltika itself is also derived from this root. In Slavic languages with full consonance (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, etc.) it sounds like a swamp, in other Slavic and Baltic languages, including in Old Church Slavonic as “blato”, “balto”. It is noteworthy that as a result of long linguistic contacts of the Slavs with the East Roman population, the word balte/baltă “swamp” entered the Romanian and Moldavian languages, including place names. Along with them, other vocabulary related to water was also borrowed (lúncă, zăvoi, smârc “swamp” from the word “dusk”, island/ostrov, lotke/lótcă, etc.).

According to Vasmer's dictionary, the word is of Slavic origin and is related to the Lithuanian word báltas (white). At the same time, the relatedness of the English word pool (puddle, pond) is questioned.

Swamp formation

Swamps arise in two main ways: due to waterlogging of the soil or due to overgrowing of water bodies. Waterlogging can occur due to human fault, for example, during the construction of dams and dams for ponds and reservoirs. Waterlogging is sometimes caused by the activity of beavers.

A prerequisite for the formation of swamps is constant excess moisture. One of the reasons for excess moisture and the formation of a swamp is the peculiarities of the relief - the presence of lowlands where precipitation and groundwater flow; in flat areas there is a lack of drainage - all these conditions lead to the formation of peat.

The role of swamps

Wetlands play an important role in the formation of rivers.

Swamps prevent the development of the greenhouse effect. They, no less than forests, can be called “the lungs of the planet.” The fact is that the reaction of the formation of organic substances from carbon dioxide and water during photosynthesis, in its overall equation, is opposite to the reaction of oxidation of organic substances during respiration, and therefore, during the decomposition of organic matter, carbon dioxide, previously bound by plants, is released back into the atmosphere (mainly due to respiration of bacteria). One of the main processes that can reduce the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere is the burial of undecomposed organic matter, which occurs in swamps that form peat deposits, which are then transformed into coal. (Other similar processes are the deposition of carbonates (CaCO3) at the bottom of reservoirs and chemical reactions occurring in the earth's crust and mantle). Therefore, the practice of draining swamps, carried out in the 19th-20th centuries, is destructive from an environmental point of view.

On the other hand, swamps are one of the sources of bacterial methane (one of the greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere. In the near future, an increase in the volume of swamp methane in the atmosphere is expected due to the melting of swamps in the permafrost region.

Swamps are natural water filters and orderlies for agroecosystems.

Valuable plants (blueberries, cranberries, cloudberries) grow in the swamps.

Peat is used in medicine (mud therapy), as fuel, fertilizer in agriculture, feed for farm animals, and raw material for the chemical industry.

Peat bogs serve as a source of finds for paleobiology and archeology - well-preserved plant remains, pollen, seeds, and bodies of ancient people are found in them.

For the latter, swamp ore was a source for the manufacture of iron products.

Previously, the swamp was considered a disastrous place for humans. Cattle that strayed from the herd died in the swamps. Entire villages died out due to the bites of malaria mosquitoes. The vegetation in the swamps is sparse: light green moss, small wild rosemary shrubs, sedge, heather. The trees in the swamps are stunted. Gnarled lonely pines, birches and alder thickets.

People sought to drain the “dead places” and use the land for fields and pastures.

Classification of swamps

Depending on the conditions of water and mineral nutrition, swamps are divided into:

Lowland (eutrophic)- a type of swamp with rich water and mineral nutrition, mainly due to groundwater. They are located in floodplains of rivers, along the banks of lakes, in places where springs emerge, in low places. Typical vegetation is alder, birch, sedge, reed, cattail, green mosses. In areas with a temperate climate, these are often forest (with birch and alder) or grass (with sedge, reed, cattail) swamps. Grassy swamps in the deltas of the Volga, Kuban, Don, Danube, and Dnieper are called floodplains, combined with channels, lakes, estuaries, eriks and other microreservoirs of the primary and secondary delta. In the lower reaches of rivers in desert and semi-desert regions (Ili, Syrdarya, Amudarya, Tarim, etc.), wetlands and their vegetation are called tugai.

Transitional (mesotrophic)- in terms of the nature of vegetation and moderate mineral nutrition, they are located between lowland and raised bogs. The most common trees are birch, pine, and larch. The grasses are the same as in the lowland swamps, but not as abundant; characterized by shrubs; Mosses are found both sphagnum and green.

Horse (oligotrophic)- usually located on flat watersheds, fed only by precipitation, where there are very few minerals, the water in them is sharply acidic, the vegetation is dominated by sphagnum mosses, many shrubs: heather, wild rosemary, cassandra, blueberry, cranberry; cotton grass and Scheuchzeria grow; There are swamp forms of larch and pine, and dwarf birch trees. Due to the accumulation of peat, the surface of the bog may become convex over time. In turn, they are divided into two types:

Forest - covered with low pine, heather bushes, sphagnum.
Ridge-hollows are similar to forest ones, but are covered with peat hummocks, and there are practically no trees on them.

In general, according to the type of predominant vegetation, they are distinguished: forest, shrub, grass and moss swamps.

By type of microrelief: lumpy, flat, convex, etc.

By type of macrorelief: valley, floodplain, slope, watershed, etc.

By climate type: subarctic (in permafrost areas), temperate (most swamps in the Russian Federation, the Baltic states, the CIS and the EU); tropical and subtropical. Tropical wetlands include, for example, the Okavango wetlands in South Africa and the Paraná wetlands in South America. The climate determines the flora and fauna of the swamps.

Vegetation

Nikolai Yakovlevich Kats divides the raised bogs of Central Russia by type of vegetation:

type with complexes of shrub associations;
type with complexes of cotton grass and dwarf shrub associations;
type with urinary complexes.

Related terms

Mar' is a swampy sparse larch forest, interrupted by areas of treeless hummocky swamps and dwarf birch forests.
Mochazhina is a wet, swampy, marshy place between hummocks in a swamp, low-lying meadow.
Swamp ore is bottom deposits of brown iron ore in a swamp as a result of the activity of iron bacteria.
A swamp is a waterlogged area of a swamp with a liquefied peat deposit, a high water level and loose, fragile turf.
A quagmire is an unsteady, swampy place.
Nyasha is a (northern) unsteady swampy silty or clayey place.

Animals of temperate swamps

European marsh turtle (Emys orbicularis).
Various types of toads, frogs.
Mosquitoes, ticks and other insects.
Moose, raccoons, otters, minks, muskrats.
Birds (cranes, partridges, herons, waders, lapwings, ducks, moorhens, etc.)

Swamp plants

Lingonberry grows in peat bogs.
Blueberry.
Cranberry grows in raised and transitional bogs.
Cloudberry grows in peat bogs.
The sundew, due to a lack of minerals in the soil, passively catches insects.
Swamp cypress, common in North America and acclimatized in the Danube Delta.
Sphagnum moss.
Ledum.
Sedge.
Cotton grass.
Pemphigus.

Protection of swamps, specially protected natural areas (SPNA)

The following organizations are involved in the problem of wetland conservation:

Wetlands International;
International Mire Conservation Group - IMCG.

Botanical natural monuments

The Big Tavatui swamp, Malinovskoe, Kukushkinskoe are located next to Lake Tavatui.
The Sestroretsk swamp is a specially protected natural area (SPNA).
Mshinskoe swamp is a state nature reserve of federal subordination.
Staroselsky moss is a state complex reserve of regional significance.
The Vasyugan swamps are one of the largest swamps in the world. The area of the swamps is 53 thousand km² (for comparison: the area of Switzerland is 41 thousand km²).

Properties of swamps

Glows in the swamps

On warm, dark nights in the swamps, there is a glow of pale bluish, faintly flickering lights, tracing a complex trajectory. Their occurrence is explained by the spontaneous combustion of methane (swamp gas) released from the swamp, the light of rotten plants (rotting plants), phosphorescent organisms, radioactive mineral deposits, and other reasons.

Attempts to imitate the typical characteristics of will-o'-the-wisps by creating artificial swamps and igniting the released methane have failed. There is a version that these will-o-the-wisps are the result of the interaction of hydrogen phosphide and methane. Phosphorus compounds, which are part of animal and human corpses, decompose under the influence of groundwater to form hydrogen phosphide. When there is a loose embankment over a grave or a small layer of water in a swamp, the gas, coming to the surface, is ignited by the vapor of liquid hydrogen phosphide.

There is also a belief that the glow in the swamps is caused by certain entities (dead people, swamp spirits).

Mummifying effect of swamps

The swamp is 90% water with a high content of peat acids (decomposed plant matter). Such an environment slows down the growth of bacteria, which is why bodies of organic origin that drown in the swamp are not destroyed. The presence of acids in the swamp, combined with low water temperatures and a lack of oxygen, has a tanning effect on the skin, which explains the dark brown color of the bodies found, thus, due to the lack of oxygen and the antibacterial properties of sphagnum, which is a powerful preservative, the bodies are perfectly preserved.

Over the past 300 years, well-preserved human bodies have been discovered in abandoned peat bogs in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Most of these mummies date back to the 1st century. BC e. - IV century n. e.

One of the most famous mummies is the "Man of Tollund".

The largest swamp in the world is the Russian Great Vasyugan Swamp. Its area is 53-55 thousand square meters. km.
According to legend, Ivan Osipovich Susanin, one of the Russian national heroes, was hired by a detachment of Polish interventionists in the winter of 1612-1613. as a conductor. Saving Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, Susanin led the Poles into a swampy forest, where he was brutally tortured by them for refusing to show the right path.
Russian proverb: Every sandpiper praises its swamp.
The Bottom of the Swamp is a train station from the anime Spirited Away.
Saransk translated from Erzya-Moksha “sara”, “sarana” means swamp, swamp, quagmire - and in fact, on the site of Saransk, vast areas were occupied by low-lying swamps and impassable bogs

Swamp in cultural images (in cinema, literature, mythology, folklore)

Mythology

In the mythology of many cultures, a swamp is associated with a bad, disastrous, unclean place.

According to East Slavic mythology, a swamp man lives in the swamps, who can lead a traveler astray.

Since ancient times, people have been frightened by the night glow in the swamps. Due to the characteristic location of the lights - at the height of a human hand - they are called “dead man’s candles”. It is believed that whoever saw them received a warning about imminent death, and they were carried by aliens from the other world. In Germany they said that the lights in the swamp are the ghosts of those who stole land from their neighbors - as punishment, their souls wander through the swamps in search of solid ground. The Finns called them "lecchio" and believed that they were the souls of children buried in the forest. In Northern Europe, it was believed that the lights in the swamp were the spirits of ancient warriors guarding treasures.

According to English beliefs, these so-called will-o'-the-wisps try to lure a person into a swamp or other dangerous place. This element of folklore is well illustrated in the film The Lord of the Rings when the hobbits walk through the moors.

In Slavic mythology, swamp kikimoras live in swamps. They lure travelers into the quagmire by loudly calling for help. Sometimes people are led into the swamp by lesavki - the children of kikimora and goblin. In Slavic mythology, a swamp has its own guardian spirit, the owner is the bog dweller. He looks like a gray-haired old man with a wide, yellowish face. It is he who scares those walking through the swamp with sharp sounds, sighs, and loud smacking. It is he who lures the self-confident and careless into the quagmire and, on the contrary, shows a safe path to those who respect nature.

In Finno-Ugric mythology, the swamp gives unprecedented strength to its inhabitant, the giant Yar Mort.

In Celtic mythology, swamps were the “gates of spirits” - in the place where the seemingly solid soil instantly disappears from under your feet, the gates open to the world of mysterious nature spirits and deities. The Celts brought sacrificial gifts in the swamps.

The Khanty and Mansi believed that the whole world was born from “liquid earth,” that is, from a swamp.

The Egyptian goddess Isis hid her son there, the god Horus.

In one of the myths about the creation of the world, swamps arose from a devil spit out of the mouth, hidden from the God of the earth.

Poetry

The mysterious beauty of swamps is sung by Alexander Blok in the poems “Love this eternity of swamps...”, “A swamp is a deep depression of the huge eye of the earth...”, “Swamp priest”, “The white horse barely steps with a tired foot...”, etc. (cycle “Bubbles of the Earth” , 1904-1905).

(Visited 1,513 times, 1 visits today)

SWAMP, an area of the earth's surface characterized by excessive moisture, hydrophilicity of the ground vegetation, a special type of soil formation (see Swamp soils) and the presence of peat. A swamp is distinguished from wetlands; a formal sign of their difference is the thickness of the peat layer: in Russia and a number of other countries for undrained swamps - at least 30 cm. With a smaller peat layer or its absence, excessively moist areas are classified as wetlands. The science of swamps is swamp science.

Swamps are common from arctic to tropical latitudes. Their accounting is difficult due to differences in the criteria for classifying lands as swamps (the thickness of the peat layer, its ash content) and the inaccessibility of the territories. It is believed that the world's wetlands account for from 2 to 5.7 million km 2, 85-90% of them are in the boreal zone. About a third of the world's wetlands are in Russia, where they occupy about 1.4 million km 2 (or 8% of the territory). Under certain conditions, individual swamps are connected with neighboring ones, forming swamp systems covering tens of thousands of km 2. Huge areas of swamps are found in Western Siberia, in the coastal lowlands of Hudson Bay, the coastal plains of Southeast Asia, and in the Amazon basin.

Swamp formation begins either with the swamping of land (most swamps), or with the overgrowing of reservoirs and the accumulation of mineral and organic sediments, including sapropel, in them. The rate of their formation depends on the terrain, specific conditions of water and mineral balance, climate fluctuations and other factors. The development of swamps is due to the vertical growth of the peat layer with a consistent change in the type of water and mineral nutrition from ground to atmospheric, which is facilitated by difficult water flow, the growth of moisture-intensive mosses, and the slowdown of peat decomposition.

Swamp ecosystems occupy an intermediate position between aquatic and terrestrial. The flora can be represented by both typical marsh (sphagnum and hypnum mosses), and coastal (reed, cattail, sedge), meadow (burnet, bathwort, valerian) and forest (tree species, grasses, green mosses) species. Despite their general functional similarity, swamps in different climatic conditions can have completely different appearances in terms of the morphology of the soil surface, the structure of the vegetation cover, fauna and other characteristics.

Bogs are characterized by the ability to increase the supply of organic matter over thousands of years, accumulating it in the form of peat; On average, 5-20% of the annual increase in phytomass is used for its formation, which, after falling in an anaerobic environment, does not have time to decompose. The average vertical growth of the peat layer during the existence of the boreal zone swamp (8-11 thousand years) is usually 0.1-0.8 mm per year. In the conditions of the southern taiga, the thickness of the peat layer can reach 10 meters; in the tundra, in the permafrost region in Eastern Siberia - about 1 m; in zones with a temperate climate, in the subtropics, where the age of the swamps is much older, there are cases where peat deposits measure tens of meters.

Natural diversity of wetlands. Based on the content of mineral substances in the waters feeding the swamp, they are usually divided into three ecological groups - swamps of groundwater, atmospheric-soil, and atmospheric water supply. They correspond to the names of swamps: according to the type of vegetation - eutrophic (with phytocenoses characterized by high demands on mineral nutrition), mesotrophic (with plants of average demands), oligotrophic (with vegetation adapted to soils very poor in mineral elements); by location on the relief - lowland, transitional and upland.

Swamps of groundwater supply (low-lying, eutrophic) are located in depressions of the relief (places of high groundwater levels) - on gentle slopes with close water-resistant layers, in near-terrace parts of floodplains, in river valleys, in the zone of pressure rise of water, etc.; their surface is concave or flat. The rich mineral composition (100-300 mg/l) of groundwater, including calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate, ensures a neutral reaction of the soil environment, and peats have a high ash content (6-15%). Such conditions are favorable for the development of soil invertebrates and microorganisms, which ensure an increased degree of peat decomposition. Such swamps are characterized by black alder, spruce, birch (in Siberia - cedar, larch); in the ground cover - sedge, reed, cattail, horsetail, hypnotic mosses. Wild boars, water rats, voles, and many birds (waders, marsh hens, corncrakes, etc.) live here. In Russia, lowland swamps are common in the deltas of the Volga, Don and Kuban.

Swamps with atmospheric-ground water supply (transitional, mesotrophic) have lower water mineralization, are characterized by a slightly acidic reaction of the environment, a depleted composition of vegetation, and a low ash content of peat (4-5%). The tree layer is dominated by pine and birch, and the ground cover is dominated by sphagnum mosses, cinquefoil, cotton grass and other plants.

Swamps of atmospheric water supply (upland, oligotrophic) are located on watersheds. They feed only on atmospheric dust and moisture, depleted of mineral nutrition elements (from several to tens of mg/l); this creates conditions for increasing the acidity of the soil environment and the formation of peats with a low degree of decomposition and low ash content (1-3%). The runoff from these swamps occurs primarily through the upper (up to 30-70 cm), or “active” layer, the water permeability of which is significantly higher than the “inert” layer located underneath. The moisture reserve in it can decrease mainly due to evaporation and has little effect on the feeding of rivers. In raised bogs, which are widely represented in the taiga zone, the growth of peat is more intense in the middle than on their periphery (the so-called central oligotrophic type); at the same time, a convex peat bog is formed, rising 2-7 m. At mature stages of development of raised bogs, low-growing pine, larch, and shrubs grow along ridges and microelevations (ledum, bog chamedaphne, dwarf birch, heather, and heather), and in depressions and between hummocks (hollows) - some types of sphagnum mosses, Scheuchzeria, Ocheretnik. The central parts of such swamps often reach the so-called dystrophic stages in their development with dead areas, erosion phenomena and the formation of a large number of secondary lakes and lakes. On the slopes and edges of such swamps, meso- and eutrophic phytocenoses persist for a long time.

Biosphere role of wetlands. The main supply of organic matter in bogs is located in the aquatic environment: 80-95% of the peat bog consists of water, 5-20% of semi-decomposed plant residues and a small amount of gases. According to some data, peat contains a carbon reserve approximately equal to atmospheric carbon. In Russia, more than a third of soil carbon is concentrated in peat, which significantly exceeds its content in forest phytomass. According to modern estimates, swamps, along with sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide, can release methane and nitrogen dioxide into it, which have a significantly stronger greenhouse effect.

The use of swamps is traditionally associated with their biological resources - berries (cranberries, blueberries, cloudberries), mushrooms, medicinal plants, sphagnum moss (used in rural construction and as bedding for livestock). The swamps are also valuable hunting grounds. Lowland and floodplain swamps, through reclamation and cultivation, are transformed into valuable lands for growing crops, as well as highly productive hayfields and pastures. Significant areas of forest swamps were drained to increase forest productivity. Finally, swamps are objects of scientific research into biodiversity, ecology, and the like. All these types of uses are the most gentle and long-term. In areas of large swamps, industrial facilities and transport infrastructure (roads, pipelines) are often located, and individual construction is underway. But the most “harsh” use of swamps is associated with the extraction of peat for energy production, the preparation of peat-compost mixtures and fertilizers, and use as technical raw materials (for example, in medicine, the chemical industry). Exhausted peat deposits are difficult to reclaim into agricultural, forestry, fish ponds, etc. Natural restoration of peat requires thousands of years. Therefore, peat is a practically irreplaceable natural resource. For the northern and northwestern regions of European Russia, where swamps cover 30-40% of the territory, drainage in agriculture and forestry is a necessary measure for road construction. However, in Russia, significant areas that were reclaimed in the past without proper maintenance and restoration of the drainage network usually turn out to be secondarily swamped after 30-50 years; in Europe, about 20% of bogs have completely disappeared, and more than 50% do not produce peat. In Denmark and the Netherlands, less than 1% of bogs have been preserved in their natural state; in Finland, 60% of bogs have been drained for forestry purposes.

Commandment of the swamps in Russia reflects the existing system of territorial nature protection. As part of the landscape, they are protected in state reserves (for example, in Astrakhan, Bologna, Vodlozersky, Rdeysky, Yugansky), national parks and other specially protected natural areas. The fauna of swamps is protected or restricted in use within hunting reserves. About 10% of the area of wetlands that have the status of international importance under the Convention for the Conservation of Waterfowl Habitats (Ramsar, 1971) is peat bogs (with peat deposits greater than 50 cm). Raised bogs of the taiga zone and northern regions, where they occupy large areas, are much better represented as protected areas than swamps of coniferous-deciduous, forest-steppe and steppe zones. In the last two, most of the natural swamps have been transformed into economically used areas for various purposes.

Lit.: Sukachev V.N. Swamps, their formation, development and properties. 3rd ed. L., 1926; Galkina E.A. Swamp landscapes and principles of their classification. L., 1946; Kats N.Ya. Types of swamps of the USSR and Western Europe and their geographical distribution. M., 1948; Ivanov K. E. Water exchange in swamp landscapes. L., 1975; Clymo R.S. The limits to peat bog growth // Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society. Ser. V. 1984. Vol. 303; Vompersky S.E. The role of swamps in the carbon cycle // Biogeocenotic features of swamps and their rational use. M., 1994.

From the point of view of a botanist, swamp- this is the space where plants that live in conditions of abundant moisture predominate (i.e. hygro- and hydrophytes).

The swamp has its own fauna, characteristic communities of microorganisms. The swamp soil is no less unique. The result is a complex combination of closely interconnected natural complexes, united by a single habitat. There is also a common term for them - biogeocenosis. It, like the concept of “biocenosis,” was introduced into science by the greatest botanist, Academician V. N. Sukachev, whose centenary of birth was celebrated in 1980.

Biogeocenosis is a living system, in constant movement and development, having only its own characteristics. Swamp biogeocenoses can often accumulate undecomposed organic matter - peat. However, depending on geographical conditions, bogs can be with or without peat.

The variety of swamps is very large, therefore, as information accumulated, the need arose to classify them. First of all, it is customary to distinguish swamps by the extent to which their vegetation is provided with mineral nutrition. Their species diversity depends on this. There are eutrophic (from the Greek “eu” - good and “trophe” - food), or lowland swamps; groundwater, rich in salts needed by plants, comes close to them. They are usually located along river valleys and floodplains, along the shores of lakes. The vegetation on them is usually rich. Bog soils are especially fertile in floodplain areas adjacent to river terraces.

The exact opposite of them is oligotrophic swamps (from the Greek “oligos” - small, insufficient), or raised ones. The vegetation there is raised, separated from the soil by an already accumulated layer of peat. It receives pitiful crumbs of mineral nutrition only from precipitation. Water is retained and accumulated by sphagnum mosses, which absorb water as well as a sponge. A raised bog saturated with moisture is essentially a convex suspended body of water. If you make a cross section, you can see a lens of peat, covered with a thick carpet of sphagnum mosses and a small number of other plants, mainly marsh shrubs, adapted to such peculiar living conditions.

A lowland bog turns into a raised bog as peat accumulates. The peat deposit grows slowly, on average by a millimeter per year, and, of course, a number of intermediate bog forms are found in nature. Such swamps are united under the general name - mesotrophic, or transitional.

What causes the emergence and spread of swamps? This requires a certain combination of a number of conditions. Waterlogging is promoted by a humid climate, close proximity to the surface of groundwater, and water-resistant layers in the soil that prevent moisture from seeping deeper. Typically, swamps arise on a relatively flat surface with a poorly developed river network, where the flow is small. Why, for example, in some regions of Belarus, the Vologda region, Karelia, and in the taiga zone of Western Siberia, are swamps one of the main elements of the landscape? There are several reasons. The climate is humid, with much more precipitation falling than evaporation, so the soils are rich in water and poor in air. Groundwater is usually shallow. It is not surprising that the development of swamps in such areas has become a characteristic feature. They are dominated by raised bogs.

In countries with a very humid maritime climate - in southern Sweden, England, Norway, Ireland - peculiar raised raincoat bogs are common. The moss carpet not only fills the depressions, but also covers the slopes of the hills, and even creeps onto the ridges. Raincoat swamps seem to follow the shapes of the relief. This usually happens when the top layers of soil are heavily washed out, leached and therefore completely deprived of nutrients. Ordinary plants are not able to live on such infertile soils and their place is taken by oligotrophic sphagnum mosses, which spread not only down but also up the slope. Such swamps arose a long time ago and now in a number of places they are being destroyed, mainly by streams formed after rains.

Territories where the amount of precipitation is approximately equal to the amount of moisture evaporating back into the atmosphere are called zones of unstable moisture. The relative humidity here is much lower, and groundwater, as a rule, lies deep below the soil surface. Swamps can only form in depressions of the relief: in ravines, river valleys, along the edges of drainless lake basins. In a word, where groundwater seeps to the surface and abundant stagnant moisture occurs, necessary for the formation of swamps. Such groundwater is usually rich in mineral salts, and where it emerges, low-lying swamps with abundant, varied vegetation appear.

Of course, in the named zones there are swamps of a transitional type. In conditions of abundance of atmospheric moisture, the swamp reaches the upper stage much faster, which becomes dominant, and in the presence of only ground nutrition, it can remain lowland immeasurably longer. The appearance of raised bogs in these conditions is difficult due to less precipitation. The mineral particles they bring are not enough to feed even such unpretentious plants as sphagnum mosses and marsh shrubs.

Swamps sometimes occur in areas of insufficient moisture, where the amount of precipitation can be significantly less than the amount of moisture that goes to evaporation. For example, in the desert, vegetation generally clings to river valleys, lake basins, and other sources of fresh water, creating local moisture. Swamps are rare here. A shallow lake basin can be swampy, quickly filled with a mass of aquatic vegetation due to the abundance of heat and sunlight.

Flat terrain is very favorable for the emergence and spread of swamps. With a small slope, moisture from the surface layers of the soil flows extremely slowly, often simply stagnating, as a result, large areas become waterlogged.

Relief can also determine the outlines of swamp areas. In Karelia, swamps are often located in long, relatively narrow strips stretching from northwest to southeast; In some places they connect, forming an extensive network. The shape of the swamps completely copies the ancient hollows of the flow of periglacial waters.

The river network is of considerable importance for the development of swamping. The abundance of rivers, fast flows, and relatively straight channels contribute to good drainage from the surrounding areas, which sharply reduces the possibility of waterlogging and the appearance of swamps. The taiga rivers of Western Siberia play the opposite role. They are deep, with winding channels and slow currents; their floods are very high and long-lasting; some areas of the floodplain remain flooded from spring to autumn. During this period, the flow of some tributaries of the Ob or Irtysh may change. Rivers begin to flow backward, causing stagnation of water in vast watershed areas. Waterlogging and waterlogging of vast areas is becoming extremely intense.

Neotectonics often “interfere” in the formation of swamps - modern vibrations of the earth’s crust, characteristic of all, even non-seismic areas. With a slow but constant rise, a gradual natural drainage of the area occurs, just as swamping increases with descent. In both cases, the regime of runoff from the surface of already existing swamps changes, which certainly affects the species composition of swamp vegetation. Thus, as a result of neotectonic movements in the middle reaches of the Konda River (Western Siberia), the vast Kondinsk depression was formed. Gradually it turned into a continuous swamp-lake region.

On the right bank of the Ob, in the Ket-Tym interfluve, one can see the results of the opposite process. Here a gradual uplift occurred and the outskirts of the raised bogs began to dry out, and woody vegetation quickly appeared on them. There is evidence that recent tectonic processes sometimes affect only a small part of the vast swamps. If only a separate, for example, central, section of the swamp has risen, then the flow of water from it increases, it is drained, but the remaining marginal parts of the swamp receive additional moisture, so to speak, already over the edge. The swamp begins to rapidly expand, swamping the adjacent forests. In other words, not only the subsidence, but also the uplift of the earth’s crust can contribute to waterlogging. A similar result is obtained with the gradual uplifting of individual small pieces of the river bed. In the Barabinsk forest-steppe, some rivers generally broke up into drainless reservoirs, which immediately began to become swampy. A positive role here would be played by a lowering of the relief, in which river channels with a constant flow could again be restored.

How quickly a swamp turns from eutrophic to mesotrophic (from the Greek “mesos” - middle, intermediate) or even oligotrophic - this largely depends on the underlying soils. Limestones enrich groundwater with mineral salts and the vegetation is constantly supplied with them: the swamp continues to remain low-lying for a long time. Sands, and even more so granites or gneisses, are another matter. They contain negligibly little of the soluble mineral compounds necessary for plants, and the swamp becomes oligotrophic.

In the northern regions of our country, very large areas are waterlogged. Perpetual, or as it is now more commonly said, permafrost comes close to the surface, and water is not able to penetrate deep into the soil horizon. A harsh climate, waterlogging of the soil to the full depth of summer thawing, extreme poverty of its nutrients - only the most unpretentious marsh plants can live in such conditions.

Since ancient times, people's imagination has populated swamps with goblins, kikimoras and other evil spirits. And this is understandable: what is good in a swamp? A dead place, useless. However, some swamps are rich in berries, waterfowl, peat... But immediately one remembers swamps, bogs, damp, unhealthy air, clouds of mosquitoes... No, after all, there is little good in a swamp.

This opinion prevailed until man created powerful technology that helped drain vast territories in a short time and extract large quantities of peat. Since that time, mainly in our century, the number and size of swamps began to decrease noticeably. In their place, agricultural lands and engineering structures began to emerge.

But calls for the protection of swamps began to be heard more and more often. It turned out that they play a very important role in the lives of many birds, animals, and plants. Here you can get good harvests of herbs, berries and medicinal plants (cranberries, blueberries, wild rosemary, etc.). Reeds and reeds are used for paper production and construction. Sphagnum mosses are good antiseptics, and they are also used as bedding for livestock. The swamps are home to muskrats and otters, moose and wild boars, ducks and cranes, black grouse and wood grouse. In addition, studies have shown that the air above the swamps is clean and rich in oxygen.

But the main advantage of swamps is that they serve as natural regulators of surface and groundwater flow. In some cases, draining swamps reduces groundwater levels. reduces soil fertility in elevated areas and contributes to severe floods. However, bountiful crop yields can be harvested from drained wetlands. For example, on drained lands in Belarusian Polesie, the same harvests are sometimes harvested as on the famous Ukrainian black soils.

A swamp is an excessively moist area of land with special vegetation and a peat layer of at least 0.3 m (where there is even less peat - wetlands).

Most often, swamps arise where groundwater comes to the surface, as well as in forest clearings and burnt areas: due to the lack of plants that “suck out” groundwater, the groundwater level rises. There are many swamps in the tundra and forest-tundra, where a layer of permafrost prevents surface water from seeping into the ground; in the mouths and floodplains of rivers that are often flooded during floods (floodlands, oxbow lakes, densely overgrown with reeds, cattails, and sedges).

Swamps are divided into lowland, transitional and raised. Lowland ones are not necessarily located in the lowlands, and highland ones are not necessarily located on the hills. The main difference here is what the swamps feed on - lowland swamps, mainly groundwater, highland swamps - precipitation. The waters of lowland swamps are therefore richer in mineral salts than the waters of transitional and, especially, raised swamps. The acidity of the waters of lowland swamps is increased, and that of upland swamps is low. Low-lying swamps can be found in a watershed if the sub-marsh soils are rich in mineral salts. And the upland ones are also found in depressions located among washed quartz sands.

Swamps usually appear in heavily moist depressions or on the site of overgrown lakes and are mostly lowland. As plants die and peat accumulates, the surface of the bog becomes flat and then slightly convex. The vegetation is first represented mainly by herbs, shrubs, and then increasingly abundant sphagnum mosses. The lower part of the turf, located in water depleted of oxygen, decomposes poorly. Peat begins to accumulate. The peat “cushion” grows, the surface of the swamp rises higher and higher, the vegetation cover becomes more diverse: shrubs, trees, and meadow plants appear. A thick layer of peat serves as a sponge that absorbs water. Accumulating moisture, the swamp feeds the plants with plenty of it. Now it can exist without using groundwater, only due to precipitation. This is how the transformation of a lowland swamp, the surface of which is concave, like a saucer, into a raised swamp with a convex surface.

The famous Soviet scientist and naturalist M. M. Prishvin called the swamps “the storeroom of the sun.” Swamp vegetation is rich. But every plant is a battery of solar energy. In swamp water, these batteries are stored for a long time and do not “discharge”, forming peat deposits.

Previously, peat was used mainly for heating. It is now considered a very important complex raw material. Resin and rock wax, medicines and substances that purify oil and water are extracted from it; organic fertilizers, feed mixtures, as well as insulating building materials, etc. are prepared on its basis. The “Pantry of the Sun” has stored many excellent, valuable gifts for people .

Peat bogs are of great scientific importance. Based on the change in swamp vegetation (this is evidenced by plant remains, buried spores and pollen), it is possible to restore the patterns of changes in natural conditions (climate, groundwater fluctuations) in a given area.

Of course, swamps are different from swamps. The vast swampy expanses of Western Siberia or the Arctic must be largely drained, and peat bogs must be developed. The situation is not so simple with the swamps of the European part of the Union. Intensive agriculture, the growth of cities and industrial enterprises, and the reduction of forest area - all this makes it necessary to conserve and rationally use ground and surface water. For this purpose, hydrological reserves are set up (for example, in Belarusian Polesie), where swamps are protected - storage tanks and water regulators. In the Ivanovo region, 20 forest swamps have been taken under protection. It is expected in the coming years to significantly increase the number of protected wetlands in our country. Swamps are an interesting object of local history research.

Raised moss bogs are the most in need of protection. They perform particularly important functions in nature: like giant sponges, they retain and regulate moisture; feed streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater, soils; serve as a shelter for many birds and animals; have large reserves of the most valuable berry - cranberries; store some rare or endangered plants, and among them are psilophytes, which have lived on earth for more than 300 million years.

But it's not only that. As practice has shown, on the site of such swamps, after draining, a good harvest is harvested for only a few years, and then the lands become waste and are subject to erosion. That is why the reclamation of swamps requires preliminary serious research and economic calculations.

The swamp is an interesting, original and, in its own way, beautiful natural object. Studying his life and history is not an easy and very exciting task, requiring good knowledge, observation, the ability to overcome difficulties and - it is very important to remember this - caution.