There are high and lowland. Types of swamps and their characteristics

Swampy areas have never inspired my confidence. There are often cases when these natural reservoirs have caused the death of people and animals. But not all of them are so dangerous, it all depends on their type.

Lowland swamps - characteristics of reservoirs

This type includes grass swamps or those swamps that feed on soil and are called hypno-grass swamps. They contain the most mineral salts. This subspecies is characterized by dense thickets of waxweeds along with willows. A mandatory attribute of lowland is a thick layer of grass, which is presented in the form of:

• sedges;
• cinquefoil;
• marigolds;
• three-leaf watch.

In addition to all the above plants, you can also find yellow iris, elderflower valerian and spurge (quite rare).

Features of raised bogs

Such reservoirs are also called oligotrophic. Unlike lowland ones, highland ones are fed not by groundwater, but by precipitation from the atmosphere. The only difference in this type of nutrition is that the swamps receive a small amount of mineral salts (since there are few of them in sediments). The formation of high water occurs when surface water stagnates in places where there is waterproof rock underneath (clay, etc.). This type is rich in peat, so it is often mined on its territory. I found information on the Internet that raised bogs are now being actively protected, since they are moisture reservoirs and home to many animals and plants.

Relationship between lowland and highland types

They are similar in that they participate in the process of peat formation. The difference is only in the size of the produced minerals. As it accumulates, more and more isolation of the reservoir from groundwater is observed. At their core, raised bogs gradually form from the lowland stage (in this regard, they are also related). More often you can observe cases of animals and people getting stuck in high swamps than in lowland ones, due to more peat (water movement is difficult in peat).

This article will discuss one of the common natural formations, which is a waterlogged area of ​​the earth's surface with a layer of peat and peculiar plant forms characteristic only of such areas, adapted to conditions with a lack of oxygen, with weak water flow and with excess moisture.

Will be presented here various types swamps with their brief characteristics.

General information

There are 3 main signs of swamps:

• Excess and stagnation of water.
• The presence of vegetation specific to swamps.
• Peat formation process.

Wetlands are commonly referred to as areas where plant roots cannot reach mineral soil.

Education

Before we find out what the main types of swamps exist, let's find out how they are formed.

For the formation of such areas, a constant excess of moisture in the soil and on its surface is necessary, as well as weak water exchange (including with groundwater). In turn, the lack of oxygen caused by excess moisture makes it difficult for air to enter the soil, resulting in insufficient decomposition (or oxidation) of the remains of dying vegetation, and peat is also formed. The latter is a soil substrate with high water content. It consists entirely of decomposed plants. Peat is different to varying degrees decomposition. For example, a decomposition rate of 70% means that 70 percent of the dead plants have decomposed, and 30 percent have not. This type of substrate has excellent water-holding capacity, so it has a fairly high water content (about 97% of the total volume).

According to the forms and conditions of nutrition, lowland (in other words, eutrophic), transitional (mesotrophic) and highland (oligotrophic) are distinguished, respectively, having concave, flat and convex surface shapes.

Lowland (eutrophic) refers to swamps located in depressions, with soil moistened by surface and groundwater, rich in mineral salts. Horses predominantly feed on sediment from the atmosphere, which is not very rich in mineral salts. Transitional swamps belong to the intermediate group.

Based on the vegetation prevailing in the area, forest, grass, shrub and moss types of swamps are distinguished. According to the microrelief - lumpy, flat, convex. Marshes are the most waterlogged areas of swamps.

Swamps of the Russian Federation

We will consider the types of swamps in Russia below. For now - general information.

The area of ​​swamps in Russia is approximately 1.4 million square meters. km (approximately 10% of the area of ​​the entire country). According to rough estimates, they contain about 3,000 cubic meters. m of static natural water reserves.

Swamps are quite complex. They consist of interconnected biotopes, which are characterized by strong moisture, the presence of peculiar moisture-loving vegetation and the accumulation of various organic residues in the form of silt or peat. Under the conditions of different Russian climates, topography, and depending on the underlying rocks, they develop different types bogs, each of which differs in the characteristics of the peat deposit, the conditions of water supply and its flow, and the characteristics of vegetation.

The following types of nutrition of Russian swamps are distinguished: lowland, upland and transitional.

About the nature of nutrition

By characterizing nutritional conditions we mean the modern surface of the swamp and the presence of that upper layer of substrate where plant roots are located. For each type of swamp, their food sources are presented just above.

Excess moisture is the main symptom of any swamp. It causes the emergence of specific species of animals and vegetation, as well as peculiar special conditions of humification, which in temperate climate usually lead to incomplete decomposition of vegetation residues and the formation of peat.

Geographical distribution of swamps in the Russian Federation

Russian swamps are common in almost all natural areas, but mainly in drainless, excessively moist depressions. The bulk of them are concentrated in central regions and on

The most wetlands in Russia are the tundra and taiga zone. The types of swamps here are very diverse. The swampiness in some areas of the tundra is 50%. Approximately 80% of all are concentrated in taiga zones. In the European part of Russia, the most swampy areas are Vologda, Leningrad region and the Republic of Karelia (approximately 40%).

Taiga Western Siberia swamped up to 70 percent. A huge number of swamps and Far East, mostly in the Amur region.

Distribution of swamps by type

The types of wetlands in Russia are geographically distributed unevenly. Horses occupy half of the total wetland area, and they predominate in the northern regions. Lowland ones make up less than half (about 40%) of the area of ​​all swamps. Very small areas are occupied by transitional type swamps (10%).

Lowland swamps are mostly fed by river or groundwater, and they are found mostly in arid areas. And these are valleys and deltas large rivers. Raised swamps are mainly fed by precipitation, and they are more often found in the taiga and tundra zones of Eurasia. The main part (84%) of peat areas is located in the Asian part of Russia.

What type of swamp predominates in the North? Lowland swamps in western Siberia occupy 42%. Most of the peat lands (about 73%) are confined to the area of ​​territories with permafrost.

Vegetation cover

The following plants predominate in lowland swamps: downy birch, willow, pine and spruce. Among the herbs, sedge is predominantly found here, and among the cereals, reed and reed grass are found. The mosses that grow mainly are green mosses.

Transitional swamps are characterized by birch and pine (in Siberia - Daurian and Siberian larches, cedar), as well as willow (slightly less common than in lowland swamps). Of the grasses, the same vegetation is widespread here as in the lowland swamps, but not in such significant quantities. Most often here you can find alpine downy grass, reed grass, bottle sedge and woolly-fruited sedge. There is also vegetation characteristic of raised bogs.

In the upland swamps one can find pine (in Siberia it is mixed with cedar) and Daurian larch. There are no shrubs here at all, but the heather group predominates in these places: cassandra, heather, wild rosemary, blueberry and cranberry. Cotton grass (a herbaceous plant) also grows here abundantly and is common in such places, forming large hummocks and sods. You can often find cloudberries and sundews. Mosses here are represented only by sphagnum.

Thus, by the nature of the peat and the vegetation cover, one can also judge (as noted above) what type of swamp it is.

In conclusion about environmental issues

For recent years More and more negative processes are emerging in connection with the excessive, destructive exploitation of swamps. First of all, this is pollution, excessive water intake from the ground and massive peat extraction. Also an important role in this was played by drainage and plowing, violation of the hydrological regime during the construction of roads, gas and oil pipelines and other structures.

Drainage of bogs often leads to peat fires, land degradation and loss of biological diversity. All work must be carried out carefully, with the obligatory preservation of most of the wetlands. It is imperative to follow the rules for maintaining ecological balance in nature.

- excessively moist areas of land with peculiar swamp vegetation and a layer of peat of at least 0.3 m, and therefore are characterized by difficult exchange of gases. Bogs typically contain 87 to 97% water and only 3-13% dry matter (peat).

With less thickness of peat or its absence, excessively moist areas are called wetlands.

Swamps are formed when water bodies become overgrown or when the area becomes waterlogged.

The main way of formation of swamps is swamping, which begins with the appearance of periodic and then constant waterlogging of soils. The climate contributes to this. Excess moisture due to excessive precipitation or weak evaporation, as well as high level groundwater, the nature of the soil is poorly permeable rocks; “permafrost”, relief - flat areas with shallow drainage or depressions with slow flow; prolonged floods on rivers, etc. Forests in conditions of excess moisture, which means anaerobic conditions and oxygen starvation, die, which contributes to greater waterlogging due to a reduction in transpiration.

On waterlogged lands, moisture-loving vegetation, adapted to the lack of oxygen and mineral nutrition, settles - moss, etc. Moss turf, which absorbs and retains moisture well, resembling a wet sponge, contributes to even greater waterlogging of the land. So in the future, it is vegetation that plays the leading role in waterlogging. In conditions of lack of oxygen, incomplete decomposition of plant residues occurs, which, accumulating, form peat. Therefore, waterlogging is almost always accompanied by peat accumulation.

Most favorable conditions exist in forests to accumulate peat temperate zone, especially Western Siberia, where within the forest-swamp zone, swampiness sometimes accounts for more than 50% of the territory, the peat thickness is 8-10 m. To the north and south of the forest zone, the thickness of the peat deposit is reduced: to the north due to a decrease in the growth of plant mass in cold climates, to south - due to more intense decomposition of plant residues in a warm climate. In hot conditions humid climate the huge increase in biomass is compensated by the intensive process of decay of dead plants, and there are few swamps, although evergreen equatorial forests over-moistened.

The structure of the peat deposits of swamps that arose in place of lakes or dry lands is different. Peatlands formed as a result of swamping of lakes have lake silt - sapropel - under a layer of peat, and when swamping land, the peat lies directly on the mineral soil.

Swamps develop in different climatic conditions, but are especially characteristic of the temperate forest zone and tundra. Their share in Polesie accounts for 28%, in Karelia - about 30%, and in Western Siberia (Vasyugan) - over 50% of the territory. Swampiness in steppe and forest-steppe zones, where there is less precipitation and evaporation increases. Total area occupied by swamps makes up about 2% of the Earth's land area.

Types of swamp

By character water nutrition and vegetation, swamps are divided into three types: lowland, upland and transitional.

Lowland marshes are formed on the site of former lakes, in river valleys and in depressions that are constantly or temporarily flooded with water. They feed mainly on groundwater rich in mineral salts. The vegetation cover is dominated by green mosses, various sedges and grasses. In older swamps, birch, alder, and willow appear. These swamps are characterized by weak peat - the thickness of the peat does not exceed 1 — 1 .5 m.

Raised bogs formed on flat watersheds, fed mainly by precipitation, vegetation is characterized by limited species composition- sphagnum mosses, cotton grass, wild rosemary, cranberry, heather, and woody ones - pine, birch, less often cedar and larch. The trees are severely depressed and stunted. Sphagnum moss grows best in the middle of the swamp; on the outskirts it is suppressed by mineralized waters. Therefore, raised bogs are somewhat convex, their middle rises 3-4 m. The peat layer reaches 6-10 m or more.

Transitional swamps, or mixed represent a transitional stage between lowland and upland. In lowland swamps, plant residues accumulate and the surface of the swamp rises. As a result, groundwater, rich in salts, ceases to nourish the swamp. Herbaceous vegetation dies off and is replaced by mosses.

Thus, lowland swamps turn into raised swamps, and the latter are then covered with bushes or meadow vegetation, turning into dry meadows. Therefore, moss or grass swamps in their pure form are rarely found in nature.

Swamps are of great economic importance. Thus, peat bogs are a source of fuel for industry. First thermal power plant in the world, operating on peat, was built in Russia in 1911 (in the city of Elektrougli).

Lowland peat - good organic fertilizer. Therefore, partially low-lying swamps are drained and turned into fertile land. But not all swamps need to be drained; some of them must be preserved so as not to disrupt the relationships that have developed in nature.

Swamps moisten the air of the area and are places where valuable species plants (cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries) and habitats of many species of animals, especially birds, are natural reservoirs of water that feed rivers.

For practical purposes, it is now common to divide swamps into three types: lowland, upland and transitional.

The lowland type includes all swamps, the vegetation of which is sufficiently provided by ash substances coming either directly from the mineral bottom of the swamp, or from ground, alluvial and deluvial waters. Raised bogs are bogs in most cases with a convex surface; their vegetation is supplied by atmospheric and sometimes groundwater, which is poor in ash substances. Transitional swamps are formations of an intermediate nature.

When identifying the type of bog, the vegetation cover (an indicator of the current stage of bog development) and the nature of the peat deposit (an indicator of the evolution of bog formation) are taken into account. Therefore, when deciding what type of bog to classify, it is necessary to simultaneously study the vegetation cover and structure of the peat deposit with a layer-by-layer characteristic of the properties of peat.

Lowland swamps are located mainly in floodplains of rivers, in flowing lowlands, in places where groundwater pinches out on slopes and terraces, in depressions when lakes are overgrown, etc. The surface of these swamps is almost always flat or even somewhat concave, superficial and groundwater flowing into the swamp, wash the entire surface and enrich the soil with lime and other minerals. Key lowland swamps located on slopes where springs emerge may also have a somewhat convex surface.

There are grass, green moss (hypnum) and forest lowland swamps.

Grassy bogs are covered with herbaceous vegetation: sedges, reeds, reed grass, reeds, cattails, horsetails, etc. Depending on the composition of the predominant peat-forming plants, the bogs are given a name (sedge, reed, horsetail-sedge, etc.). These swamps are formed in conditions of rich mineral nutrition of plants. In most cases, peat has a medium to high degree of decomposition.

Hypnum bogs are characterized by the development of hypnum mosses in the ground cover, often together with sedges and other herbaceous plants. They are formed both in conditions of highly mineralized waters (spring swamps) and when the soil is moistened with relatively soft waters (cuckoo flax swamps). In this regard, hypnum bogs differ sharply in ash content and degree of peat decomposition. In most cases, they contain little woody residues (stumps, roots and tree trunks) in the peat deposit.

Forest lowland bogs are usually represented by alder, sedge-willow and sedge-birch bogs. The first group of forest swamps is formed under conditions of rich water-salt nutrition, mainly in zones of pinching out of soil and groundwater. Other groups of the same swamps are confined mainly to the edges of transitional swamps and swampy lowlands washed by less mineralized waters. Forest bog peat has a medium or good degree of decomposition and is almost always heavily contaminated with buried woody debris.

Favorable properties and high content of some nutrients make the soils of drained lowland swamps valuable objects for agricultural use in the non-chernozem zone.

Raised bogs develop on watersheds with atmospheric feeding. They are most common in the taiga zone of the non-chernozem zone; in the forest-tundra and in the zone deciduous forests specific gravity their drops sharply.

The peat of raised bogs consists mainly of the remains of sphagnum moss, which affects all the properties and characteristics of the soils of these bogs. Remains of cotton grass, sedges, marsh shrubs, Scheuchzeria, sundews, pine and some other plants are most often found as impurities.

The upper layers of peat in raised bogs are usually weakly decomposed and turn into moss in the very surface layer. They are very poor in nutrients and have a pronounced acidic reaction. The low ash content of high-moor peat (2-4%) makes it a good fuel; comb and slightly decomposed sphagnum peat are the best bedding material for livestock.

The characteristics of raised bogs make their agricultural development difficult and less effective compared to other types of bogs.

Currently, these swamps are being developed in cases where near cities and large settlements there are no other, better lands or when they are interspersed with newly developed marshlands, consisting mainly of other, best types swamps - lowland and transitional.

Transitional swamps occupy an intermediate position between lowland and upland ones. These swamps have mixed atmospheric and soil nutrition. Sedges, green mosses, and deciduous trees (willow, birch, etc.) still grow on them, but along with this, sphagnum and its companions appear.

In transitional bogs, peat is deposited only in the surface layers of the deposit. The thickness of these deposits varies - from a few centimeters to a meter or more. The surface of such bogs is usually covered with sphagnum-moss moss of varying thickness (continuous in transitional bogs and discontinuous in complex bogs).

When bogs develop under conditions of depleted mineral nutrition, from the very beginning of their formation, the entire depth of the peat bog can be composed of transitional peats. The surface of such a peat bog is covered with sphagnum-moss moss.

In the transitional type of swamps, groups are distinguished that, in their natural properties, are closer to the lowland or upland types or occupy an intermediate position. The main criterion for this division is the degree of severity of “transition”, characterized by different thicknesses of the peat-moss layer on the surface of the bog, the structure of the peat deposit and the properties of the composing peat.

The peat of transitional bogs is deposited under conditions of depleted mineral nutrition, therefore it is characterized by lower ash content, greater poverty in nutrients and increased acidity compared to lowland peat.

Transitional swamps are widespread in the northern half of the non-chernozem zone, where, with proper agricultural technology, they are successfully involved in agricultural use.

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Based on the method of water supply, three main types of swamps are usually distinguished: lowland, transitional and raised.

Lowland marshes They are located mainly in lowlands and other depressions in the relief: along the banks of lakes, rivers and in stream valleys. Many lowland bogs have keystone origins; they are usually located on the slopes (and in the mountains, sometimes near the peaks) where groundwater or part of the surface runoff comes to the surface. The most important difference between lowland swamps is the way they are fed with water. There are two main types of nutrition for lowland swamps. The first type is pressure ground, which occurs mainly due to the release of groundwater, rich in minerals and saturated with oxygen. Such swamps are often located on slopes, in ancient floodplains or flowing depressions. Surface runoff and precipitation are often added to groundwater here. Another type of feeding of lowland swamps is stagnant waters. These are the rafting swamps on some continental and floodplain lakes.

Lowland swamp in the floodplain of the river. Dubny, Taldomsky Moskovskaya district region Photo by S. Skorodumova

Based on the nature of the vegetation among lowland swamps, they are divided into forest (black alder forests and mari with coniferous species), reed, sedge and spring.

Compared to other bogs, the flora of lowland bogs has a relatively high species diversity. Those representatives grow here flora, which are demanding in terms of nutrient content. In forest swamps - these are black and gray alder, various sedges, marsh whitewing, stinging nettle, black currant, meadowsweet, hops and others, and in spring and grass swamps - forest reeds, some types of sedges, special, specific types of hypnotic mosses , rich forbs (bitter and serrated hearts, marsh geranium, marsh myrtle, many species of our orchids). Based on the type of nutrition, lowland swamps are classified as eutrophic (from the Greek words ephto- meager, trophe- nutrition), that is, rich in nutrients. The peat in these swamps is mainly formed by dead plant roots and the remains of trunks and branches, since leaf litter on the surface of such a swamp decomposes quite quickly due to the flow regime and relative richness upper layers oxygen. The thickness of the peat layer here usually does not exceed 1 meter, although the age of the swamp can reach 9-10 thousand years.

Transitional swamps often formed when the hydrological regime of lowland swamps changes. As poorly rotted plant remains accumulate and a peat deposit forms, groundwater relatively rich in mineral nutrition elements stops flowing to the roots of bog plants. This leads to the fact that some types of plants are replaced by others, which are not so demanding in terms of the content of these nutrients. Green and then sphagnum mosses settle in, due to which peat accumulation is further enhanced. And the swamp takes on a different look. Transitional swamps, the water of which, compared to lowland ones, is relatively poor in nutrients, have their second name - mesotrophic (from the Greek words mesos- middle, trophe- nutrition).

Raised bogs are formed as a result of the progressive growth of peat deposits in lowland and transitional bogs. By appearance A raised bog differs sharply from a lowland one. Low pines, shrubs with leathery leaves and moss hummocks - you will not see this in lowland swamps. If you look at the raised bog from a great distance and somewhat from the side, it will have a somewhat convex shape. That is, in fact, it is a swamp-hill! How can water not flow from this “hill”? Water in raised bogs is held by a thick cushion of hygroscopic peat and sphagnum moss, which completely covers their entire surface. Sphagnum moss is capable of holding 100 times its weight in water. Through such a thick layer of peat, groundwater no longer penetrates to the roots of plants, and such a swamp receives all its nutrition only through atmospheric precipitation- snow and rain, and this is practically distilled water. Therefore, the type of nutrition of raised bogs is called oligotrophic (from the Greek words oligos- few, insignificant, trophe- nutrition).Sphagnum releases humic acids into swamp water, which strongly acidify it. But the plants of raised bogs (cranberry, wild rosemary, myrtle, white grass, cotton grass, etc.) over many years of evolution have adapted to live in conditions of an acidic environment and a lack of nutrients in the soil.

High bog. Sanctuary "Crane Homeland". Taldomsky district, Moscow region. Photo by I. Podgorny

Text by T. Minaeva. Based on materials from the collection “Excursions to the swamp. Materials to help teachers"