Far North. Natural conditions. Flora and fauna

The Far North is the marginal northern part of the territory of the former USSR, which is mainly located in the Arctic. In a number of remote areas, benefits are granted that are established for cooperative, state and public companies in this region.

Natural conditions of the Far North

The land area is about 2.2 million square kilometers.

Key Features:
- the radiation balance is low;
- the average temperature in the summer months is close to 0 Β° C (given that the average annual temperature is negative);
- permafrost and glaciers with a capacity of up to 500 meters are widespread;
- there is a small layer of seasonal thawing (not more than seventy centimeters).

The extreme north of Russia includes the following zones: forest-tundra, tundra, part of the taiga and arctic deserts. Within the land, with the exception of small rivers, there are estuarine sections of fairly large rivers - the Ob, Pyasiny, Pechora, Yenisei, Lena, Khatanga, Indigirka, Anabara, Yana and Kolyma. Almost all of them in their lower reaches flow in wide valleys. Khatanga, Yenisei and Ob at the mouths form vast bays - β€œlips”. Rivers have a devastating effect on permafrost. They push it away from the valley and gradually destroy it with their channel. In addition, they have a mitigating effect on the climate of the surrounding territories. The effects of river water are found in the seas at a distance of two to three hundred kilometers from the mouth, affecting the ice and hydrological regime of the seas. For nine to ten months of the year, the rivers freeze, some to the bottom. They melt on the mainland in May-June, and in October they freeze. On the islands in July - September.

A large number of lakes are located within the territories of the continental tundra and on some islands. Most of the year they are under the ice. The largest lake in the Far North is Taimyr. Located on the peninsula of the same name. The Far North is distinguished by developed Arctic soils, which have a close to neutral or slightly acidic reaction. Recovery processes (or gleying) are absent. Tundra soils prevail in the tundra zone. The surface of the continent of the Far North forms the lowlands of the West Siberian and East European plains: the Kolyma, Yano-Indigir and North Siberian lowlands. In some areas there are mountains. The highest and most significant of them are the northern part of the Verkhoyansk ridge, the Byrranga mountains near Lake Taimyr and the mountains of the Chukchi Peninsula. Complexes of the Paleozoic, Precambrian, and Mesozoic-Cenozoic deposits, as well as the formation of a magmatic type of various composition, take part in the structure of the continent, islands, and the adjacent shelf.

Plants and animals of the Far North

The Far North is characterized by a diverse flora and fauna. However, most representatives belong to the inhabitants of sea waters. Small forms are plankton, which serves as nutrition for larger organisms.

Plants of the Far North: spruce, birch, alder, mountain ash, dwarf birch, willow; blueberries, cloudberries, lingonberries, blueberries, princes, shiksha; about 55 species of mushrooms; swimsuits, yellow buttercups, coltsfoot, dandelions, forget-me-nots, violet castile, gentian dark blue, cotton grass, cyanosis; more than a hundred species of lichens.

What animals inhabit the High North? These are reindeer, wolf, hares, arctic fox, wolverine, elk, marten, brown bear, ferret, lemmings; geese, gulls, ducks, snipe, waders, turukhan, loons, fifi, whooper, small swan, osprey, red-throated loon, white-tailed eagle, gray crane, garlic nerd, peregrine falcon, golden eagle, hollow, gyrfalcon; plankton, worms, crustaceans, mollusks, fish (the most common is the cod), walruses.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/F16195/


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