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The West Siberian Plain is a large plain
Plain

In geography, a plain is an area of landscape with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or...
 that occupies the western portion of Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
 and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, between the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. They are usually considered as the natural boundary between Europe and Asia....
 in the west and the Yenisei River
Yenisei River

Yenisei is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at 5,539 km is the List of rivers by length. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider....
 in the east, and by the Eastern Sayan Mountains
Sayan Mountains

The Sayan Mountains are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia.The Eastern Sayan extends 1000 km from the Yenisey River at 92? E to the southwest end of Lake Baikal at 106? E....
 and the Baikal Mountains
Baikal Mountains

The Baikal Mountains or Baikal Range rise steeply over the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, Russia. The Central Siberian Plateau is bounded on the south by the Eastern Sayan Mountains and the Baikal Mountains....
 on the south. It has been described as the world's largest unbroken lowland
Lowland

In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or to any region in contrast to a highland ....
—more than 50 percent is less than 330 feet (101 m) above sea level—and covers an area of about 2.6–2.7 million km˛ which is about one third of Siberia, extending from north to south for 2,400 km, from the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 to the foothills of the Altay Mountains
Altay Mountains

File:2006-07_altaj_belucha.jpgThe Altai Mountains are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh, Ob River and Yenisei have their sources....
, and from west to east for 1,900 km from the Yenisei River
Yenisei River

Yenisei is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at 5,539 km is the List of rivers by length. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider....
 to the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. They are usually considered as the natural boundary between Europe and Asia....
.

The plain has eight distinct vegetation regions: tundra
Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
, forest-tundra, northern taiga
Taiga

Taiga is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway and Russia , as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States , northern Kazakhstan and Japan , the taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome....
, middle taiga, southern taiga, sub-taiga forest, forest-steppe, and steppe
Steppe

In physical geography, a steppe , pronounced , is a grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with Poaceae or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude....
.






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Siberian Plain
The West Siberian Plain is a large plain
Plain

In geography, a plain is an area of landscape with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or...
 that occupies the western portion of Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
 and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, between the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. They are usually considered as the natural boundary between Europe and Asia....
 in the west and the Yenisei River
Yenisei River

Yenisei is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at 5,539 km is the List of rivers by length. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider....
 in the east, and by the Eastern Sayan Mountains
Sayan Mountains

The Sayan Mountains are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia.The Eastern Sayan extends 1000 km from the Yenisey River at 92? E to the southwest end of Lake Baikal at 106? E....
 and the Baikal Mountains
Baikal Mountains

The Baikal Mountains or Baikal Range rise steeply over the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, Russia. The Central Siberian Plateau is bounded on the south by the Eastern Sayan Mountains and the Baikal Mountains....
 on the south. It has been described as the world's largest unbroken lowland
Lowland

In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or to any region in contrast to a highland ....
—more than 50 percent is less than 330 feet (101 m) above sea level—and covers an area of about 2.6–2.7 million km˛ which is about one third of Siberia, extending from north to south for 2,400 km, from the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 to the foothills of the Altay Mountains
Altay Mountains

File:2006-07_altaj_belucha.jpgThe Altai Mountains are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh, Ob River and Yenisei have their sources....
, and from west to east for 1,900 km from the Yenisei River
Yenisei River

Yenisei is the greatest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean, and at 5,539 km is the List of rivers by length. Rising in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course to the Yenisei Gulf in the Kara Sea, draining a large part of central Siberia, the longest stream following the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga-Ider....
 to the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. They are usually considered as the natural boundary between Europe and Asia....
.

The plain has eight distinct vegetation regions: tundra
Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is an biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tund?r, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra....
, forest-tundra, northern taiga
Taiga

Taiga is a biome characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, inland Norway and Russia , as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States , northern Kazakhstan and Japan , the taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome....
, middle taiga, southern taiga, sub-taiga forest, forest-steppe, and steppe
Steppe

In physical geography, a steppe , pronounced , is a grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with Poaceae or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude....
. The number of animal species in the West Siberian Plain ranges from at least 107 in the tundra to 278 or more in the forest-steppe region.

Winters on the West Siberian Plain are harsh and long. The climate of most of the plains is either subarctic or continental. Two of the larger cities on the plain are Surgut
Surgut

Surgut is a types of settlements in Russia in Russia, the largest in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and second largest in Tyumen Oblast. Its population according to the Russian Census was 285,027 ....
 and Nizhnevartovsk
Nizhnevartovsk

Nizhnevartovsk is the second largest types of settlements in Russia in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located along the right bank of the Ob River....
.

Geology

The West Siberian Plain consists mostly of Cenozoic
Cenozoic

The Cenozoic Era...
 alluvial deposits and is extraordinarily flat. A rise of fifty metres in sea level
Sea level

Mean sea level is the average height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level , however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult....
 would cause all land between the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 and Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk is Russia's third-largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast....
 to be inundated (see also Turgai Straits, West Siberian Glacial Lake
West Siberian Glacial Lake

The West Siberian Glacial Lake, also known as West Siberian Lake, or Mansiyskoe Lake , was a periglacial lake formed when the Arctic Ocean outlets for each of the Ob River and Yenisei River rivers were blocked by the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet during the Weichselian Glaciation, approximately 80,000 years ago....
). Many of the deposits on this plain result from ice dams; having reversed the flow of the Ob
Ob River

Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia, it is the country's fourth longest....
 and Yenisei Rivers, redirecting them into the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the List of lakes by area or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers ....
, and perhaps the Aral Sea
Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is a landlocked endorheic basin in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south....
 as well. It is very swamp
Swamp

A swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land, by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammock , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation....
y and soils are mostly peat
Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation biological tissue. Peat forms in wetlands or peatlands, variously called bogs, Moorland, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests....
y Histosol
Histosol

In both the FAO soil classification and the USA soil taxonomy, a histosol is a soil comprised primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material in the upper ....
s and, in the treeless northern part, Histels.

It is one of the world's largest areas of peatlands, which are characterized by raised bog
Bog

A bog or mire is a wetland type that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—usually mosses, but also lichens in Arctic climates....
s. It is believed that the world’s largest single raised bog is at Vasuganskoe, covering approximately 51,600 km˛.

In the south of the plain, where permafrost
Permafrost

In geology, permafrost or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of the ground material....
 is largely absent, rich grassland
Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found....
s that are an extension of the Kazakh Steppe
Kazakh Steppe

The Kazakh Steppe or Kirghiz Steppe, is a vast region of open grassland in northern Kazakhstan and adjacent portions of Russia, extending to the east of the Pontic steppe and to the west of the Emin Valley steppe, with which it forms part of the Eurasian steppe....
 formed the original vegetation (almost all cleared now).

Large regions of the plains are flooded in the spring, and marshlands make much of the area unsuitable for agriculture. The principal rivers in the West Siberian Plain are the Ob, Irtysh
Irtysh

Irtysh a river in Siberia, the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. It is actually longer than the Ob to their confluence....
, and Yenisei. There are many lakes and swamps, as well as large petroleum
Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
 and natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
 reserves. Most of the Russia's oil and gas production was extracted from this area during the 1970s and 80s.

See also

  • East European Plain
    East European Plain

    The East European Plain is a plain comprising a series of drainage basin in Eastern Europe. Together with the Northern European Plain it constitutes the European Plain....
    , the other major plain of Russia
  • Eurasian steppe
    Eurasian Steppe

    The Eurasian Steppe is the term often used to describe the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia stretching from the western borders of the steppes of Hungary#Geography to the eastern border of the steppes of Mongolia#Geography and climate, for roughly 5000 km....


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