There are high and lowland. Types of bogs Lowland and raised bogs

- 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.

The most favorable conditions for peat accumulation exist in forests 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 a hot, humid climate, a 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 decreases sharply 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

Based on the nature of water supply 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 precipitation, the vegetation is characterized by a limited species composition - sphagnum mosses, cotton grass, wild rosemary, cranberries, heather, and woody ones - pine, birch, less often cedar and larch. The trees are severely depressed and stunted. Sphagnum moss grows better 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. The first thermal power plant in the world operating on peat was built in Russia in 1911 (in the city of Elektrougli).

Peat from lowland bogs is a 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 in the area, are home to valuable plant species (cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries) and habitats for many species of animals, especially birds, and are natural reservoirs of water that feed rivers.

Methods for increasing the biological productivity of agrophytocenoses.

Agrocenosis(from the Greek ἀγρός, read agros - “field”, κοινός, read koinos - “common”) - biogeocenosis created by man (artificial ecosystem). Has a certain species composition and certain relationships between components environment. Their high productivity is ensured by intensive technology for selecting high-yielding plants and fertilizers.

When creating agrocenoses a person uses a set of agrotechnical techniques: various ways soil cultivation (ploughing, harrowing, disking and others), land reclamation (with excessive soil moisture), sometimes artificial irrigation, sowing (planting) high-yielding plant varieties, fertilizing, control of weeds, pests and plant diseases.

Increasing the productivity of agrocenoses. Agroecosystems are created - planned territories in which, in addition to agrocenoses, high biological diversity is maintained through the alternation of fields, meadows, forests, copses, shelter belts, and reservoirs. Maximum adherence to environmental laws in agricultural practice is necessary.

Swamp(Also swamp, quagmire) - a piece of land (or landscape), characterized excessive moisture, increased acidity and low fertility soil, exit to the surface of standing or flowing groundwater, 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. Swamps arise in two main ways: due to waterlogging of the soil or due to overgrowing of water bodies. 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.

They occur in depressions of the relief when the land becomes swamped with hard groundwater. Under these conditions, a relatively favorable plant nutrition regime is created. In lowland swamps, quite a variety of moisture-loving vegetation develops - sedges, grasses, green mosses, and from tree species - willow, black alder, birch, etc. As the peat layer grows, its upper part is gradually separated from hard groundwater, and plant nutrition deteriorates. This leads to a change in the composition of vegetation, to the evolution of the type of swamp - lowland turns into transitional. In terms of vegetation composition, it occupies an intermediate position between lowland and upland.

Bog soils can also be formed through the overgrowing of water bodies (lakes, seedlings, etc.) and the formation of peat. This process is long and complex. In this case, the reservoir is constantly filled with mineral silt and zoophytoplankton - an organo-mineral mass is formed - sapropel. Aquatic and coastal aquatic vegetation plays an active role in the overgrowing of reservoirs - its remains fill the shallow waters; floating plants form a rather powerful dense sofa-floating structure. When reservoirs are covered with peat, the thickness of peat bogs can reach 15 m.

Structure of the marsh soil profile:
Ad (Och) + T + G.
Ad – turf of moisture-loving forbs or sphagnum moss (Och) of straw-yellow color, up to 10–15 cm thick.
T – peat horizon of brown-black or yellowish-brown color depending on the type of bog, different degrees of decomposition and different botanical composition. Can be divided into T1, T2, etc.
G – gley horizon of bluish-gray color.
Depending on the thickness of the peat layer, they are divided into peat-gley (peat thickness up to 30 cm), peat-gley (up to 50 cm), shallow peat (up to 100 cm), medium (100–200 cm) deep (>200 cm) peat

As can be seen from Table 1, bog soils are closely dependent on the type of bog. Thus, the soils of a lowland swamp are characterized by a slightly acidic or close to neutral reaction, contain significant amounts of nitrogen, and are high in ash. The peat of raised bogs is highly acidic, with a low ash content, but has a high moisture capacity. Transitional bogs occupy an intermediate position in their properties between the soils of highland and lowland bogs.

Swamp soils are a valuable land fund. After drainage, technical and agrochemical measures can be transformed into highly productive land - arable land, hayfields, pastures. They need phosphorus, potassium and copper-containing fertilizers. In the first years of development of bog soils, it is necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizers.

In terms of potential, peat-bog high soils are significantly inferior to lowland peat-bog soils. IN agriculture can be used only after radical reclamation - drainage, liming, application of a full range of mineral fertilizers and biological active substances. High-moor peat is widely used as bedding material in livestock buildings. Growing large-fruited cranberries in high bogs is promising.

Lowland peat is a valuable raw material for cooking organic fertilizers– peat manure composts. The peat of these bogs, mixed with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, is a good reclamation agent for sod-podzolic sandy soils: it increases their moisture capacity, absorption capacity, and reduces water permeability.

In ecological terms, swamps in their natural state represent a complex natural complex (ecosystem) with a specific bank of biodiversity of flora and fauna. They are reservoirs of moisture and often affect the water regime large territories. Swamps are reserves of organic matter – a carrier of potential soil fertility.

Drainage of swamps for the purpose of their intensive use in agriculture causes fundamental changes in almost all components of this natural complex. First of all, its water-air and thermal properties, composition and structure of the biocenosis change. The processes that occur after drainage and lead to a decrease in the thickness of the peat deposit are called peat depletion. It is associated with mineralization and deflation of peat. The average yield of peat from drained soils in the conditions of Belarus can annually reach several centimeters of its thickness. Mineralization occurs especially vigorously when row crops are cultivated on peat soils. When using drained peat-boggy lowland soils for agricultural purposes, it is recommended to occupy peat bogs with a peat thickness of less than 1 m only for sowing perennial grasses. It is advisable to use other variants of peat soils in a system of grain-grass crop rotations, in the structure of the sown area of ​​which perennial grasses should occupy at least 50%.

Preventing possible undesirable impacts of drainage on nature is one of the most important environmental tasks. Therefore, an integral part of any land reclamation project is the “Nature Conservation” section.

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

TO lowland type include 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 swamps 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, surface 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 their share falls 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 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 developed in cases where there are no other, better lands near cities and large settlements or when they are interspersed with newly developed swamp masses, consisting mainly of other, best types swamps - lowland and transitional.

Transitional swamps occupy an intermediate position between lowland and highland ones. These swamps have mixed atmospheric and soil nutrition. Sedges, green mosses, deciduous tree species(willow, birch, etc.), 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 varying thickness 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, and therefore 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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