- 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 abundance of precipitation or weak evaporation, as well as high groundwater levels, the nature of the soil - 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.

Moisture-loving vegetation, adapted to the lack of oxygen and mineral nutrition, settles on waterlogged lands - 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 the accumulation of peat exist in the forests of the 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 decreases: to the north due to a decrease in the growth of plant mass in cold climates, to the south - due to more intensive decomposition of plant residues in warm climates. In a hot, humid climate, the huge increase in biomass is compensated by the intensive process of decay of dead plants, and there are few swamps, although the evergreen equatorial forests are waterlogged.

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 various 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. The total area occupied by swamps is 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 are formed on flat watersheds, feed mainly on precipitation, the vegetation is characterized by a 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. 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.

This article will consider 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.

Here various types of swamps will be presented 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 required, 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 differs in varying degrees of 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, different types of bogs develop, each of which differs in the characteristics of the peat deposit, the conditions of water supply and its runoff, 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 unique special humification conditions, which in temperate climates 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 zones, but mainly in drainless, excessively moist depressions. Most of them are concentrated in the 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 the Vologda, Leningrad regions and the Republic of Karelia (approximately 40%).

The taiga of Western Siberia is swamped up to 70 percent. There are a huge number of swamps in the 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 the valleys and deltas of 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 areas 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

In recent years, more and more negative processes have emerged 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.

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° N 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 just 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.

Have you ever wondered about the answer to the question of what a swamp is? Or, perhaps, you were curious to find out in more detail about the nature of its occurrence and its main features? If yes, I note that you are far from the only ones who are so inquisitive.

For example, since childhood I wanted to understand why people associate so many secrets and legends with this area, what is so unusual about it and what plants and animals inhabit it.

Section 1. General definition of the concept

A swamp is a fairly complex natural formation, which is an area of ​​varying area in which a huge amount of moisture is constantly concentrated, both low-flow and stagnant. It should also be noted that although the swamp ecosystem is in most cases stable and perfectly balanced, it is also fraught with many mysteries. For example, many do not know that a given body of water, such as a typhoon, is characterized by the presence of a so-called eye, which is a small absolutely clean lake.

Most swamps on our planet are located in the tropical and subtropical zones. It is difficult to imagine that their total area is millions of hectares.

Of course, every schoolchild will immediately answer that the area around South America is considered the most swampy. However, Russia can boast of having the largest reservoir of this type in the world - Lake Vasyugan can be seen in Western Siberia.

Section 2. What is a swamp and how is it formed?

At first glance, it may seem that all the current swamps were once lakes, but this is not entirely true. How then can we explain the fact of their emergence on land?

Let's imagine a small area that has been damaged by a forest fire. For greater clarity, let’s mentally draw before our eyes the black remains of trees, branches, ash and burnt stumps firmly seated in the soil.

Nature will try to heal its wounds at all costs, which means that some time will pass, and the first plants to appear in such a forest, for example, moss, called cuckoo flax in nature. Due to the lack of foliage on the branches, lower vegetation will receive more moisture. Gradually, the speed of its growth will gain more and more momentum. If the rampant growth continues for a long enough period of time, it will eventually change the character of the soil itself, making it wetter.

There is another way. According to experts, if for some reason a low-permeability layer is formed underground at a not too great depth, it will certainly retain moisture in the upper layers, as a result of which gradually appear which, as in the first case, will change the nature of the soil, turning it into swampy .

Section 3. What is a swamp, its flora and fauna

As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter exactly how this or that swamp was formed, in any case it will gradually grow.

Undoubtedly, at first these changes will be barely noticeable, but several years, or even decades, will pass, and the peat layer will strengthen. Let's put it this way: in about 1000 years, in place of the burnt forest, it will already be ten or even twelve meters high.

Trees will appear here. Wetlands are characterized by the presence of birch, pine, spruce or alder trees. If the humidity is high enough, then all plants, as a rule, take on an unusual shape.

Most of the inhabitants of these territories, say, insects and amphibians, are quite small or very tiny, but there are also large representatives.

If we talk about the entire territory of the planet as a whole, then it is in the swamps that predators such as pythons or alligators live; crocodiles hunting smaller prey are also frequent guests. Of the herbivores, one cannot fail to mention nutria, tapirs, muskrats and beavers. Unfortunately, drainage of swamps leads to a significant reduction in their numbers.

Large ungulates also adapt to this semi-aquatic lifestyle. Nature made sure that the hooves of, for example, Asian buffaloes were widened. This significantly increases the area of ​​support, and heavy animals, although they can wander through the swamp, plunging up to their chests, will never get completely bogged down.

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.).

Swamp formation

swampy lake

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 causes, 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 (CaCO 3) 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.

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

Peat bogs serve as a source of finds for paleobiology and archeology - well-preserved remains of plants, pollen, seeds, and the 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

Vegetation

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

Related terms

Illustrations

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

• Cowberry
• Cranberry grows in raised and transitional bogs.
• Cloudberry, grows in peat bogs.
• Sundew, due to a lack of minerals in the soil, is engaged in passive insect catching.
• Swamp cypress, common in North America and acclimatized in the Danube Delta.

Protection of swamps, specially protected natural areas (SPNA)

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

Botanical natural monuments

• The Big Tavatuy swamp, Malinovskoye, Kukushkinskoye are located next to Lake Tavatuy.
• 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).

The 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.

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 marsh 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 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...” and others (cycle “Bubbles of the Earth” ,1904-05)

See also

• World Wetlands Day (2 February)

Notes

1. Blinova K. F. et al. Botanical-pharmacognostic dictionary: Reference. allowance / Ed. K. F. Blinova, G. P. Yakovleva. - M.: Higher. school, 1990. - P. 33. - ISBN 5-06-000085-0
2. Vyacheslav Shtepa. What secrets do the swamps hide? (Russian) . Ufolog.ru - Educational magazine about the unknown and unusual. Ufolog.ru(July 11, 2008). Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
3. Miracles in the swamp
4. Definition: balta | DEX online
5. Vasmer's Dictionary
6. Innovation for business. The use of peat in feeding pigs
7. Geographical encyclopedic dictionary / Ch. editor A.F. Treshnikov. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1988. - 432 p. - 100,000 copies.
8. Four-language encyclopedic dictionary of terms in physical geography / Compiled by I.S. Shchukin. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1980. - 703 p. - 55,000 copies.
9. "Swamp as an ecosystem"
10. Kats N.Ya.
11. http://www.wetlands.ru/
12. International World Conservation Group
13. Shlionskaya Irina_Encyclopedia of evil spirits. - Geleos Publishing House, 2006. - 320 pp. Circulation 5000 ISBN 5-8189-0527-6, ISBN 978-5-8189-0527-3 pp.
14. Horrors of the Swamps @ National Geographic - Russia
15. Bog bodies of northern Europe "Myrta Reading Room
16. Gazeta 2.0 - The largest swamp on the globe
17. 7dnei.com
18. The Great Vasyugan Swamp - natural attractions of Russia
19. Great Vasyugan swamp
20. Wonders of Russia: Vasyugan swamp
21. Tolstoy N.I., Agapkina T.A. Slavic antiquities: ethnolinguistic dictionary. In 5 volumes (T.1). - International Relations, 1995. - 577 p., ISBN 5-7133-0703-4, ISBN 978-5-7133-0703-5 p.
22. Min-min lights
23. Grushko Elena_Dictionary of Russian superstitions, spells, signs and beliefs. - Russian merchant, 1996. - 559 c ISBN 5-88204-047-7, ISBN 978-5-88204-047-4 p.

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