Features of the Far Eastern swamps are entertaining and interesting questions. Swamps: interesting facts
An excessively moist area of the earth's surface, characterized by peculiar vegetation [peat moss, sundew, sedge, cotton grass].
Swamp - Hippo Trap.
In the mythology of many cultures, a swamp is associated with a bad, disastrous, unclean place.
According to East Slavic mythology, a swamp 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 Slavic mythology, swamp kikimoras live in swamps. They lure travelers into the quagmire by loudly calling for help. Sometimes people are led into the swamp by lesavki - the children of kikimora and goblin. In Slavic mythology, a swamp has its own guardian spirit, the owner is the bog dweller. He looks like a gray-haired old man with a wide, yellowish face. It is he who scares those walking through the swamp with sharp sounds, sighs, and loud smacking. It is he who lures the self-confident and careless into the quagmire and, on the contrary, shows a safe path to those who respect nature.
In Finno-Ugric mythology, the swamp gives unprecedented strength to its inhabitant, the giant Yar Mort.
In Celtic mythology, swamps were the “gates of spirits” - in the place where the seemingly solid soil instantly disappears from under your feet, the gates open to the world of mysterious nature spirits and deities. The Celts brought sacrificial gifts in the swamps.
The Khanty and Mansi believed that the whole world was born from “liquid earth,” that is, from a swamp.
The Egyptian goddess Isis hid her son there, the god Horus.
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.
Interesting facts about the swamp.
The largest swamp in the world is the Russian Great Vasyugan Swamp. Its area is 53-55 thousand square meters. km.
According to legend, Ivan Osipovich Susanin, one of the Russian national heroes, was hired by a detachment of Polish interventionists in the winter of 1612-1613 as a guide. Saving Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, Susanin led the Poles into a swampy forest, where he was brutally tortured by them for refusing to show the right path.
Russian proverb: Every sandpiper praises its swamp.
The Bottom of the Swamp is a train station from the anime Spirited Away.
Saransk translated from Erzya-Moksha “sara”, “sarana” means swamp, swamp, bog - and in fact, on the site of Saransk, vast areas were occupied by low-lying swamps and impassable bogs.
Swamp- The abode of the sandpiper.
Swamp- Natural peat factory.
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Reserve...Silence...Stop somewhere on the edge and listen to the endless noise of the trees, like the surf. What are they making noise about? Maybe they are telling a wonderful story - a legend about how this rare, miracle-like corner of nature was created through the care and labor of man?
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Quiz “Reserve Kaleidoscope” on the geography of Russia.
Reserve...Silence...Stop somewhere on the edge and listen to the endless noise of the trees, like the surf. What are they making noise about? Maybe they are telling a wonderful story - a legend about how this rare, miracle-like corner of nature was created through the care and labor of man?
- Find out the description of the Russian Federation reserve, and also answer additional questions.
- On which peninsula is this reserve located?
- Name the highest active volcano in Eurasia.
- What do you know about its volcanoes and the pearl of the reserve – the Valley of Geysers?
- What natural natural phenomena significantly changed its outline?
The unique nature of this reserve, one of the largest in our country (more than 1 million hectares), is a chain of extinct or fading volcanoes, often cone-shaped, in places heavily destroyed,rising from igneous rocks. It can be called a reserve of volcanoes and geysers, thermal lakes and hot springs, although it was first created as a reserve at the request of local hunters who were engaged in sable fishing here.
- Determine which reserve we are talking about.
- Name the subject of the Russian Federation in which the reserve is located (this region is called the fishing capital of Russia).
- Name the sea and river in whose delta this amazing place is located.
- What unique and rare plants of the reserve are shown in the photographs?
This is a wonderful sea. Separated from the ocean, it lives its own special life, sensitively responding to climate fluctuations, river flow, centuries-old land movements... Its level changes constantly and very noticeably.
The great Russian river flows into this sea. Its delta is an amazing world of dense thickets of reeds and cattails twice as tall as a man, small islands, many of which float on the surface of the water, and an endless water labyrinth that serves as a refuge for swans, mallards and ducks. This is a real kingdom of birds. Here you can see colonies of herons, cormorants, and admire pelicans.
In the river delta you can see a phenomenon unique to Russia - the flowering of plants that are considered sacred in India and an interesting and rare waterfowl that forms edible nuts.
Since 1975, the entire territory of the reserve has been classified as wetlands of international importance.
- Answer the additional questions and guess which reserve we are talking about:
- What kind of lake is this?
- Is there a connection between the depth of the lake and the hot springs on its shores?
- How to explain a local saying?
- Name two subjects of the Russian Federation in which the lake is located.
- From the name of which river did the ridge and the beast get their names? What are the names of the ridge and the beast?
This is the deepest lake in the world. It is surrounded by high mountains with rich deposits of iron, manganese, graphite, marble, mica, refractory clays and colored precious stones. The clear fresh waters of the lake are very cold, but there are many hot springs along its shores.
Along with freshwater fauna, it is also inhabited by marine animals such as seal (nerpa), omul, sponges...
Local residents have this saying about the lake:“No matter how much wealth his sons bring him, the old man’s daughter ruins him.”There are several nature reserves along the shores of the lake. One of them was founded in 1916 to preserve a valuable animal living in the ridge area on the eastern shore. The ridge and the species of animal received their name from the river that flows into the lake. Almost everywhere the mountainous shores are covered with coniferous forests.
- Here is a map of the reserve, created in 1920.
- Which one? What do you know about him?
- In the area of which river and mountains is the reserve located?
- What storyteller wrote about these places: “Of course, you won’t find a place in all the land opposite our stone storage room. There’s nothing to argue about here, because it’s said in all languages that in our mountains there are stones from all over the world”?
- Using a linear scale, determine the distance of the reserve boundary from Lake Mal. Miassovo to Lake Bol.Kisegach. Write the scale in named and numerical forms.
- Identify the geographical object described by Alexander Chakovsky and the nature reserves that currently exist on its territory: one of which is famous for its volcanoes.
On the territory of another there is a large bird market.
This place is shaped like a sterlet. In the recent past, it was a place of hard labor, dotted with prisons and settlements of exiled settlers. The tsarist government believed that this harsh region was unsuitable for other purposes.
“...When you see our land for the first time from board a ship, you may be frightened by its harsh appearance... Do not be afraid of the harsh land, it is only like that in appearance... You can extract millions of tons of oil here, load tens of thousands of trains with coal. You will put magnificent Far Eastern fish on the shelves of a Tambov or Penza store.
You will see whales, giant crabs, flattened flounder, sea lions, octopuses and much more that you have never seen... You will cut into ever-green forests, wade through bamboo thickets, storm mountains. And, most importantly, the consciousness will live in your heart that here is an outpost of the Soviet power, that under your feet is the edge of your native land, and ahead is only the ocean, separating your homeland from distant foreign shores.”
- What region did the famous Przhevalsky write about?
- Which reserve is this legend about?“The Lord God walked through our land, and he had bags full of seeds. In one place, in the north, he sowed larch, further south he sowed oaks, and so on. He walked, walked everywhere, and in the end only the Far East remained. He came there, but there were no more seeds. And then he collected the remains from all the bags and threw them away. Since then, all kinds of plants have been growing in the Far East.”
- On the spurs of which ridge and in which subject of the Russian Federation is the reserve located?
- Between which cities?
- Whose name does the reserve bear? →
“It’s somehow strange for an unaccustomed eye to see such a mixture of forms of north and south, which collide here both in the plant and animal world. Particularly striking is the sight of a spruce entwined with grapes, or a cork tree and a walnut growing next to cedar and fir. And the solemn grandeur of these forests is not disturbed by the presence of man;unless a trapper wanders through them or a nomadic savage pitches his yurt, but the more likely he will complement rather than disrupt the picture of wild, virgin nature. Tiger and reindeer, wild boar and arctic fox, sable and bear are common inhabitants of the local forests.”
- What protected forest are we talking about?
- In what nature reserve is it located?
- Between which areas?
- What plants and animals are found in this forest?
Peter 1 called this forest “the golden bush of the Russian state” and exclaimed: “This place is red!”
This forest was the main supplier of wood for the construction of ships.
In 1932, an experimental farm for breeding beavers in captivity was created here for the first time in the world.
Who lives in the forest?
What grows in the forest?
8. Look at the emblems of Russian nature reserves and try to answer the questions:
- Year of creation of the reserve
- Geographical location of the reserve
- Protected natural landscapes
- Crossword: Most...Most...Most
Horizontal: 3. The oldest reserve on the northeastern shore of the magnificent Lake Baikal.
5. The westernmost reserve is located in Karelia. The northern taiga pine and spruce forests rustle here, reindeer, brown bears, wolves, foxes and wolverines roam. There are many clear lakes in the reserve.
6. The northernmost one is also the easternmost one. This is a small island on the border of the East Siberian and Chukchi seas. The shining ice never leaves the surface of the island, and even in summer it sometimes snows here.
Vertical: 1 . The southernmost reserve. Here is the amazing Sarykum dune - a giant sand hill whose height reaches 262 meters!
2. The largest nature reserve in Russia (and even throughout Eurasia). Charming lemmings live here, and various birds nest here - waders and brant geese, for the purpose of preserving which this reserve was created.
4. The youngest reserve. A virgin forest has been preserved here, where majestic trees with dark needles stand proudly. Once such trees covered the entire center of Russia.
7. C The smallest nature reserve in Russia. Its territory is a little more than 21 kilometers. It is located in the Belgorod region.
- .In the south of the Far East of the Russian Federation there is a corner of nature of rare beauty. Here the taiga meets the ocean, and cold waters meet tropical ones. Wild grapes entwining spruce trees, or a tiger wandering through the snow - these images, associated with the region and vividly illustrating its unusualness, have become widely known thanks to literature and cinema.
A famous local poet and musician figuratively called this region “a pocket of the country,” meaning, most likely, its location and shape. Thanks to its geographical location, it stands out for the exceptional richness of its wildlife.
In this amazing place, the only real marine reserve in our country is located, over 98% of its area is occupied by water areas.
- Name the subject of the Russian Federation in which the reserve is located
- What kind of nature reserve is this?
- In which bay and in which sea is it located?
- Which cities does it share the same latitude with?
- What is grown in the bays of the reserve?
- The history of the creation of the reserve is closely connected with the name of the outstanding Russian geographer, the son of the famous traveler, who proposed at the beginning of the 20th century. create a “uremny park” here. "Urema" is a special, difficult-to-pass floodplain forest.In 1902, in the book “Russia. A complete geographical description of our fatherland. A reference and travel book for Russian people. Volume 2" he wrote:“The deciduous forests along the river are very well preserved, consisting mainly of oak, aspen, willow, birch, maple, black maple, and ash. All this urema, in its best places, has preserved its primitive, almost virgin beauty to this day, despite the fact that very populated villages are located along the river along its tributaries.”With this poetic recording of the famous Russian scientist and traveler, the long history of the creation of the state nature reserve actually began.
- What is the name of this reserve?
- Who is this outstanding Russian geographer? →
- In which region and on the territory of which two administrative districts is the reserve located?
- On what plain and in what river valley?
- Name the large lakes that are located on the territory of the reserve. What are they famous for?
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Answers to the quiz “Reserve Kaleidoscope” on the geography of Russia.
- Kronotsky Biosphere Reserve. Located in Kamchatka.
Kamchatka is a place unique not only for Russia. It is on this peninsula that the highest active volcano in Eurasia, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, is located. Its height is about 4750 m above sea level. Nearby, there are another twenty-nine active and about three hundred extinct volcanoes. Many are unique. For example, on the ridge of the elongated Maly Semyachik volcano there are three craters. In one of them there is a lake with opaque bluish-green water, which in its properties resembles a solution of sulfuric and hydrochloric acid.
The underground heat of the hot bowels of the Earth comes relatively close to the surface in the Kamchatka region. Hence the smoking peaks of volcanoes, hot thermal springs, geysers bursting with boiling water, and pieces of pumice scattered everywhere.
The reserve was created in 1934. Its most famous part is the famous Valley of Geysers, which contained hot baths, mud pots and more than twenty working geysers. The valley was opened in April 1941. Then hydrologist Tatyana Ustinova and guide Anisifor Krupenin climbed up the tributary of the Shumnaya River. When they settled down to rest on an almost flat rocky area, suddenly a fountain of steam shot upward from its center. This is how the first geyser of the valley was discovered. He was called "Firstborn".
The Valley of Geysers is a rather fragile creation of nature and itself from time to time endures the blows of the elements.
In October 1981, she experienced the consequences of Typhoon Elsa, as a result of which the water level in the Geysernaya River rose by several meters. Some springs and geysers were damaged. At the beginning of June 2007, a landslide descended into the valley, significantly changing its outline.
- In the southwest of Russia, in the Astrakhan region, there is a huge Volga delta, carrying its waters to the Caspian Sea.
In 1919, these places were taken under protection, and the Astrakhan Nature Reserve was created. This is the only way to preserve many rare species of plants, birds and fish.
In the Volga delta you can admire the blooming of Indian lotuses. It is no coincidence that the Hindus say: “Lotus flowers are a ship on which a drowning person in the ocean of life can find salvation.”
Another rare plant that is found in the Volga delta is the chilim water chestnut. It is the only aquatic plant that produces edible nuts. Their size is usually small - no more than 1-2cm. Chilim nuts taste like unripe hazel fruits. They look like horns, and therefore in Russia chilim is called rogulnik or “devil's nut”. In Russia, this plant is considered endangered.
- Barguzinsky Nature Reserve, which is located on the northeastern coast of Lake Baikal and the western slopes of the Barguzinsky ridge. It was created to protect the nature of the western slope of the Barguzinsky ridge, as well as to preserve the valuable Barguzin sable. The ridge and the animal got their name from the Barguzin River, which flows into Lake Baikal.
The lake was formed at the site of a deep tectonic depression associated with mountain building. Hot springs are evidence of fading volcanic activity.
336 rivers and streams flow into Baikal, and only one with a very fast flow flows out of it - the river. Angara.
The lake is located on the territory of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region.
- In the area of the Miass River and the Ilmen Mountains in the Urals, the oldest complex complex in the country, Ilmensky, is located. The Ural storyteller Bazhov wrote: “Of course, you won’t find a place in all the land opposite our Ilmen stone storehouse. There’s nothing to argue about here, because it’s said in all languages that in the Ilmen Mountains there are stones from all over the world”?
The Ilmensky Reserve is often called a “mineralogical paradise,” which is not surprising, because there are a huge amount of minerals here, and some local rocks are more than 2 billion years old. In total, scientists discovered over 270 different minerals and more than 70 rocks on the territory of Ilmen. Some of them are unique and discovered only in recent years. For example, black star corundum was found here - one of the rarest gemstones in the world, previously found only in Sri Lanka and Thailand
Not only are the numerous minerals magnificent in Ilmeny, but also the natural landscapes, which is not surprising, since the reserve is located at the very junction of the taiga and steppe zones. This fact is the main reason for the diversity of flora and fauna in these areas. Here you can see coniferous forests, steppes and sphagnum bogs, numerous shrubs and mountain meadows, as well as a huge amount of lichens. There are more than 20 endemic species here, for example, only here the “slipper orchid”, listed in the Red Book, grows. Almost all the animals traditional for Russian forests are found in the Ilmensky Nature Reserve - elk, roe deer, foxes, wolves and lynxes, badgers, squirrels, chipmunks and hares. There is also a rare species - the flying squirrel, a small nocturnal animal.
- This is Sakhalin Island. Currently, in the Sakhalin region there are two nature reserves, Kurilsky and Poronaisky.
The Kurilsky State Nature Reserve is famous for its volcanoes. The volcano with the funny name "Tyatya" is famous for its picturesque craters - "Brave" and "Border Guard". This volcano is considered one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world. In the basin of another volcano - Golovin - there are two amazing lakes - Hot and Boiling, with hot water and the smell of sulfur.
The highlight of the reserve is the Ptichya Waterfall, 12 meters high, located where the Ptichya River flows into the Sea of Okhotsk. The river bizarrely changes its color in different areas - from blue to transparent. There are a lot of fish, rare birds and plants - both “East Asian” and northern.
The Poronaisky Nature Reserve is located in the eastern part of Sakhalin Island, near Terpeniya Bay and on the Terpeniya Peninsula, in the Poronaisky district of the Sakhalin region of Russia. The reserve was founded in 1988 and covers an area of more than 56.7 thousand hectares. The reserve is dominated by mountain taiga forests of Sayan spruce and Sakhalin fir, and larch. Representatives of the Okhotsk, Manchurian, North Japanese and North American fauna (over 200 species) and flora (over 400 species) gathered here
Colonial sea birds nest on the coastal cliffs: slender-billed guillemot, black-tailed gull, spectacled guillemot, great and little auklets, old man, and white-bellied gull. At Cape Terpeniya there is a large bird market.
- This is the Ussuri region - perhaps the only landmass on earth where two different animal and plant worlds collided: the world of the subtropics and the world of the northern regions.
The Ussuri State Nature Reserve is a specially protected natural area in Russia. Located to the south. spurs of the Sikhote-Alin, in the Primorsky Territory.
The main wealth of the Ussuri Nature Reserve is a fairly large array of virgin liana coniferous-broad-leaved forests, which are almost nonexistent either in the Russian Far East or in neighboring countries.
The reserve is named after Academician Vladimir Leontievich Komarov, the largest Russian botanist and researcher of the flora of East Asia. He was the first to describe this territory, visiting it in 1913.
The reserve was created back in 1932, since then its area has increased significantly, which now amounts to 40.4 thousand hectares.
The Ussuriysk Nature Reserve is located between Vladivostok and Ussuriysk.
7. Usmansky pine forest. The Voronezh Nature Reserve with an area of 31.1 thousand hectares is located on the border of the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions. Created in 1927 to preserve the forest ecosystems of the Central forest-steppe and to study the biology and ecology of beavers and find the best way to breed them.
Who lives in the forest:
- elk
- roe
- burial ground
- muskrat
- osprey
- raccoon dog
What grows in the forest:
- Schrenk's Tulip
- Meadow lumbago
- Cornflower Dubyansky
- Chalk tar
- Litvinova's golovchatka
- Norichnik chalk
- cotoneaster
- Fluffy spike.
- "Nurgush » with an area of 5634.2 hectares is located in the Kotelnichsky district of the Kirov region. It was created to protect the floodplain complexes of the Vyatka River: numerous lakes and coniferous-deciduous forests. The reserve's lakes are favored by skilled builders - beavers. The symbol and pride of the reserve are the osprey and the white-tailed eagle.
- Prioksko-Terrasny Reservelocated in the southern part of the Moscow region on the left bank of the Oka. The main part of the territory is forests, mainly pine and mixed with birch, spruce, oak and linden. Of the 1,100 plant species found in the Moscow region, about 895 are noted within the protected area. There are small sphagnum bogs with typical northern species - sundew, cranberry, moss and unique areas with steppe vegetation represented by feather grass, fescue, forest tulip and other species. It was created in 1948.
Particular attention is paid to the protection and restoration of bison.
3. A few kilometers from the southwestern outskirts of Krasnoyarsk there is an amazing place, a pearl of Siberian nature -Nature Reserve "Stolby"It was founded in 1925 to protect the natural complexes of the picturesque rock massif of the Stolby tract.
Here, among the taiga, on forty-seven thousand hectares, rocky cliffs rise. The stone giants soaring upward are the exits from the bowels of the earth of pinkish-brown crystalline rocks - granite-syenite remnants. Some of them rise above the surface of the earth up to one hundred meters.
The Stolby State Nature Reserve is located on the northwestern spurs of the Eastern Sayan Mountains, bordering the Central Siberian Plateau.
4. State naturalReserve "Denezhkin Kamen""is located in the North of the Sverdlovsk region. Its territory completely includes the massif of the Denezhkin Kamen mountain, the eastern slopes of the Main Ural Range, the Khoza-Tump ridge, the upper reaches of the rivers Ivdel, Taltiya, Shegultan, Sosva. The area of the reserve is 80 thousand hectares.
The Denezhkin Kamen Nature Reserve is unique among others in a number of ways. This is the only reserve located entirely on the eastern slope of the main Ural watershed. It is located at the intersection not only of the ranges of some animals, but also of different types of ecosystems. Quite large areas of primary mountain taiga and tundra have been preserved here, which are a reserve for especially valuable, rare and endemic species of the Ural mountain taiga flora and fauna.
The reserve was re-established in 1991.
5. Teberdinsky Reservelocated on the northern macroslope of the Main Caucasus Range in the easternmost part of the high-mountain northwestern Caucasus, which is a transition zone to the Central Caucasus. This is a typical mountainous area, where 83% of the territory is located at an altitude of over 2 thousand meters above sea level. More than 100 glaciers are known in the reserve, accounting for 10% of the entire territory. The section of the ridge, located on the territory of the Teberda Nature Reserve, has a length of 42.5 km. and is covered not only with glaciers, but also with eternal snow. The territory of the reserve includes more than 150 lakes of glacial origin. The lakes are extremely beautiful; they lie in the upper reaches of mountain valleys or along their slopes at an altitude of 2000-3000 meters above sea level.
6. State Nature Reserve "Tigirek"was formed on December 4, 1999. Located in the southwestern part of the Altai Territory, including the Zmeinogorsky, Tretyakovsky and Krasnoshchekovsky districts bordering Kazakhstan.
The purpose of the creation is to preserve the biological and landscape diversity of the territory of North-Western Altai - a unique region of the Altai-Sayan mountain region. This is one of the youngest reserves in Russia. Of particular value to the reserve are such plant communities as black taiga and forest-steppe.
- Crossword answers.
Horizontally : 3. Barguzinsky; 5. Kostomuksha; 6. Wrangel.
Vertically : 1. Dagestan; 2. Arctic; 4. Kologrivsky; 7. Belogorye.
- This is the first marine reserve in Russia with an area of 64.30 thousand hectares
was organized in 1978. The reserve occupies part of the Peter the Great Bay of the Sea of Japan, 12 small islands, as well as sections of the mainland coastline in the Primorsky Territory. It consists of four sections: three are located in the Khasansky district, the fourth on the island. Popov in the Pervomaisky district of Vladivostok.
In the Western area (3 thousand hectares of water area; Sivuchya stones, Minonosok and Kreyserok bays *) there is a marine farm for breeding shellfish (sea scallops and giant oysters) to replenish and restore natural populations in the reserve and for mariculture farms of the Primorsky Territory.
The reserve is located at the same latitude as Sochi and Sukhumi.
- State Nature Reserve “VORONINSKY” was created on August 121994 with the aim of preserving and monitoring natural forest-steppe complexes. The reserve is located in the middle reaches of the Vorona River in the southeast of the Oka-Don Plain, has an area of 10,320 hectares and a length from north to south of about 40 kilometers. It is located on the territory of two administrative districts of the Tambov region, Inzhavinsky and Kirsanovsky, and consists of two relatively large areas and ten small ones, located in the valleys of the Vorona River and its tributaries.
The reserves were created to protect the preserved forest-steppe ecosystems of Central Russia. The Vorona River is home to beaver and Russian muskrat; on the largest lake in the Tambov region. In Ramza, numerous waterfowl and semi-aquatic birds nest and rest during migration. The history of the creation of the reserve is closely connected with the name of the outstanding Russian geographer V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, the son of the famous traveler, who proposed at the beginning of the 20th century. create a “uremny park” here. "Urema" is a special, difficult-to-pass floodplain forest.
There are three large lakes here - Ramza, Simerka and Kipets, which are nesting places for numerous waterfowl. Particularly valuable is the flock of swans that annually breed on Lake Kipets.
In the state of Louisiana in the USA there is one creepy place - the Manchac swamps.
People disappear here all the time - both locals and tourists. Hurricanes often appear in the areas surrounding Manchac, the origin of which is difficult to explain - after all, the area is located on a plain.
You can't hear any birds here at all, there are no animals, and you can barely see living trees - just dry remains.
There are several dark legends associated with the Manchac Swamp. Firstly, from time to time facts emerge that centuries-old corpses are found in this area.
Secondly, in the swamps they constantly hear strange and scary sounds. These howls and groans are unlike the sounds made by any creature known on Earth, and local residents talk about a werewolf living in the swamp.
And thirdly, many who visited these places saw strange shadows, the appearance of which still has no explanation. These are some kind of ghostly creatures, sometimes resembling people, sometimes animals.
Also in the swamps they see strange reflections of light - will-o'-the-wisps that carry inexperienced tourists into the very wilds. According to some reports, it was here that local residents once imprisoned a priestess of the voodoo clan, who cursed the swamps, which became a prison for her. And it was from this moment that the swamps acquired their notoriety. In fact, any swamps have always been quite dangerous. Unsteady lands, strange-looking trees, constant fogs - all this adds to their strangeness.
Myths about the Manchac swamp became the embodiment of mystical ideas in the film Interview with the Vampire, because it was here that Louis and Claudia drowned the remains of the main vampire Lestat. Of course, any swamp is associated with danger - people often die in the quagmire.
In addition, large alligators have always been found in the waters in this region. Hurricanes are also not uncommon in the United States. The strange sounds are also quite understandable - the layers of earth in the swamps subside under their own weight and the weight of the trees growing on them.
Who doesn’t know, this is where it’s full of mosquitoes, leeches, there is a suffocating smell of poisonous gases and... They are afraid to go there, but they insist on going there anyway. This is not 100% water and not 100% land, but a kind of transitional state of the landscape. About the swamp...
Even during the Devonian period, about 400 million years ago, such landscape areas appeared on our planet. Excess moisture did not have time to go into the soil and evaporate. Precipitation and partially groundwater accumulated in low places and stagnated, constantly being recharged by new precipitation.On such a surface, plants found favorable conditions for growth and reproduction, which, dying, turned into decomposed organic matter - peat and coal. Those plants that grew millions of years ago turned into coal and are now heating your home.
Due to the fact that there is absolutely no oxygen and high pressure at the bottom of the swamps, dead trees do not rot, but are compacted into layers over time. Therefore, coal is found on all continents of the world where wetlands are present.
The largest wetlands are in the Amazon River floodplain
What to compare with
To make it more clear, you can compare. In the human body, the filter function is performed by the kidneys, but in nature these are swamps. They are the ones who purify water from harmful impurities and potentially dangerous substances, and desalinate salt water.
You can make associations: imagine wetlands as a huge sponge. Ordinary soil is not able to absorb huge amounts of moisture from the atmosphere and rivers. This natural “loofah” can collect and retain liquid in the event of flooding or flooding. Dried and dehydrated soil loses this ability and turns into...Why does the swamp suck?
First, let's figure it out. It is not the swamp that sucks you in, but the quagmire. And it only attracts living bodies, but inanimate and very small objects, which behave like inanimate ones, do not. This happens for several reasons.Submerge an object or person in water. According to Archimedes' law, it will be pushed out and you can stay afloat for a long time without floundering too much. Experienced swimmers lie down on the water and rest.
And the quagmire, in its properties, belongs to the class of Bingham liquids. An example of this would be thick oil paint, resin, or varnish. And here this law does not work. With little effort, such liquids exhibit the properties of solids. And when the resistance threshold is crossed, they behave like viscous liquids.
A light animal with little pressure exerted can stand motionless in a swamp. Or even on special wide “swamp skis”.
On their surfaces, only large and, accordingly, living objects go under water. Humans and large ones are just like that. The quagmire is dangerous because you won’t be able to submerge just a little bit. Sucks in a living object below the normal level. Simply put, water will never push you up. An over-immersed state will occur.
Even without moving at all, a person will be dragged to the bottom of the swamp
In addition, when “floundering,” a person or animal moves and, accordingly, constantly changes and redistributes the weight of its body. The viscous and sticky quagmire responds to any movement by sucking deeper.
Another example: a mosquito standing on the surface of a swamp will not drown, but when it starts to “throw” it will immediately get stuck for good.
For these reasons, even without moving at all, a person will be pulled to the bottom. Because just inhaling and exhaling is already a change in volume and weight.
Conclusion: do not travel through swamps alone. Take with you a large and strong stick, which in emergency cases, like a lever or support, can save a life.
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The deepest hole that can be dug in the Earth
Each of the swamps has its own and... The Manchac Swamp is no exception.
These lands are located near New Orleans in Louisiana. It is teeming with huge creatures and its murky waters are home to dangerous giant snakes.
The remains of abandoned settlements, in which residents practiced black magic and, left their mark on the reputation of the Manchac swamps.
According to legend, they are considered cursed by one of its residents, Julia Brown. The sorceress and healer turned into a witch and, because of the ungrateful and envious townspeople.
She often predicted bad events and was disliked for this. One of the most memorable prophecies was the date of her death to herself. Julia promised that all ill-wishers would go with her, and the settlement would turn into a swamp.
This happened in 1915 after a devastating hurricane. Almost all the inhabitants died along with the fortuneteller, the destroyed and buried houses were flooded and the town turned into a terrible swamp.
In these places, paranormal phenomena are still recorded today that simply cannot be explained. Screams and groans of dead people and ghosts who walk through the muddy pools in search of their shelter.
And nothing can scare curious tourists. So they sail back and forth on excursion boats in search of adventure and a dose of adrenaline.
Each of the swamps has its own ghosts and secrets...
Salty and fresh
It all depends on where they are located and what waters they feed on. Inland ones, as a rule, are freshwater, and along the coast of the seas and oceans they are salty.
It is impossible to classify by size, because there are swamps hundreds of thousands of kilometers long and some that are absolutely small - no more than a two-story house.
The biggest swamp
On our planet, the largest swamps, bogs, and wetlands are located in the floodplain.
Drainage of territories
There is such a practice - draining swamps. In order to “return” very fertile lands for further use in agriculture and increase the production of clean fuel. Soil moisture is reduced by lowering the groundwater level and planting trees. The Black Sea coast of the Caucasus was drained in the last century, and now it is a favorite resort for many.But draining wetlands also has another side to the coin. Coniferous trees and shrubs left without nutritious moisture suffer, animals accustomed to living in humid conditions die, and the nutrition of small rivers decreases.
In Russia, swamps occupy more than 10% of the territory.
The most amazing and little-studied ecosystem on the planet can prevent extinction Because this is where it originated many millennia ago. And all evolution moves in a circle.
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Over hundreds of millions of years, layers of peat turned into horizons of coal. And in them, in the form of imprints, skeletons of strange animals and bizarre species of plants appeared. If there were no swamps on Earth, we would hardly have known that magnolias and palm trees once upon a time grew in Greenland and Spitsbergen.
However, people are in no hurry to develop this natural storehouse. People burst into space and sink to the bottom of the oceans, but still shun the swamps. Even the most desperate berry pickers and hunters who visit the swamps say that as soon as you find yourself in the middle of a swamp, a strange ringing in your ears suddenly appears, you feel dizzy, your legs become weak, and you have a serious desire to run. Inexplicable fear grips you from head to toe, you want to forget this place forever. Hunters gloomily joke that it is impossible to quickly drown in a swamp; there remains “time to eat the toffee.” A person who is not familiar with the “rules of behavior in the swamps” seems to be paralyzed. Shackled by horror and swamp ligature, he can no longer move and seems to be watching his death from the sidelines. This can last from several minutes to several days. Until the swamp water begins to fill your lungs...
It’s not for nothing that swamps in Rus' are called Adovo, Sukino, Chertovo... These names reflect the people’s fear of the mystery and enigma of swamps.
Spirit Kingdom
The swamp has its own guardian spirit, the owner. The Slavs called him the swamp. It is he who scares those walking through the swamp with sharp sounds, sighs, and loud smacking. It is he who lures the self-confident and careless into the quagmire and, on the contrary, shows a safe path to those who respect nature. The mire has many neighbors, including mermen, lords of water, goblins, and kikimoras. The swamp gives unprecedented strength to its original inhabitants, such as the giant Yar Mort, a character in Finno-Ugric mythology.
None of the natural treasures are shrouded in so many secrets, legends and mysticism as swamps. Their fame is not good, so people bypass the kingdom of kikimora on the tenth route. And she loves uninvited guests. He drags unwary travelers into his quagmire. True, she rarely shows herself to people - she prefers to be invisible and only screams from the swamp in a loud voice. But if he gets naughty, he might even take a ride on a scared-to-death traveler. According to legend, girls cursed by their mother in the womb or in infancy before baptism, as well as girls born to a woman from a fiery serpent, turn into kikimoras. It was believed that such children were kidnapped and carried away by evil spirits. Sometimes - straight from the mother's womb. After seven years, these children turn into kikimore. Children who died unbaptized could also turn into kikimoras. In most beliefs, kikimora is an evil spirit. If she marries a brownie, she takes up residence in the house and causes chaos. Sometimes even forcing the owners to leave their home. If a goblin took her fancy as her husband, then from now on her home is a swamp. Children are born to a kikimora and a goblin - lesavkas. They play pranks, lead travelers off the road, and do their best to help their parents lure travelers into the swamps.
The Celts called swamps “the gates of spirits” - where the seemingly solid soil instantly disappears from under one’s feet, the gates open to the world of mysterious nature spirits and deities. Therefore, the Celts revered the swamps and came there with sacrificial gifts. The Khanty and Mansi believed that the whole world was born from “liquid earth,” that is, from a swamp. The Egyptian goddess Isis hid her son there - the god Horus... It turns out that this place is not such a disastrous place?
Again the dead man lit a candle
The swamp beckons. The sounds that the swamp makes are similar to the speech of a giant living creature. And lonely travelers often mistake the will-o'-the-wisps in the swamps for the lights of their homes and come straight into the swamps. Because of the characteristic location of the lights - at the height of a human hand - they were called "dead man's candles." It was believed that the one who 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 the land from their neighbors. 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.
In fact, lights in the swamps are not fantasies or inventions of dense grannies. On warm, dark nights, pale bluish, faintly flickering lights can actually be seen in swamps or fresh graves. They seem to be dancing in the air, tracing a complex trajectory. It is hydrogen phosphide that “burns.” At the bottom of the swamps, in damp areas, many remains of dead animals and plants rot. In this case, various gases are formed, including swamp gas. 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.
Not all swamp mysteries can be explained by the results of a chemical reaction. And then the terrible swamp mysticism bursts into real life.
...The Tikhvin district of the Leningrad region has a reputation as a bear corner. The places here are remote, swampy and sparsely populated, which makes them attractive to hunters and fishermen. One autumn, the leading engineer of the Elektrosila plant, Yakov Aizeman, came to hunt. He stayed with a friend in the village of Volozhba.
In the morning Eiseman went into the forest. And I didn’t notice how lost I was. This did not frighten him; the engineer considered himself a good expert on the Tikhvin forests. All day he wandered through completely unfamiliar places, and towards evening he came out onto a barely noticeable forest road. The road led him to an abandoned farm on the edge of a large swamp.
Apparently, the farm was abandoned quite a long time ago. Eiseman climbed onto the porch and pushed open the front door of the hut. It opened with a creak. There was nothing remarkable inside the house, except for the traces of someone's long-ago overnight stay: several empty cans, a vodka bottle and an armful of firewood thrown near the bed.
It was getting dark quickly. A whitish fog was creeping in from the swamp in wisps, and there was a chilly dampness. “I’ll spend the night in the house, and in the morning I’ll find out where the devil has taken me,” Eiseman decided and began to settle down for the night.
At night he suddenly woke up from wild horror. Someone shuffled past him. The engineer lay motionless for several seconds, but then stood up in fear on his bed. Nothing was visible in the pitch darkness, but Eiseman sensitively sensed someone’s presence in the hut and realized that the one hidden in the darkness was mortally dangerous. He hastily flicked his lighter. A flickering tongue of flame snatched out of the darkness the corner of the couch and the stooped figure of an old woman standing a few steps away from it.
Eiseman screamed in surprise. The old woman slowly, as if blind, moved towards him, spreading both her arms. A sweetish smell of decomposition flowed through the hut, and Eiseman clearly saw that... a corpse was approaching him! In desperation, he threw a Neva lighter at the deceased, still Soviet-made, hefty and weighty, like a chair. She hit the old one hard on the rotten forehead and, rebounding, instantly went out. A scream was heard in the darkness. Eiseman rushed into the hallway. Fear gave him strength, and with one jerk he tore the hook out of the closed front door and jumped out onto the porch.
The rest of the night he ran over some unsteady hummocks, every now and then falling into the peat slurry. At dawn I felt solid ground under my feet and collapsed exhausted. Having caught my breath, I looked around and realized that I was not far from Volozhba.
When Eiseman appeared in the village, he caused a stir among the local residents - his appearance was so wild. However, everything he told did not surprise the villagers at all, since there had been bad rumors about the farm on the swamp for a long time. It was rumored that the old woman was a witch and kept an old book on witchcraft in her house.
Eiseman left Volozhba for St. Petersburg, not even remembering the backpack, bandoleer and double-barreled gun abandoned on the farm. Upon arrival in the city, he underwent a medical examination for a mental disorder, which could be attributed to everything that happened to him on the farm. But the engineer’s health was like that of an astronaut; doctors did not find any hints of mental instability. Then Yakov turned to St. Petersburg researcher of anomalous phenomena Andron Friedman for clarification. The expert's opinion was:
- In the northern regions of Russia, according to an ancient witchcraft ritual, a sorcerer or witch needed to find a successor in order to transfer to him all his forbidden knowledge before death, usually in the form of a handwritten code. Otherwise, their black souls could not find peace and were doomed to eternal torment. The sudden death of Korenikha (she was killed by a shell fragment during the shelling of the village by the Germans) violated this ritual and became the reason for the appearance of the ghost of a witch.
In addition, Andron Friedman put forward the version that the farm most likely contains a rare handwritten code of witchcraft - the Russian version of the terrible Necronomicon, known since the 13th century. The researcher intends to go in search of him, although such an undertaking will be incredibly dangerous. After all, a witch won’t just give up a witchcraft book...
A secret covered in peat
For us, swamps are an undiscovered treasury from which we can draw information not only about past landscapes, but also learn about our history. This historical book can be read endlessly, page after page, making new discoveries. But peat bogs indicate not only changes in bog vegetation. Often they also store tools of labor and wars of the past buried in them. And even the remains of the owners of these guns. Sphagnum moss and its decomposition products, including humic acid, react with calcium and nitrogen to make human flesh incorruptible.
...In May 1950, two Danish peasants were digging in the bogs of Bjeldskovdal, Jutland, and came across a corpse. They decided that they had found a schoolboy from Copenhagen who had disappeared in the swamps the year before. The police were called. Could they have imagined that they had found the corpse of a man who died in the 4th century BC?.. The eyelids of the “man from Tollund” were tiredly lowered, he seemed to be sleeping. The swamps even preserved his mustache and beard, and cuts from walking on sharp stones were clearly visible on his feet. The cause of death of the “man from Tollund” is shrouded in darkness (more precisely, peat), but forensic research has revealed many interesting details. For example, the last thing he ate before his death was a porridge made from barley, wild oats, buckwheat, flaxseed and mari - about thirty different herbs in total. Two English archaeologists tried the dish prepared according to this recipe and found its taste disgusting. Botanists have established the conditions in which he lived, and archaeologists have clarified his age.
In total, about 2,000 mummies have been discovered in the swamps of Europe over the past hundred years. These unfortunate people were able to tell us something about the customs of ancient Northern Europe, which until today remained a sealed secret for historians and archaeologists.
In 1984, an excavator digging for peat in the Lindow bog, south of Manchester, dug up a human leg, and then the whole body was found. This discovery is associated with the most thorough study of swamp mummies carried out so far. A team of fifty experts - from pathologists to paleobiologists - studied the "Lindov Man", whose age is estimated at two thousand years. It was determined that this man's last food was a flat loaf of wheat and barley. They even found out that the bread was briefly heated before eating at a temperature of 200 to 250 degrees. The “Man from Lindov” was no older than thirty and suffered from arthritis of the lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. And perhaps the skin of this ancient Briton was colored blue or green. What was that - war paint? Julius Caesar in his War with Gaul writes: “All the Britons rub themselves with vitrum, which colors their skin so that they look even more fearsome in battle.” The only thing researchers are missing is the DNA formula. Humic acids in the swamps destroyed this hereditary material as thoroughly as they helped preserve hair and skin. Presenting to descendants a man made of flesh, but without blood.
And yet, the main question that scientists will have to wrestle with for a long time is: why did contemporaries treat these people so cruelly, why were they drowned in the black mud of swamps?.. Traces of blows were found on the body of the “man from Lindov”; the skull was pierced with an ax. The executioners tightened the animal's veins around the neck, after which they cut the throat - this increased the flow of gushing blood.
Under the long braids of the young "Elling woman" an inverted V was found deeply impressed on the back of her head. A teenager of 10-14 years old, who was exhumed from a grave in a bog near Kayhausen in Lower Saxony, was bound so tightly that he could not even move. He was stabbed in the throat several times. The "Woman from Huldremose" had her hand cut off. There were several puncture wounds on the thigh and foot. After death, the killers mutilated the face of another Jutland woman beyond recognition and, apparently, scalped her...
Were they victims to the gods, criminals, or worthy members of society who, following some mysterious rituals, were sent to the other world? Since ancient times, the swamp was considered a transitional place from the real world to the afterlife, which is why it was chosen as a place of sacrifice. After delving into folklore, researchers proposed a version: these people were drowned in a swamp so that they could not rise from the dead and begin to take revenge on the living. In their assumptions, scientists rely on the same shaky ground as the one in which these unfortunates were found. Scientists have yet to unravel the mysteries of the ancient swamp mummies.
Where did Susanin lead his enemies?
And in Russia in this century, the legend about the brave Russian peasant Ivan Susanin, who led the Polish army into a swamp and thereby saved Russia from ruin, was confirmed. Near the village of Isupovo, Susaninsky district, Kostroma region, where a century ago there was a swamp, archaeologists discovered hundreds of human remains and 40 pectoral crosses, presumably belonging to soldiers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One of the crosses is made in the tradition of the Orthodox Church and, most likely, adorned the chest of a heroic villager. Such crosses were made in the 16th - 17th centuries. In addition, the cross is not whole, but consists of fragments. It was possible to establish that it was chopped down - probably by the sabers of Polish soldiers. It is known that none of the Polish detachment survived. The only documentary evidence of Susanin's feat was the tsar's letter. In it, Mikhail Fedorovich gave Susanin’s son-in-law Bogdan Sabinin half of the village of Dereveshchi: “Knowing about us, Susanin endured unbearable torture, did not tell about us, and for that he was tortured to death by Polish and Lithuanian people.” So, after several centuries, the swamp revealed another secret to people.
Myth
According to the legend of the creation of the world, at first there was continuous water on the earth. God walked along it like on dry land and one day noticed a cloudy bubble. Having caught up with God, the bubble burst. And the Devil jumped out of it. God ordered the Devil to go down to the bottom and get earth from there. The devil obediently carried out the order. I couldn’t resist and hid some earth behind my cheeks. Meanwhile, God scattered the earth, and where it fell, dry land appeared, and on it were trees, bushes and grass of extraordinary beauty. But plants began to sprout in the Devil’s mouth. And the unclean one began to spit out the earth. This is how swamps appeared on the earth - liquefied earth with stunted, ugly trees and coarse grass.
Data
In the south of the Tomsk region, on its very border with Novosibirsk, is the Vasyugan swamp. Stretching over 500 kilometers in length and from 15 to 120 in width, it is the largest swamp on the globe.
The bogs hold 11,500 km3 of fresh water. This is five times more than all the rivers in the world (2,100 km3), and almost half the volume of Baikal’s water (23,000 km?)!
Stagnant swamps regulate the flow of rivers and streams and even feed large rivers. The Dnieper and Volga, for example, originate from swamps. But, contrary to popular belief, the water in swamps is not stagnant at all. Let's compare: in lakes the water is completely renewed in 17 years, in swamps - every five years!
Large swamps can stop forest fires.
Every year, one hectare of swamps absorbs 550–1800 kg of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases 260–700 kg of oxygen. This is 7–15 times more than one hectare of forest or meadow can process.
But that’s not all: swamps attract and absorb dust particles, which, as is known, in calm weather move towards lower temperatures (and the temperature above the surface of swamps is always lower than around it). One hectare of swamps can “swallow” up to three tons of dust! (By the way, it contains minerals that plants feed on.)
Although the unique complexes of Russian swamps have suffered greatly from human intervention, they have still been preserved. And even in well-developed regions they remain the least disturbed ecosystems. Therefore, they often become a refuge for many Red Book plants and animals that cannot withstand anthropogenic stress.
In 1971, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance as Waterfowl Habitat was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar; it is now commonly known as the Ramsar Convention. Its goal is to preserve the most valuable territories in this regard: sea bays, lakes, river deltas, swamps. Today, 60 countries participate in the convention, including Russia, where 35 Ramsar sites have been designated. Many of them are also of international importance because they are a refuge for migratory birds.
The first swamps on our planet appeared about 400 million years ago. Modern swamps are young, they are “only” 12,000 years old. They are distributed throughout the Earth, their total area is approximately 2,682,000 km2. Russia accounts for 73% of this territory, which is the area of five Frances!
In order for a swamp to form, a combination of a number of conditions is necessary: climate humidity, proximity to groundwater, landscape features, water-resistant soil layers.
Swamps can appear on land - due to a constant excess of moisture in the soil and on its surface and weak water flow. It becomes difficult for air to penetrate into the pores of the soil, which is why dying plant debris is not completely oxidized, and as a result, organic materials are preserved. Sometimes swamps appear in places where there is little or no moisture, for example in desert areas. A lake can also become swampy if, thanks to the abundance of sunlight, it is quickly filled with aquatic plants.
Peat accumulates in the swamp very slowly. For example, in the north-west of Russia, the peat deposit increases its thickness by 0.5–1 mm per year. This is the growth rate of the main peat-forming agent - sphagnum moss.
Swamps are an integral natural complex, where its three main components - excess moisture, organic deposits in the form of peat and specific vegetation - determine the existence of each other and the ecosystem as a whole. Peat retains moisture, and swamp vegetation in waterlogged conditions forms peat.
Swamps of the Russian Federation (with a peat depth of more than 30 cm) as a % of the territory area (from: Vompersky et al., 1999)
It’s worth getting to know the swamps better - and they will surprise you with the variety of their colors and smells. Most of all there are mosses here. In summer they are emerald green and pale light green, in dry summer they are white, and in autumn they are yellow, wine red, brown and even purple! And against the background of a moss carpet - light lilac heathers, white wild rosemary caps, pale pinkish bluebells, red cobs of swamp whitewing, bluish blue blueberries, inky purple blueberries, orange cloudberries... And dark red cranberries! And burgundy lingonberries!
On hot summer days, the swamps are filled with the smells of herbs and shrubs, emitting a unique aroma rich in essential oils not only during flowering, but also in “ordinary life.”
Myrtle Marsh.
Applied swamp science (for lovers of hunting, cranberries, etc.)
At different times (winter, summer, autumn) swamps can be passable or, conversely, completely inaccessible. The very surface of the swamps is very deceptive; sometimes it seems solid, but in fact the swamp sinks down under the weight of a person. Some seemingly strong green areas are actually fireboxes, and you can suddenly fall into them.
The most dangerous are rafting swamps, or swamps. Here the vegetation has a slightly whitish color. When moving through a swamp, you should never rush or rush, and if you fall through, you should not give in to panic. It is better to have a long pole with you and, before taking the next step, use it to check where you can rest your foot. Hidden lakes, overgrown with swamp vegetation, under which the water is not visible, pose a great danger to people. Under this vegetation cover there may be a bottomless reservoir (charusa). You can easily fall into the peculiar crevices on such a hidden lake if you neglect precautions.
When moving through the swamp, you need to step on hummocks or rhizomes of plants and small shrubs, which provide strong support for your feet, and overcome dangerous areas very carefully, having first probed with a pole.
If you fall into a swamp, under no circumstances should you make sudden movements. It is necessary to carefully, leaning on a pole lying across (the presence of which is mandatory here), pull yourself up, take a horizontal position, throw off your backpack, free yourself from the gun, reach out with your hands to the strong marsh grass and, pulling yourself up, crawl away from the dangerous place.
When you get into a swamp, it happens that your legs and boots cannot be pulled out of the quagmire. All your attempts to pull out one or two legs at once do not lead to a positive result. The quagmire has a death grip. You feel like you are being slowly sucked in. In this case, you need to, without losing your composure, try, leaning on the same pole, to get out of your boots. This is possible - the legs are released with difficulty, but they are freed.
When overcoming a swamp, it is necessary to outline the azimuth of movement, otherwise, when going around swampy places, you can easily get lost, lose your way and wander along it forever. Moving through the swamp, it is very difficult to navigate - only a monotonous swamp landscape is visible around. In these cases, the sun helps. When starting to move, you need to look around carefully and try to find possible landmarks for yourself.
Sometimes you can determine the degree of passability of a swamp by its appearance.
A continuous moss cover, on which there are no trees or they are rarely found (a single pine tree), the water is above the surface or at its level, there are many hollows - such a raised (moss) bog is very difficult to pass.
In lowland (peat) swamps: there is a continuous cover of grass, there are no trees, bushes are very rare, and the water is on the surface - such a swamp will be very difficult to overcome. In peat bogs: peat is liquid, flowing, and when taken into a fist, the mass is completely pressed through the fingers - such bogs are absolutely impassable for pedestrians.
And if the peat is very loose, highly moistened and when squeezed in a fist, the water flows out in a stream, and the mass is pressed through the fingers, then such terrain is considered “conditionally passable” - on bog shoes, the permissible pressure on it is only about 0.25 kg/cm2.