Just two weeks ago.
Roller coaster" type cold wave cooling.
Let most of our country be "quick-frozen" in a second
The cold wind and the snow were pouring down.
Shrouded in the earth.
Please horizontal screen**, Beijing CBD under the cold wave, photographer @ Long Shijie).
And whenever this time.
A familiar name will ring in your ears.
Siberia. A place where the cold can be "defined".
Siberian Lake Baikal in winter, **Visual China).
But the real Siberia is much more than that.
Look at the whole planet.
It's like a giant.
Quiet sitting in the north.
And the cold is only the least of its powers.
Poole River, Tyumen Oblast, Siberia, photographer @ Chen Jianfeng).
Because it used to be.
Not only can it destroy the world and reshape the earth.
It can also turn things around and change human history.
So, what exactly is Siberia like?
Want to find Siberia on the world map.
It's easy.
In the north of Asia, in the central and eastern parts of Russia.
A north-south distance of 3,500 kilometers.
The land spanning six time zones from east to west is striking.
Location and topographic map of Siberia, Siberia in a broad sense refers to the entire area east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, but because the east is close to the sea, the natural geography is different from the inland, so this paper selects the following area as the scope of Siberia, mapping @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
View from above
West Siberian Plain.
Central Siberian Plateau.
as well as mountainous areas such as Chersky.
From west to east, in turn.
Like a giant.
Sit and lie on the earth.
Please landscape **, South-Central Siberia, **Visual China).
Thereinto. West Siberian Plain.
With an area of more than 2 million square kilometers.
Won the title of the largest plain in Asia.
It is equivalent to twice the area of all plains in our country combined.
West Siberian Plain, **Visual China).
And the central and eastern parts of Siberia.
It is dominated by vast plateaus and tall mountain ranges.
Like a giant's back, it is hard and broad.
The Chersky Mountains and the Indigirka River, photographer @ Chen Jianfeng).
Due to the high latitude, the temperature is low.
It is also close to the Arctic Ocean.
Annually. A bitter cold wind howls from the North Pole.
Siberia. It has become a "big cold storage".
Its efficient refrigeration capacity.
It is enough for the river to "solidify" for half a year.
Please landscape **, Siberian winter frozen rivers, **visual Chinese).
The lake is "sealed" like a polar region.
Freeze the soil.
A permafrost layer more than 100 meters thick is formed.
Please landscape **, frozen Lake Baikal, **Visual China).
But something even more unique.
Siberia at a lower latitude than the Arctic Ocean.
Due to the lack of a regulating role of the ocean in the climate.
Winters are colder.
And when the cold air is surrounded by high mountains.
Long-term stagnation, constantly piling up.
It also gave birth to the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere.
Oymyakon with Verkhniya Yansk.
The minimum temperature can reach -712℃
Over here. Too cold and dry air.
Not only does it make your nose tingle when you breathe.
It can also pass through the respiratory tract.
Reach both lungs. Please landscape **, Oymyakon sunset in winter, **Visual China).
At this time, Siberia was silent.
The animals begin to hibernate.
People also choose to stay indoors.
Parts of the Arctic Circle.
It has entered a 24-hour dark night.
Polar night and aurora in the Russian Arctic, photographer @ cycads).
The earth seems to have fallen into a deep sleep.
But even in sleep.
Its power should not be underestimated.
Every year, massive cold air.
Here it is constantly sinking and gathering.
A strong cold high pressure is formed.
and radiate outward, invading the rest of Asia.
It has become known as the "winter wind".
And when it strengthens rapidly in a particular weather.
It brought disasters such as cold waves.
Yantai Mountain under the cold wave, **Visual China).
Thereupon. The cold air is like the cold breath of a giant.
It is constantly circulating between strength and weakness.
Affecting half of Asia.
But have you ever thought about it.
If in your sleep.
This giant is enough to affect the lives of more than a billion people.
And what about one day when it woke up?
Call of the Earth -
In fact. It did wake up.
2.500 million years ago, when it first woke up.
The Earth is experiencing the largest mass extinction in history.
Hundreds of years ago, when it woke up for the second time.
* and the rewriting of human history.
And in the near future, it will wake up for the third time.
It is also destined to be a earth-shaking change.
Want to know the whole story in context.
We first need to look to the Central Siberian plateau.
In the middle. A plateau the size of the entire Guangxi region is located.
The mountains here are unusually flat.
Like a huge staircase, it rushes to the horizon.
This is the highest point of Central Siberia.
Putorana Plateau.
Please landscape screen**, Lama Lake on the Putorana Plateau, **Visual China).
Meantime. Numerous lakes and waterfalls are dotted around.
Plus dozens of deep canyons.
Together, they make up this one-of-a-kind Arctic landscape.
Waterfalls in the Putorana Plateau, **Visual China).
But when we get closer, we will find out.
In this peace and tranquility.
But it is the existence that once brought death.
Basalt. Basalt of the Putorana Plateau, **Visual China).
These basalts are the remnants of a massive magmatic eruption.
And that's not all. Look at the whole of Siberia.
They can be found beneath more than a million square kilometers of ground.
And this became the key evidence of the first awakening of Siberia.
Distribution map of Siberian and global continental overflow basalts, continental overflow basalts are a class of basalts of great geological significance associated with continental rifts, and most of them are believed to have a close relationship with the mantle plume, mapping @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
2500 million years ago.
Siberia as a stable and hard land plate.
Quietly situated near the North Pole.
But then. Powerful forces from the depths of the Earth's mantle.
Causing super-large-scale magma accumulation and upwelling.
In the end, it directly cracked the upper crust and erupted.
This is how the supervolcano was born.
Please horizontal screen**, Schematic diagram of the eruption process and its effects of the overflow basalt on the Siberian continent, drawing @ Hanqing Institute for Planetary Studies).
This massive eruption.
It lasted on and off for tens to millions of years.
Magma covers the ground.
It covers an area of more than 2.5 million square kilometers.
The maximum thickness can reach 3500 meters.
Icelandic volcanic eruption, illustrated here for illustrative purposes only, **Visual China).
Meanwhile. Countless heavy metal soot, volcanic ash.
There are thousands of times the equivalent of today's annual emissions.
carbon dioxide and massive sulfur dioxide.
Enter the atmosphere.
Thereupon. Endless acid rain.
With a flood of poisonous gases that rule the land.
Since then, the global climate and environmental landscape has changed completely.
On May 8, 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökulla volcano in Iceland is for illustrative purposes only
Mass swarms of creatures began to die.
And even in the interval between eruptions.
Seize the opportunity to revive the flora and fauna.
It will soon be wiped out again in the next eruption.
Thereupon. The most serious in the history of the earth.
The mass extinction has arrived.
More than 70% of terrestrial vertebrates.
90% of marine invertebrates are extinct.
2.900 million years ago, Early Permian reptile fossils, **Visual China).
History is forever frozen in this moment.
Since then, the history of the earth has begun.
Permian. It's a complete end.
Please horizontally**, the evolution of paleontology and the five mass extinctions in the geological and historical period, cartographed @ Hanqing Planetary Institute).
And the destruction of the Earth's ecosphere by this catastrophe.
It was not until a million years later that it gradually recovered.
This devastating giant awakens.
Destined to be extraordinary. Therefrom.
Power from the depths of the earth.
Awakened the giant for the first time.
For a long time after that.
It continued to sleep.
And next. Its second awakening.
And what happens?
Pioneer of Humanity -
This time, the protagonist is no longer from under the earth.
It's human. Before starting this story, though.
We need to be more familiar with the land.
A large amount of snow melts in spring.
with the thawing of frozen soil in the summer.
This allows the soil of Siberia to have sufficient moisture.
Coupled with the low temperature, the evaporation is small.
and permafrost is widely distributed and difficult to penetrate.
The surface freshwater resources here are much larger than we thought.
Please horizontal screen**, Siberian Chuya River, **Visual China).
Thousands of rivers, large and small, spread across the land.
If you pull them in a line.
It is twice as long as the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Please landscape **, Siberian water system map, mapping @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
And in the south of Lake Baikal.
It also gathers 1 5 of the world's thawed surface freshwater
That's 33 times the size of all the lakes in China combined.
Lake Baikal, **NASA).
Therefore. Siberia is not synonymous with barrenness.
Between the tundra of the Arctic and the steppes of the south.
One is 1,300 kilometers wide.
Thousands of kilometers of forest stretch from east to west.
They consist of tree species such as larch, spruce, fir, etc.
Please landscape **, Siberian taiga, **visual Chinese).
This is the famous Siberian taigaline.
It is also the largest forest belt in the world.
Map of the distribution of taigalam in Siberia, cartographic @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
Brown bears, moose, wolverine, lynx, etc.
Hundreds of species of wildlife roam the jungle.
Lynx in the Siberian forest, **Visual China).
Furthermore. The vast grasslands and swamps are also frequent visitors.
They either form groups alone or merge with the forest.
It brings a more colorful landscape layer.
Please landscape **, the morning fog of the Siberian swamps, **Visual China).
Abundant vegetation and pasture resources.
It has attracted some people to settle here.
In ancient times, the southern part of Siberia.
It is a large number of nomadic peoples such as Turks and Mongols.
A place to thrive.
Although generations have lived here.
But they still know very little about the ground beneath their feet.
Please horizontally**, herdsmen and reindeer in the snow, **Visual China).
Until the middle of the 16th century.
Tsar ** as an independent and united state.
stepped onto the stage of history.
This also marked the beginning of the second awakening of Siberia
In the following hundred years.
* The army crossed the Urals.
Gradual expansion into Siberia.
Please landscape **, 1462-1689** Expansion schematic, drawing @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
This was followed by more migrations
Transportation and urban construction.
But what ** doesn't know at this time is.
Waking up to Siberia brought not only a much wider land
It also relies on a huge amount of biological, energy, and mineral resources.
Sent it directly to the throne of the world's superpower.
After the October Revolution.
USSR ** with the help of railways.
Vigorously develop Siberia.
After three five-year plans.
Heavy industry in Siberia already accounted for more than half of the entire Soviet Union.
Gold mining in Russia, for illustrative purposes only, **Visual China).
World War II period. Siberia has brought its power to the fullest.
In the case of the fall of the Western Industrial Zone.
Hundreds of businesses are moving in urgently.
It made it a large rear for the stability of the USSR.
Please horizontal screen**, the evacuation of the western industrial zone of the Soviet Union to the east during World War II, drawing @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
And even more prominently, in 1943.
All Soviet Union 1 3 pig iron, 1 4 steel.
50% of coal and coke comes from Siberia.
The total amount of high-quality metal produced also surpassed that of Nazi Germany.
Siberia thus delivered a fatal blow to the enemy.
played an important role in the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War.
Siberian Arsenal during World War II**, Visual China, Cartography @ Hanqing Planetary Institute).
And not only that, but in the ensuing Cold War era.
On the plains of Western Siberia.
Discovery of large oil and gas production areas.
In one fell swoop, the Soviet Union became the world's largest natural gas reserves.
In addition, there are huge reserves of oil and minerals.
Thus began the path to world superpower.
On November 1, 1963, in the Tyumen region of Siberia in the Soviet Union, drillers greet oil gushing out of a recently opened oil well, ** Visual China).
Although in the end the USSR collapsed.
But Siberia is also officially on the world stage.
Occupies a place.
Now. It is even more inclusive of Europe.
70% of the total volume of gas pipeline imports.
The Nord Stream 2 gas spill was filmed from a Danish military aircraft on September 27, 2022, in the south of Duod, Denmark, **alamy).
Therefrom. The second awakening of this giant.
It has completely changed the course of history.
It also firmly affects the economic lifeline of international energy.
And next. It was greeted by the third awakening.
Thawing Earth -
In the eastern part of Siberia.
A 1-kilometer-long crater appeared on the hillside.
Viewed from above, it looks like a giant beetle.
This is the world's largest permafrost collapse zone.
And this has become an iconic symbol of the third awakening of Siberia.
Batagaika Permafrost Thaw Pit, **NASA, Mapping @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
Low temperatures from higher latitudes.
Soil temperature in north-central Siberia.
Below zero degrees Celsius all year round.
Thereupon. A large amount of water freezes in the rocks and soil.
Become permafrost. Map of the distribution of permafrost in Siberia, mapping @ Zheng Yi Planetary Institute).
They may expand in size due to water freezing.
Raise the earth into small hills.
Frost Heave Hill, Canada, shown here for illustrative purposes only, photographer @kristian Binder).
Or freeze the infiltrated water.
Stick an ice pick into the earth.
and change the surface to a grid.
Polygon soil of Siberia, **Visual China).
On the coast of the Arctic Ocean.
There are only two months of the year when the average temperature is above 0.
Stretches of permafrost spread along the plains.
Moss and lichen are attached to it.
View from above
It's like a patchwork of light green and brown carpets.
The vastness is immense. Autumn permafrost along the coast of the Arctic Ocean in Siberia, **Visual China).
If it happens. You can also see arctic foxes roaming the seaside.
A quiet and peaceful scene.
Arctic fox in the Siberian tundra belt, **Visual China).
More importantly.
Due to the cold climate here.
Microorganisms are not active.
A large number of dead branches and leaves are buried in the soil.
It's too late to accept the breakdown and keep gathering.
According to statistics. In the permafrost of Siberia.
At least 500 billion tonnes of carbon are stored.
The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is effectively controlled.
But unfortunately.
Now. Rising temperatures are causing large quantities of permafrost to melt.
The sleeping giant is awakening.
And when it wakes up, it also changes the earth at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Large area of the earth's surface.
or loss of support due to thawing of the underlying permafrost
and sinking water.
It has become a dot of puddles and lakes.
Siberian permafrost thaws, **Visual China)
or due to the evaporation of water in the thawed frozen soil.
The soil dries out, triggering forest fires.
Please landscape **, forest fires in Siberia, **shutterstock).
And inside the city.
Twisting and breaking of roads, damage to pipes.
Weakening of the foundation leads to the collapse of the house.
It is even more common.
direct economic loss caused by it.
Up to 500-150 billion rubles per year.
This is equivalent to 3.8-11.6 billion RMB.
The thawing permafrost causes the road to distort, which is for illustration purposes only, **Visual China).
Furthermore. In the process of thawing permafrost.
An increase in temperature causes microorganisms to become more active.
This allows for faster decomposition of carbon in the soil.
and is released in the form of carbon dioxide or methane.
The methane pit on the Yamal Peninsula, as the temperature rises, the permafrost thaws and collapses, and the methane gas that has been enclosed in the permafrost is suddenly released, and it is possible to blow up a big hole
It is estimated. By the middle of the century.
In the permafrost of Siberia.
More than 20 million tons of methane gas.
will be emitted into the atmosphere.
Global warming will intensify further
So far. Although all this is just our speculation.
No one can predict what the future holds.
But one thing is certain.
When the permafrost thaws completely.
Siberia is awakening again.
For Russia with North Asia.
And even for all of humanity.
It must be a seismic change.
This is Siberia.
In our impression.
It is synonymous with cold and desolation.
Extreme low temperatures, boundless wilderness.
is the most unique existence.
A vehicle driving on the ice of Lake Baikal, photographer @李珩).
But it's more than just cold.
Colorful forests, lively animals.
Also linger here.
Siberian Forest, **Visual China).
In billions of years.
It sleeps quietly on the earth like a giant.
But every time I wake up.
It's always earth-shattering.
For the planet.
It once destroyed the world and destroyed all lives.
For humans.
It has changed history and turned things around.
In terms of the future.
It can also change North Asia and affect the climate.
Night in Norilsk, **Visual China).
Its first two awakenings.
For better or for worse, it's a foregone conclusion.
And now. Rising temperatures are waking him up for the third time.
Only this time. Are we really going to wake it up?
Please horizontal screen**, Yenisei River, photographer @Teng Hongliang).
The team that created this article.
Written by: Shi Xiaofei Editor: Cloud Dance Empty City.
*: Zhang Zhaohai.
Design: Han Qing Map: Zheng Yi.
Reviewer: Li Chuyang & Wang Logic & Xiang Xiang & Tang Wenjun.
Header photo photographer: Li Heng.
Cover Photographer: Visual China.
References] 1] (USSR) H. N. Mikhailov. Overview of the physical geography of Siberia[M].The Commercial Press, 1958
2] Zhang Qinghui. Geography of Siberian resources[M].Nanjing University Press, 2017
3] Xia Linqi, Xu Xueyi, Li Xiangmin, et al. A comparative study of three large igneous provinces in Asia (Emeishan, Siberia and Deccan)[J].Northwest Geology,2012,45(02):1-26
4]anisimov o , zimov s .thawing permafrost and methane emission in siberia: synthesis of observations,reanalysis,andpredictivemodeling[j].abio,2021,50(11):20502059.
5] Zhu Chuang. A Study of the Industrial Problems of Siberia in the Soviet Period[D].Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, 2013
6]cressey g b. siberian resources for soviet warfare[j]. science,1942, 95(2463): 264-266.
7]ponomarev e , yakimov n , ponomareva t ,et al.current trend of carbon emissions from wildfires in siberia[j].atmosphere, 2021, 12(5):559.
8] Zhang Zhaochong, Zhu Jiang, Cheng Zhiguo, et al. Types, genesis and earth system significance of large igneous provinces[J].Acta Geologica Sinica,2022,96(12):4057-4090
9] Wang Wenrui. Study of the activities of Siberia (1894-1917) [D].Heilongjiang University, 2016
10] Zhu Jiang, Zhang Zhaochong. Research progress on the relationship between the two extinctions in the Great Igneous Province and the Permian[J].Geological Review,2013,59(01):137-148
Planetary Institute.
From a geographical perspective, focus on exploring the ultimate world.
the end···