Resources, regime and quality of surface waters in the Ob River basin: history, current state and problems of research

The relevance of the contemporary landscape-ecological and biogeochemical studies of the Ob floodplain

“…It is formed by the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers 25 km southwest of Biysk in Altai Krai. The Ob is the largest river discharging to the Arctic Ocean in terms of watershed area (average annual discharge of 12,475 m ), and the Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary (a 100-kilometer-long bay of the Kara Sea) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The length of the Ob River is 3,650 km, a drainage area of 2,990,000 km 2 .…”

“…The Ob splits into more than one arm; its tributaries reach into Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia, but the main course is within Russia. The noteworthy tributaries are the Tom, the Chulym, the Ket, the Tym and the Vakh rivers from the east; the Vasyugan, the Irtysh and the Sosva rivers from the west and south [3,8,9].…”

“…It is determining the nature and timing of interactions within the "water-rocks" system and consequently the correlation of processes of accumulation and removal of substances from different components of the environment. In connection with the local sources of matter, the correlation makes the hydrochemical "background" in the Ob basin [8,9,32].…”

“…It is evident, that the mire waters of the region in their natural state are characterized as slightly acidic or neutral, fresh with salinity up to 200-500 mg/dm 3 ; the organic substances concentration is about 25-50 mgC/dm 3 . In the vertical cross section of the peat, the least mineralization is observed in the upper part of the active layer, which is characterized by the highest flow through and filter coefficients [8].…”

Recycling of iron-containing deposits – the main way to increase the efficiency of water-protective measures on the territory of the Tom lower course

“…The high level of surface water contamination [1,2,3] promotes transition to underground water supply systems. In Tomsk region the use of ground waters is also in priority for drinking water supply.…”