DEFINITION OF SIBERIAN TAIGA FOREST AND GLOBAL CARBON SINK

The northern third of Asia, stretching from the Ural Mountains in

the west to the Pacific coast into the east, is known as Siberia.

The southern border of Siberia is generally taken to be the

Kazakh steppes in the southwest, the Altai and Sayan Mountains

in the south, and the Mongolian steppes in the southeast.

This region occupies approximately 3,000,000 square

miles (7,500,000 km2). The western third of Siberia is occupied

by the Siberian lowland, stretching from the Urals to the

Yenisei River. This low marshy area is drained by the Ob

River and its tributaries and hosts agriculture, industry, and

most of Siberia’s population in the wooded steppe. Eastern

Siberia stretches from the Yenisei River to a chain of mountains

including the Yablonovy, Stanovoy, Verkhoyansk, Kolyma,

and Cherskogo Ranges. The eastern half of Siberia is an

upland plateau, drained by the Vitim and Aldan Rivers. The

Lena runs along the eastern margin of the region, and Lake

Baikal, the world’s deepest lake, is located in the southeast.

Northeasternmost Siberia hosts a smaller plain on the arctic

coast between the Lena and Kolyma Rivers, in the Republic

of Yakutia (Sakha).

Siberia shows a strong zonation in vegetation zones,

including a zone of tundra that extends inland about 200

miles (300 km) from the coast, followed by the taiga forest, a

mixed forest belt, and the southern steppes. Siberia’s taiga

forest accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s total

forested land, covering about two-thirds of the region. This

region accounts for about half of the world’s evergreen forest

and buffers global warming by acting as a large sink for carbon

that otherwise could be released to the atmosphere as

carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The forest, and the rich

soils derived from the decay of dead trees, represents a very

significant sink for global carbon. Much of the taiga forest is

currently being logged, at an alarming rate of loss of 12 million

hectares per year. Much of this is being done by clearcutting,

where 90 percent of the timber is harvested, leading

to increased erosion of the soil and runoff into streams. The

effects on deforestation could be dramatic for global climate.

With so much carbon stored in the taiga forest, both in the

trees and in the peat and soils, any logging or development

that releases this carbon to the atmosphere will increase global

carbon dioxide levels, contributing to global warming.

Additional loss of forest is being caused by acid rain and

other pollution largely emitted from the coal, nickel, aluminum,

and lead smelting plants in the west. Additionally,

large tracts of forest are being torn up to explore for and

extract oil, natural gas, iron ore, and diamonds.

See also GREENHOUSE EFFECT.

silicate minerals See MINERALOGY.

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