User:SakuraGinger/sandbox

Draft Section - River Course
The Selenga River is 1,480 km long and is Mongolia's principal river. Formed by the meeting of the Ider and Delger Rivers, it flows from Mongolia and into east-central Russia, acting as the main tributary of Lake Baikal. Forming the headwaters of the Yenisei-Angara River system, the Selenga River freezes from November to April, while snowmelt increases the river's flow during the spring and early summer.

Practicing Citations
This article details the Mongolian Governments’ proposition to build a dam on the Selenga River, and the environmental impacts it would have on the delta if such plans were to come to fruition.

For each flood, the start date of flooding, the list of flooded settlements, flood class and the impacts, were detailed.

In doing this, they found that the background values of certain metals in regions subject to city and mining industry were well above the global guideline value in several regions.

The magazine article discusses a link between Native Americans and their ancestors in East Asia, that was discovered based on a tooth that was found on the banks of the Selenga River.

Correlating values of silica output and water discharge from the Selenga River, the article discusses the impact of silica concentration on algal development and the lake’s diatoms.

Activity. 5.4.1 – for peer review
This article details the Mongolian Governments’ proposition to build a dam on the Selenga River, and the environmental impacts it would have on the delta if such plans were to come to fruition.

For each flood, the start date of flooding, the list of flooded settlements, flood class and the impacts, were detailed.

In doing this, they found that the background values of certain metals in regions subject to city and mining industry were well above the global guideline value in several regions.

The magazine article discusses a link between Native Americans and their ancestors in East Asia, that was discovered based on a tooth that was found on the banks of the Selenga River.

Correlating values of silica output and water discharge from the Selenga River, the article discusses the impact of silica concentration on algal development and the lake’s diatoms.

Answers to Module 7:
Describe your media: My own photo of a Cherry Plum Tree Blossom in Baulkham Hills

'''Is it your own work? :''' Yes

What is the file format? jpeg.

What license have you chosen? cc-by-sa-4.0

What category/gallery will you add to it? Natural scenery

How will you describe the file? It is a picture of Cherry Plum tree blossoms, in Baulkham Hills, NSW, Australia.

1.1 Archaeology:
At the end of the 19th century, evidence of Paleolithic culture was discovered in the Selenga River basin. The artefacts found were collections of stone implements.

During 1928-29, G.P.Sosnovskii, under the purview of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R directed an archaeological Stone Age study in the Selenga Valley near Kiakhta. In this expedition, Sosnovokii discovered remains of local Paleolithic culture in an area that stretched from “…the valley of the Selenga River from the Mongolian Frontier down to Selenginsk...”

The “…Buriat-Mongol Archaeological Expedition from the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R and the Institute of Culture of the Buriat-Mongol A.S.S.R…”, undertook a Paleolithic study in the Trans-Baikal region from 1947-58. Directed by A.P.Okladnikov, the study uncovered 30 new sites, including one that covered the area from Selenginsk to the Selenga River mouth, which provided evidence of a Paleolithic-type culture. Amongst these 30 sites, was the discovery of the site, Ust-Kyakhta-3. While the site was discovered in 1947, it was only later excavated in 1976 and 1978, yielding “more than 40,000 stone artefacts [and] abundant faunal remains”. Further archaeological work in 2012 at the site found two human tooth fragments.

In a study published in Volume 181 of the Cell journal, the link between Native Americans and their ancestors in East Asia was established, using one of the tooth fragments found at the Ust-Kyakhta-3 site.

2.   River Course:
The Selenga River is 1,480 km long and is formed from the convergence of the Ider and Delger Rivers. It flows from Mongolia and into east-central Russia, acting as the main tributary of Lake Baikal. The Delger River flows from the Sangilen Mountains, “…found on the border between Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tyva…”, while the Ider’s headwaters are located in the Hangyn Mountains in central Mongolia. Upon the meeting of the Delger and Ider Rivers, the Selenga River moves northeast from Mongolia and joins with the Orkhon River at Suhbaatar. The river then continues north into Russia. Once in Russia, the river turns eastward towards Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia and then goes northwards to Tataurovo. The Selenga proceeds to move westwards and then “…flows through a delta into Lake Baikal.”

2.1        Climate:
A powerful Siberian anti-cyclone, is the major influence of the climate in the Selenga basin. It is formed in September-October and disappears in April-May. Due to the anti-cyclone, the 448,000-km2 river basin, is prone to a climate of harsh winters, which consist of sunny days and low air temperatures , and warm summers. The river experiences "...extended summer floods and short occasional (event-driven) floods in the other seasons."

The section of the Selenga River from Suhbaatar to its mouth is ice-free from May-October. Travel across the river is possible during this period. From November to April, the river is covered with ice. The ice drift lasts from 3-6 days. From May to September, in spring and early summer, snowmelt enables maximum discharge.

Some of the Mongolian tributaries that contribute to the basin include “…the Orkhon, Hanuy, Egiyn, Russian Chikoy, Khilok, Uda, Dzhida and Temnik rivers.”

3.1        Selenga River Basin:
The Selenga River basin is part of the larger international Arctic Ocean Basin and is located in northern Mongolia. “A semi-arid region…between latitudes 46 and 52◦N, and longitudes 96 and 109◦E…”, the basin is 280,000 km2 and is Mongolia’s largest basin. The principal source of freshwater in Mongolia, the basin has two main rivers – the Selenga and the Selenga’s tributary, the Orkhon. The “…major sub-basins are the Egiin, Ider, Orkhon and Tuul river basins…” with Lake Baikal occupying 47% of the Selenga River basin. The terrain of the basin is dominated “…by forest or grassland and is underlain by permafrost.”

3.2        Selenga River Delta and the Delta Wetlands:
Lobate shaped and 40km wide, the Selenga River Delta is surrounded by marshlands. The formation of the delta is dependent on the sediment load carried by the river, with the lake tides having little impact in terms of geographical change. The sediment balance of the delta is dependent on physical processes, and this, in turn, affects the geochemical barrier functions of the area. During the period of the Irkutsk dam construction (1950-56), there was a “…increased sediment delivery to the delta…”

The wetlands of the Selenga River delta are classified as a RAMSAR site and are found within the administrative region of the Republic of Buryatia. The wetlands support a large number of threatened and endemic species, including over 170 species of bird. The area has mean air temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius in July and -19.4 degrees Celsius in January, with floods often occurring in summer after heavy rains.

3.3        Selenge-Orkhon Forest Steppe:
The Selenge-Orkhon Forest Steppe is an ecoregion that “…lies between the steppe and the taiga and includes the Orkhon and Selenge river basins…”  There is vegetation consisting of “…wide mountain valleys in the Orkhon and Selenge river basins” (Radnaabazar, n.d., paragraph 1), and there are scattered forests in the Selenge-Orkhon Steppe.

The landscape and dry climate of the Selenge-Orkhon forest-steppe is maintained in part due to the “…hot, dry wind coming from the northeast steppe areas…”   In the basin, the winter season is “…from mid-October to late March or early April”, while spring typically begins in early April and finishes in late June. For 80-90 days, starting in mid-June, the area experiences the summer season, with precipitation falling between 250-300mm. This is in contrast to autumn and winter, in which rainfall is typically between 150-200mm. In mid-September, autumn begins, lasting for about 65 days.

4.1        Water Quality of the Selenga River:
Before the turn of the millennium, the Selenga River and Lake Baikal had rich aquatic ecosystems nearly untouched by human influence. Since, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the basin, which contains vast plains, has been effected by agricultural, climate and economic factors. This included changes like forest losses, urbanization and a growth in farming and mining activities. The escalation of anthropogenic factors can be correlated with pollution by “…potentially toxic elements, including metals and persistent organic pollutants.”

A study published in Volume 12 of the Water journal, found that based on the Mongolian National Standard, “the main pollutants of the Selenga River are Zn … As…and Pb...” They also found that metal content in the river water was tens or hundreds of times higher in sites closer to urban and mining areas. Based on data observing toxicological and bioaccumulation effects on aquatic biota, the contamination has been shown to have an ecological impact.

References for Draft Article
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO] (2016). Mongolia. AQUASTAT. http://www.fao.org/NR/water/aquastat/countries_regions/Profile_segments/MNG-WR_eng.stm

Batbayar, G., Kappas, M., Karthe, D., Sauer, D., Ruppert, H., Pfeiffer, M., & Schlund, M. (2018). Chemical Water Quality in Selenge River Basin in Mongolia: Spatial-temporal Patterns and Land Use Influence. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Chalov, S., Thorslund, J., Kasimov, N., Aylbullatov, D., Ilyicheva, E., Karthe, D., …Pavlov, M. (2017). The Selenga River delta: a geochemical barrier protecting Lake Baikal waters. Regional environmental change, 17(7), 2039-2053. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-016-0996-1

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020). Selenga River. In britannica.com. https://www.britannica.com/place/Selenga-River

Kasimov, N., Shinkareva, G., Lychagin, M., Kosheleva, N., Chalov, S., Pashkina, M.,. . . Jarsjö, J. (2020). River water quality of the Selenga-Baikal basin: Part I—Spatio-temporal patterns of dissolved and suspended metals. Water, 12(8), 2137. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12082137

Ma, X., Yasunari, T., Ohata, T., Natsagdorj, L., Davaa, G., & Oyunbaatar, D. (2003). Hydrological Regime analysis of the Selenge River basin, Mongolia. Hydrological Processes, 17(14), 2929-2945. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.1442

The Earth Observatory. (n.d.) Snowfall on the Selenga River Delta. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/76521/snowfall-on-the-selenga-river-delta-russia

Okladnikov, A. P., & Chard, C. S. (1961). The Paleolithic of Trans-Baikal. American Antiquity, 26 (4), 486-497. https://www.jstor.org/stable/278736

Price, M. (2020, May 21). Oldest Cousin of Native Americans Found in Russia. ScienceMag.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/oldest-cousin-native-americans-found-russia

Radnaabazar, B. (n.d.). Central Asia: Northern central Mongolia, stretching slightly into southern Russia. https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0816

Ramsar Sites Information Service. (1997). 18. Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands. https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/682?language=en

Yu, H., Spyrou, M. A., Karapetian, M., Shnaider, S., Radzevičiūtė, R., Nägele, K.,. . . Lucas, M. (2020). Paleolithic to Bronze Age Siberians Reveal Connections with First Americans and across Eurasia. Cell, 181(6), 1232-1245.e1-e12 https://doi.org./10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.037