Institute of Geology and Natural Management (Far Eastern department of Russian Academy of Sciences) (Blagoveshchensk, Russia):

Savchenko I. F., Leading Researcher, Candidate of Biological Sciences, e-mail: sav@ascnet.ru
Girenko I. V., Leading Process Engineer

Peat resources of Amur River region account nearly 1.6 bln. t. More than 1.1 bln. t of these resources are situated in the northern part of this region (at 52 NL), in the permafrost area, which reaches the depth of 30-85 m. The peat deposits, situated on the depth of 3-5 m and more, as well as mineral deposits, underlying the peat, are frozen.
The area of bogs, situated at the northern part of Amur River region, is more than 40 th. km. The considerably large bogs and formed peatbogs are situated within a radius of transport accessibility (25-30 km) along the routes of large and small Baikal-Amur railways of trans Siberian line at the border of Transbaikalia. The routes of Baikal-Amur railway are closed to the bogs of the basins of Olekma and Nyukzhi rivers, Upper Zeya plain and basin of Selemdzhi river, where separate bogs and peat deposits are stretched to many thousands of hectares. Large massifs of deep frozen peatbogs are situated to the east of Amur River basin, along the Baikal-Amur railway, in the Bureinsk valley and Evoron-Chukchagir lowland of Khabarovsk Krai.
For the purpose of efficient and competitive usage of large resources of peat bogs of Amur River region, there is proposed the new approach of development of permafrost peatbogs. This approach, based on the seasonal layer defrosting, collection, stockpiling and dispatch of peat, is alternative to traditional. Application of this approach makes it possible to use the high bearing capacity of frost, exclude the overdraining and possibility of peatbogs inflaming, provide the increasing of seasonal peat digging to 1.8-2 th.t per ha with the significant decreasing of volumes of developments and costs on the peat stocking.

1. Spravochnik po torfu (Peat reference book). Under the editorship of A. V. Lazarev and S. S. Korchunov. Moscow : Nedra, 1982, 760 p.
2. Shuvalov Yu. V., Kosov V. I. Gornyi Zhurnal – Mining Journal, 2007, No. 11, pp. 6–8.
3. Savchenko I. F. K obosnovaniyu novogo sposoba razrabotki mnogoletnemerzlykh torfyanikov (To the explanation of a new method of development of permafrost peatbogs). Voprosy geologii i kompleksnogo osvoeniya prirodnykh resursov Vostochnoy Azii : sbornik dokladov Vserossiyskoy nauchnoy konferentsii (Proceedings of geology and complex development of natural resources of Eastern Asia : collection of reports of all-Russian scientific conference). Blagoveshchensk : Institute of geology and natural management (Far Eastern department of Russian Academy of Sciences), 2010, pp. 245–246.
4. Gidroklimaticheskie resursy Amurskoy oblasti : spravochnik (Hydroclymatic resources of Amur region : reference book). Under the editorship of I. F. Mavrin. Blagoveshchensk : Khabarovsk Publishing House, Amur department, 1983, pp. 16–20.