Formed after the last ice age roughly 10 000 years ago, the mire spans over 53 000 km² in Western Siberia and comprises three principal landscape units — raised bogs, transitional mires, and forested mires. Millennia of peat accumulation have built layers up to 10 m deep, dotted with hundreds of thousands of glistening lakes and sparse shrub islands, while a dendritic network of watercourses feeds the major tributaries of the Ob and Irtysh rivers. With virtually no roads or infrastructure, the swamp remains one of the most inaccessible corners of the planet, ideal for studying natural carbon and water cycles and observing rare bird and mammal species.