The study of the snow cover is of paleogeographic, paleogeocryological, and paleohydrological importance. Isotope composition (δ¹⁸О, δD, dexc) of the snow cover on a long transect of Western Siberia from the southern taiga to the tundra was investigated from February 19 to March 4, 2014. Snow samples were collected at 31 sites. Most of the samples represented by fresh snow were collected in two areas. In the area of Yamburg, the snow specimens collected from the surface are most probably settled snow of different ages. The values of δ¹⁸О in the snow from Tomsk to Yamburg varied from –21.89 to –32.82‰, and the values of δD, from –163.3 to –261.2‰. The value of deuterium excess was in the range of 4.06–19.53‰. The study of stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen of the snow led to identification of latitudinal zoning of the snow cover in the central continental part of western Siberia associated with the temperature mode at the time of precipitation.

The specimens were analyzed using a Finnigan Delta-V mass spectrometer in the isotope laboratoryof the Department of Geography, Moscow State University. International standards V-SMOW, GISP, and SLAP were used for measurements; the test error was ±0.6‰ for δD and ±0.1‰ for δ¹⁸O.