Academician V.B. Sochava’s theory of geosystems and modern times
B.I. KOCHUROV1, V.B. KOROBOV2, A.S. LOKHOV2
1Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
2P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: system paradigm, components, hierarchy, directed graph, landscape structure, cybernetics
Abstract
In the 1960s and 1970s, Academician Viktor Borisovich Sochava developed a theory of geographical systems, which marked the beginning of a new direction in the Earth science. Over the past 60 years, the scientific worldview has significantly changed. These changes have also affected the theory of geosystems. The authors have studied the development paths of the theory of geosystems. It has been concluded that the main provisions of this theory are conceptually relevant today. It is shown that a number of ways of development of the theory of geosystems were laid down by V.B. Sochava at the very beginning of this theory development. The creation of a unified theory about the hierarchical structural and functional basis of natural systems is practically recognized, which makes it possible to organize environmental management in such a way that it is adapted to the natural territory organization as a unified, sustainable functioning system. The article considers some directions of further development of the theory of geosystems, such as the functioning of natural complexes in the presence of weak connections between components and the application of the graph theory to study internal and external interactions. An effective method for studying geosystems is fractal analysis, which enables to relate the density and distribution of natural and anthropogenic components and elements with their stability and self-regulation.
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