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Pacific Russia is regarded as an aquaterritorial macroregion in the composition of the Far Eastern Federal District and the adjacent sea area within the 200-nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The macroregion harbors enormous natural land and sea resource wealth potential and is endowed with possibilities of using the sea transport connecting Russia and Europe with countries of the Asia-Pacific Region. In Pacific Russia, two latitudinal zones, northern and southern, are identified; they include the territories of the constituent entities of the Far Eastern Federal District. Combinations of the kinds of activity for the constituent entities and latitudinal zones are treated as territorial structures of the economy. An assessment of the geographical differentiation of the economy in the latitudinal zones for the years 2004 and 2013 and its change was made from the differences of the homogeneous kinds of activity in the constituent entities measured in terms of the added value. Structural gradients of spatial (including latitudinal) differentiation of the homogeneous kinds of economic activity are suggested for neighboring constituent entities. The analysis made for the latitudinal zones can be useful in assessing the variants of investment in the economy of the constituent entities of Pacific Russia.

This paper presents the scientific-methodological approaches to cartographic GIS-based modeling of pipelines with geoeco logical restrictions which essentially imply a spatial multiparametric analysis of the natural potential of the study territory in order to explore its possibilities of consistently performing the socioeconomic functions as pre-assigned without disturbing the life-support (environment and resource reproduction) functions. The suggested technique is illustrated by the example of selecting the route for the laying of the pipeline system on the model territory in the arctic zone of Siberia. Critical principles are applied to the technique of cartographic modeling of the pipeline route, i. e. the principles of systemacy, ecological security, priority of estimated indicators, unity of assessment and economic expediency. The following investigation methods were used in implementing the technique: ranking of the properties of natural landscapes according to their influence on the suitability of the territory, qualimetric assessments for the suitability classes of lands of natural systems, and graph theory for determining the optimal pipeline route on the basis of Dijkstra’s algorithm. The table of unnormalized and normalized weighting factors is compiled, which are taken in consideration for assessing the suitability of natural landscape components and their characteristic properties. Ar chival and published reference data are used to calculate the reference values of the indicators used in an integral assessment of the suitability of the territory for the laying of the pipeline route.

A detailed analysis is made of the current ideas concerning floods of a special type. We examine sudden short-duration torrential floods, one of the most widespread and hazardous natural phenomena in the world characterized by a high rate of development, and by a short duration. It is shown that such floods are of the most widespread occurrence in the Northern hemi sphere in regions with a temperate and subtropical climate. It is established that such floods are in a primitive stage of study, which is testified by the fact that there is no general consensus as to what should be treated as a sudden flood. It is pointed out that a special term desig nating them is also absent in many countries. It is determined that the key formation conditions for sudden floods include intense short-duration cloudbursts, occurrence of a river basin in mountainous regions and a small drain age area; on this basis, it is suggested that they be termed sudden cloudburst floods. We suggest the scheme of natural factors for formation of sudden cloudburst floods and their differences from mudflows and floods of other types. It is determined that the main problems of investigating the formation mechanisms and forecasting the aforementioned floods are associated with the small spatiotemporal scale of these phenomena.

We examine the issue concerning the determination of the line of demarcation between geomorphology and the related Earth sciences which is associated with elementarization of continual topographic surface of the planet’s relief. We present our view of the progression along this direction that relies on the theory of the system-morphological foundation of Earth sciences. We es tablished the existence of the synenergy effect in the use of the system-morphological approach in all particular geographical sciences: in microclimatology, it provides a means of referencing microclimates and “local climates” to topographic features; in soil science, it revitalizes the notion of an elementary soil area thus simplifying the process of soil mapping. In geobotany and biogeocenology, this approach helps to make results from studying phytocenose productivity and from dendroindication investiga tions more representative. We determined a direct practical importance of landscape geophysics and assessments of the significance of geotopes on land surface as well as on the bottom of the World Ocean and beneath mainland glaciers. It is suggested that the system-morphological approach be used in the interests of a further development not only of traditional analytical geomorpho logy but also its new, synthetic direction that relates geomorphology with social sciences. It is established that in such a case the sym metry tools can be sued to define the relief as the set of locations with anthropogenic objects, processes and phenomena.

An analysis is made of the geobotanical forecasting technique. Mapping is known to be recognized as the most powerful method of forecasting-geobotanical investigations. A close interrelation between geobotanical forecasting and vegetation mapping is demonstrated. To improve objectivity of the findings used cartographic models of modern and predicted vegetation which most fully represent the entire structural-cenotic diversity of plant communities in Prebaikalia, the central region of Baikalian Siberia. The predictive constructions are based on analyzing modern vegetation which always includes structural features of its future that manifest themselves in primary and stable secondary communities. We developed the legend and compiled the map (sc 1:200 000) of the region’s modern vegetation. The state of the natural environment of the Lena-Angara interfluve is assessed having regard to the various functions of plant communities in geosystems. The 1:200 000 map of probability-predictive (within 200 years) vegetation is presented for Lena-Angara interfluve. It is shown that complete recovery of the primary structure will not occur within 200 years. It is found that it is necessary to carry out predictive-cartographic investigations for the whole of Baikalian Siberia as vegetation of this region is characterized by a decreased activity of recovery processes occurring under the influence of anthropogenic factors. The reason has to do with the harsh natural conditions where it is not worthwhile to pursue extensive nature management, such as is universally the case to date, leading to undesirable economic consequences, because the degree of disturbance to vegetation in a number of areas of Prebaikalia has now reached as critical level. It is concluded that a further policy of nature management on this territory must be built upon the new principles to be approved by government documents.

The need to improve the assessment of the natural fire hazard in nature reserves is considered. It is suggested that the natural vegetation fuel map compiled by using a specially developed determinant of the types of main conductors of burning having regard to the period of a fire-hazardous season should be used for such purposes. The types of prime conductors of burn ing constitute the major group of vegetation fuels which determines the possibility of the spread of burning across the territory covered by vegetation. A classification of this group was carried out on the basis of long-term pyrological investigations in differ ent regions of the RF. The vegetation fuel maps are presented for the Stolby nature reserve, separately for the spring (autumn) and summer seasons, because the southern-taiga forests are characterized by a predominance of the grass forest types with the involvement of gramineous species. The map of the current natural fire hazard is compiled and presented as an example, on the basis of the vegetation fuel map for the spring (autumn) periods of the season for drought class II according to the weather con ditions. This map is representative of the possibility or impossibility of the spread of burning for each area in the nature reserve in the event that the source of fire (of anthropogenic or natural origins) appears. It is shown that vegetation fuel map can be compiled for any nature reserve by using the determinant of the types of prime conductors of burning.

On the basis of analyzing the ecological problems of the Northwest Pacific region, we suggest ecological quality objectives, the attainment of which is to ensure a good state of the marine environment in the region which is a necessary condition for sustainable nature management. We discuss the operational goals and quantitative criteria and indicators as required for monitoring the current state of ecosystems as well as the progress in achieving the objectives. An analysis is made of experience in using a similar approach in the European Union. It is shown that there is a difference of the environmental quality monitoring techniques in the Northwest Pacific region where cooperative efforts on rationalization of nature management are not supported legislatively. In dealing with this problem, a special role would be played by regional and international cooperation, specifically within the United National Environment Programme in the Northwest Pacific region, contributing to a harmonization of the national monitoring systems. The need for international cooperation is also dictated by the irregularity of natural and socioeconomic conditions in the region, which makes the development of unified assessment methods difficult.

Presented are the results from summarizing many years (1990-2012) routine hydrochemical data on content of cadmium and lead compounds in river ecosystems of different natural zones and altitudinal belts of Russia. This study used data on chemical composition of water from 91 observation posts on 75 rivers. Long-term variability in content levels of metals is considered with respect to the ranges of variation in concentration of a long-term period, median values of concentration and the MAC exceedance frequency. It is shown that in different natural zones and altitudinal belts, the content level of cadmium compounds is relatively uniform and varies from values below the detection limit to 39-45 μ g/dm ³ in most of the river ecosystems used in this study. The content of lead compounds in the river water varies over a broad range, from zero values to 44 μ g/dm ³ (except for anomalously high concentrations in separate river ecosystems). And the highest values are observed in the rivers of the taiga zone. An assessment is made of the pollution level of the river waters by lead and cadmium compounds. The largest number of cases of high and extremely high water pollution was recorded for lead compounds. The proportion of the river ecosystems with a high and extremely high level of water pollution by cadmium and lead compounds constituted 21.2 and 46.9 %, respectively. It was found that not only does the presence of cadmium and lead compounds in aquatic ecosystem deteriorate the water quality and the state of aquatic ecosystems, but it also disturbs the functioning of hydrobionts. Therefore, results from assessing long-term variability in contents of the most dangerous heavy metals, lead and cadmium, in the water environment can be used in developing measures for water quality improvement and for recovery of the status of river ecosystems.

It is found that pollution of the territory from local sources of the zone of atmospheric influence spreads over several tens of kilometers along the prevailing wind direction, and in the central zone it is replaced by regional pollution. Snow pollution in the water area of Lake Baikal was recorded near coastal settlements and in the mouth of the Selenga river. It is established that the southern hollow of Baikal holds the lead in the input of NO2, NO3, NH4, PO4, F, Al, Na, Ba, Mo, Mn, Pb, Cu, Zn, Sr, Hg and petroleum products to the lake’s water area in spite of the fact that it is twice as small as the northern hollow. The northern hollow receives much larger amounts of SO4, H2CO3, Cl, Ca, Mg and K than the northern hollow, and much larger amounts of Be, V, Cr and Co than the middle hollow, which is associated with the operation of coastal enterprises, boilers, thermoelectric plants, stove heating, automobile exhaust emissions, and with the natural transport of dust in snow-deficient areas of the middle hollow. It is determined that that last five years saw a slight increase in regional pollution for separate components. It is shown that in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s, pollution decreased twice, which was due to the setback in industrial production.