Home – Home – Jornals – Advanced Search

The prospects for the development of geological tourism as one of the directions of ecological educational and scientific tourism on the territory of the Baikal area of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites are discussed. According to these authors, this territory can be considered as a biosphere geopark which has the necessary preconditions for creating a system of Geoparks here and raising the question of including them in the global network of UNESCO Geoparks. A specific feature of the geopolygon is its location in the central part of the Baikal rift system and in the Central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory of high ecological and legal significance. Within the Baikal depression and its mountainous surroundings, there are natural sites of international importance. The basis for the development of geological tourism is formed by the structure of the Earth’s crust, various rocks and minerals, geological formations demonstrating the evolution of the lithosphere, mountainous dissected relief, formed under the influence of the latest tectonic movements, and the specific Baikal climate. Sites of geological tourism have been identified, a geological and recreational zoning of the territory has been carried out, taking into account the features of the geological structure, terrain, the degree of complexity of engineering and geological conditions, the presence and location of unique and valuable geological objects. Geological tourism is considered in the biosphere context, according to which geological processes and phenomena are positioned against the background of ecosystems characterized by high rates of self-healing potential and attractiveness: a special aesthetic and emotional-cognitive attractiveness. This allows the various types of educational and scientific tourism to be combined. The adopted noospheric paradigm involves a high scientific, technical and educational level of training for the development of geological tourism, and ensures the attractiveness and stability of geological objects against the background of living nature. The prospects for further research related to the provision of ecosystem services for organizing and conducting geological excursions and routes have been identified.

The largest cities of the Baikal region, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, and the capital of Mongolia Ulaanbaatar are analyzed in terms of the level of their landscaping, the formation of a green framework and the preservation of natural complexes. The assessment of the quantity and quality of landscaping is carried out by using the ideas of territorial nature conservation as well as taking into account the current standards of urban planning documents, which is the main purpose of this article. An attempt is made to give a detailed indication of the composition and area of the elements of green zones, their classification, institutionality, functional purpose, condition, level of protection, sufficiency of landscaping, and comparative characteristics of cities. The potential of each of the cities and its components are shown in the form of area characteristics and digital estimates of urban green zones, and their relationship with normative indicators. A classification of the types of green spaces of the cities has been developed, highlighting specially protected natural areas in accordance with special laws; urban forests and other similar areas determined by resolutions of the city authorities; managed by special municipal entities but not having a special status of green objects; as well as areas important for the greening of the city, but neglected by the city administration. Alternative components of urban greening in the form of territories occupied by cemeteries are highlighted. A so-called brown part of the ecological framework has been defined in the form of industrial, transport and warehouse zones, garage cooperatives, and landfills. The situation of the not obvious sufficiency of the total indicators of the urban greening area and the problems of compliance with regulatory documents on urban planning at the level of residential microdistricts of existing and new buildings is discussed. The task of strengthening the links of the nodes of the “green framework” of the cities is declared as well as the importance of the transition from quantitative to qualitative indicators of landscaping.

An assessment was made of the correctness of using automatic thermographs DS1922L-F5 and thermohygrographs DS1923-F5 in monitoring air temperature and relative humidity in mountain-depression landscapes by comparing data obtained with loggers and standard psychrometric thermometers installed at the Tunka weather station (Republic of Buryatia). A comparative analysis was carried out by using standard statistical methods. It was found that the differences in the readings of the instruments do not exceed the instrumental error of temperature measurement (0.1 °C) in 75 % of cases, and the error in relative humidity measurements (5 %) in 98 % of cases. In analyzing the daily average values, these ranges increase to 80 and 100 % of cases, respectively. The correlation coefficients between data obtained by standard meteorological instruments and compact automatic loggers are higher than 95 % both for temperature and for humidity. Based on the results of the study, the conclusion was drawn regarding the correctness of the use of these instruments in microclimate monitoring. Since 2007, air temperature and humidity measurements have been made at 56 model sites, synchronously with observations at weather stations of Roshydromet. The peculiarities of the temperature regime and the regime of relative humidity of the mountain-depression landscapes of the South-Western Cisbaikalia (Tunka and Mondy depressions) were described. Statistically significant differences in air temperatures on the slopes and at the bottom of each of the depressions in individual months and over a year, and also the differences in the temperature regime between the depressions, due to the structure, area, relative height and depressions coefficient, are shown. In average annual values, the temperature difference between similar landforms in two depressions is about 2 °C. The same order of magnitude is shown by the microclimatic differences between the slopes in each of the depressions.

On the basis of long-term station-based studies and soil-sedimentary sequences, a reconstruction of the morpholithogenesis of the Onon-Torey plain in the Holocene was performed. A rhythmicity of the functioning of geomorphological systems is revealed. It manifests itself in a regular change in the dynamic phases of relief formation. Characteristics of morphological, lithological and dynamic parameters of each phase are obtained. The sequence of their change in geomorphological cycles at different hierarchical levels is determined. It is shown that the largest cycle, encompassing the entire Holocene, on the Onon-Torei plain is most fully represented in sections of the valleys of the Imalka and Onon rivers. In eolian deposits, 1800-year cycles are especially clearly pronounced by periods of pedogenesis. A change in the conditions of aeolian accumulation in dune sections occurs every 260 years. In the mouths of the ravines opening into the basin of Lake Zun-Torei and the valley of the Builesan river, in the proluvial and proluvial-solifluction deposits of the Atlantic and Subatlantic periods, 130-year and intra-secular Brickner cycles are recorded, the duration of which is about 50 years. A regional scheme of alternation in the Holocene of extreme fluvial and arid phases with normal zonal dynamic phases of relief formation has been compiled. The horizons of fluvial genesis comprise the lower part of the sediments of the Holocene macrocycle. A strong manifestation of fluvial processes was noted in the Preboreal and Atlantic periods of the Holocene as well as in the transitional time from the Atlantic to the Subborial period. The normal zonal phase of matter integration in systems is evidenced by buried humus soil horizons. Soils aged about 8 and 6.4 as well as 1.2-1.4 thousand calendar years ago received regional formation. A tendency towards a reduction in the area of the lakes and an increase in the role of eolian processes against the background of a general aridization of the climate over the past 10 thousand years has been established. According to radiocarbon dating, sedimentation-accumulation rates were obtained. In general, the high dynamism of morpholithogenesis in the steppes of Central Asia is shown, which causes planation.

Analysis of data on the density of annual rings of conifers for the periods 1979-1993 and 1979-2006 allows us to identify patterns in the response of trees, taking into account the processes of abnormal decrease and natural recovery of total ozone content. Reconstructions of changes in total ozone content over the past 300 years along the Ural meridian according to satellite monitoring of total ozone content TEMIS (Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service project) and stem wood responses observed in data on the maximum density of annual rings of pine, spruce and larch were performed on the basis of methods of dendrochronological and spectral singular analysis, which made it possible to compare the current and past state of stratospheric ozone fields. Although changes in stratospheric ozone can play the role of a factor significantly limiting the annual growth of wood, such an approach to estimates works only in conditions of overlapping responses of trees under UV-B effects in the spectral range of 280-315 nm on stress responses from other climatic factors. Based on the results of a numerical modeling for three latitude ranges, models of maximum annual density were calculated in terms of changes in total ozone content and reconstructions of their past changes were given. The aridity of the climate and its cyclicity increase the stress effect of the ozonosphere on vegetation associated with an increase in UV-B radiation, and allow us to differentiate the responses of trees according to stressors by statistical methods. Reconstructions of total ozone content from April to September for the Ural meridian show that the level of total ozone content has not yet reached the previous historical values.

The study is made of the changes in climatic characteristics, such as air temperature, atmospheric pressure and precipitation and their relationship with the large-scale atmospheric circulation over Siberia for the climatically significant time interval 1979-2018. The study area was limited to 50-70° N and 60-110° E. In calculating the series of territory-averaged values of surface temperature, atmospheric pressure and average precipitation, daily observational data from NOAA-GSOD were used. The characteristics of baric formations of cyclones and anticyclones were determined on the basis of surface synoptic maps for standard meteorological periods. It was found that by the end of the study period the trend in surface temperature and precipitation is positive, and the trend in atmospheric pressure is negative. The trend in characteristics of baric formations, such as the number of cyclones and anticyclones, is positive, as is the pressure trend in the centers of anticyclones. On the contrary, the pressure trend in the centers of cyclones is negative, as is the trend in the duration of the impact of cyclones and anticyclones. It is shown that these trends underwent the most dramatic changes during 2012-2018, with a change of sign of the trend in pressure in the centers of anticyclones. Taking into consideration the close relationship between climatic characteristics and large-scale atmospheric circulation it can be suggested that the warming in Siberia before 2012 was due to a weakening of anticyclonic activity, and after 2012 it was due to an increase in cyclonic activity.

New results from studying the possible mechanisms of formation and degradation of the Chuya-Kurai ultra-high-pressure ice-dammed lake are presented. The conclusions are based on the analysis of the climatic hydrothermal regime which governs the development of the processes of self-freezing of the ice-dam and its subsequent degradation. According to updated data, at the maximum filling to the absolute level of 2133 m, the depth of the paleolake was 657 m, the volume of water was 753 km³, the water area was 3054 km², and the maximum hydrostatic pressure was 65 kg/cm² (6.37 MPa/cm²). The drainage of the lake basin was accompanied by the formation of 200 abrasive-accumulative terraces on the slopes of the basins in the height range of 1530-2133 m. A quantitative assessment of the formation time of one abrasive terrace in periglacial conditions is made as well as estimating the duration of the action of wind-wave processes for the development of abrasion: it did not exceed 90 days of a warm season. The water layers drained during the year through the thermal erosion channels of the ice dam were determined by the difference in the heights of the abrasive terraces. The duration of the existence of an ice-dammed lake has been clarified. The study used current quantitative data on measuring the average annual flow rate of the Chuya River at the nearest Chagan-Uzun hydrological post. Calculations have shown that the filling of the lake basin to the maximum volume of water of 753 km³ (taking into account the water accumulating in the ice dam, 68 km³ (total V = 821 km³)) was carried out for 5324 years. The duration of water discharge, determined by the number of abrasion terraces, was no more than 200 years. The frequency of retrogression of the lake level, equal to 20 years, has been revealed. Apparently, it was caused by climatic fluctuations: changes in cooling and warming.

Based on field expedition research and analysis of high-resolution polychronous satellite imagery data carried out in AlWaRes GIS environment, the latest data on the modern state of lake-glacial resources of Tsambagarav Ridge (Western Mongolia, Mongolian Altai), and their changes since the maximum of the Little Ice Age of the 17^th-19^th centuries were obtained. It was found that at the maximum transgressive stage of the Little Ice Age, with 3D topography of mountain-glacial basins taken into account, the glaciation of the ridge covered 99.1 km², and the total volume of glaciers reached 4.72 km³. The subsequent climate changes during the post-maximum phase of the Little Ice Age entailed a spatial transformation of the nival-glacial belt of the ridge, implying a progressive reduction in the size of the glaciation and the uplifting of its lower vertical limits. By August 2020, the total glaciation area of Tsambagarav Ridge decreased to 65.21 km² and ice reserves decreased to 2.98 km³. A statistical analysis of the mean annual air temperature of the northern regions of Western Mongolia over a half-century period showed a steady positive trend. A rise of annual air temperature was also accompanied by a decrease in temperature during the ablation period (June-August). In the modern deglaciation belt of the ridge, eight glacial lakes have appeared with a total water area of 0.34 km² and a water reserve of 1 260 000 t. Analysis of satellite imagery from 1966 to 2020 shows that most of them have formed in the last half a century and are confined to the pre-glacial margins of modern glaciers. Dependencies developed in the course of the study are used to calculate the indicators of intrastructural redistribution of water storage from glacial to limnic systems from the maximum of the Little Ice Age to 2020.

This paper presents the results of long-term expeditions which were aimed to study the occurrence of natural hybrids between Siberian stone pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour) and Siberian dwarf pine (P. pumila (Pall.) Regel)). It was found that the ranges of these species are the most extensive among the five-needle pines, and they are located mainly in northern Asia. The eastern part of the Siberian stone pine range and the western part of the Siberian dwarf pine range overlap. Where both species grow together and the conditions for their cross-pollination are favorable, hybrids F1 are formed. It is shown that hybrids do not withstand competition with upright trees in phytocenoses typical for Siberian stone pine and are often damaged by snow piling. In phytocenoses typical for Siberian dwarf pine, hybrids show good growth, but are damaged due to frost weathering. It was found that the most favorable locations for hybrids are open sunlit areas where they form a balanced symmetrical crown and have abundant cone-bearing, but such locations are scarce. It is shown that the hybrid zone is characterized by mosaic structure, and in the northeastern and southwestern parts hybridization transforms into introgression. In the northeastern part of the hybrid zone, which coincides with the northeastern border of the Siberian stone pine range, hybridization has led to the replacement of Siberian stone pine by cryptic hybrids with the morphology of this species and mitochondrial DNA of Siberian dwarf pine, which are obviously more adapted to local conditions. In addition, it was found that hybrids growing in the south of Tomsk oblast are resistant to local climate and pests to the same extent as are parental species, and their unusual crown form, intermediate relative to the species, allows us to consider hybrids as an additional source of plant material for use in breeding work.

This article compares three methods of representing micro-charcoal analysis data for studying the thousand-year history of paleofires by using, as an example, microcharcoal data from the bottom sediments of Lake Uzunkol (Ulagan Plateau, Central Altai). The advantages of using the CC index of absolute concentration of microcharcoal per 1 cm³ (Charcoal Concentration) and the CI index for calculating the annual accumulation of microcharcoal per 1 cm² unit area (Charcoal Influx) in lake sediment samples in comparison with data on absolute counts of microcharcoal are proved. The results from applying the CC and CI indexes of microcharcoal to paleocharcoal data from bottom sediments of Lake Uzunkol, covering the time interval from the Late Glacial (17 000 cal. yr BP) till the present, are analyzed. The application of these indexes removes the artificial effect of the increased abundance of microcharcoal in the case of low pollen productivity of steppe landscapes. Results from studying paleomicrocharcoal in bottom sediments of Lake Uzunkol by using the three methods showed that natural fires in Central Altai were most intense in the Holocene during the transitional, unstable climatic period 9500-9000 cal. yr BP, when one type of landscape (steppe) was replaced by another type (forest). That is, forest-steppe landscapes were the most prone to natural fires in the past. By using the CI index, it was found that the development of ancient cultures in the Altai region was accompanied by a general increase in the concentration and accumulation of microcharcoal in lacustrine sediments, starting from 4500 cal. yr BP. A dramatic increase in the concentration and annual accumulation of microcharcoal occurred after 1700 cal. yr BP, which could be caused by an increase in population density in this region of Altai.