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Presented are the technique and results of studying the landscape structure of the north-west of Western Siberia on the basis of the Hansen mosaic consisting of elements covering the entire territory of the Earth. To study of this area used a synthesis of classical methods of thematic system mapping as described in the doctrine of geosystems of V. B. Sochava, and automated interpretation of remote sensing data and mapping using GIS technologies. The method of geoinformational mapping of the landscape structure with the use of MultiSpec and Quantum GIS software programs for the purpose of drawing up real-time raster landscape maps is shown. In drawing up the map and the legend, the principle of geomic system-hierarchical representation of the territory as a complex multi-level “bottom-up” structure from topological-level geosystems (groups and classes of landscape facies) to regional-level geosystems (geoms, groups and classes geoms) was used. Compilation of operational raster landscape maps of the north-west of Western Siberia involved multilevel automated interpretation of the Hansen mosaic and mapping of areas (clusters) on images with different brightness characteristics of the landscape structure of key areas and stationary physical and geographical profiles. A characteristic of this approach is also the use of a dynamic classification of geosystems based on the study of their variable states. Such an approach permits a monitoring of changes in landscape structure and its areas and the intensity of anthropogenic impacts on forest and marsh landscapes, and determination of permissible loads on geosystems in areas with high technogenic load of the oil and gas complex represented by the north-west of Siberia. An automated processing of data based on a supervised classification of territorial objects allows for the elimination of inaccuracies arising in visual image interpretation. Raster landscape maps can be used both for a further creation of vector maps and as an real-time information base for purposes of environmental management and protection.

A new technique for compiling vegetation maps on the basis of two-stage technology is presented. It includes a preliminary assessment of the state of vegetation, and a classification with training samples with the simultaneous use of the digital basemap (GlobCover, 2009) and multispectral images of very high spatial resolution (Alos and Rapideye). We examine the specific features of spectral reflection of vegetation and the vegetation indices for the analysis of vegetation viability. We developed the structuring of plant communities of the study area and the referencing of standard types to the GlobCover classes used as the basis. The possibilities of a multispectral classification have been studied on the basis of very high resolution images in the context of the study territory and the GlobCover classes. Land cover maps are obtained on the basis of training samples and the most plausible classification. The vegetation dynamics (2009-2012) has been investigated for some areas of Vostochnyi Cosmodrome occupied by facilities under construction. Specifically, updates were made concerning infrastructure development, the devastation of woody vegetation, etc. A new method of obtaining vegetation maps is proposed, based on using a global digital basemap and high spa tial resolution images for the desired local areas.

A study was made of the influence of extraction of lead and zinc ores in the northern part of Viet Nam (the Red river basin, Chodon district of Bac Can Province, and the basins of the Dai, Ban Thi, Ta Dieng and Cau rivers). Background concentrations of macro- and microelements and biogenic elements are determined in the river waters and water extracts from bottom sediments of small streams of the study area. A significance exceedance of background concentrations was revealed in stretches of the headwaters of the Ban Thi and Dai rivers caused by a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. It is established that the river waters near the pollution sources contain increased (compared with the geochemical background) concentrations of Zn, Pb, Fe, Ni, Co, As, Bi, Cd, Cs, Sb, Ag, NO2- and SO42-. The waters are estimated as moderately and heavily polluted, and at the other points as minimally polluted. It is determined that the level of accumulation of matter in water extracts from bottom sediments with respect to the geochemical background in the vicinity of the ore dressing factories corresponds to weakly and heavily polluted bottom sediments, and further downstream, to the minimum level of pollution. It is shown that the influence of extraction of lead and zinc ores on the state of small streams is observed in stretches as long as 11-12 km (with a maximum in stretches of up to 4.5 km). The mathematical model of distribution of Pb and Zn distribution in the river waters of the study area has been developed and tested.

We examine functional geography as a part of the theory of functional systems, the subject matter of which now involves the cause-effect relationships of the influence of the factors and conditions on processes and phenomena of a different origin. Within the framework of this scientific and geographical direction, most attention is concentrated on the study into the environ mental conditions, the methods of taking them into account in calculation formulas, analysis of critical levels of variability, and on the search for environmental invariants. By taking into consideration the distinguishing features of the environment, geography provides an informational basis for solving applied problems in other fields of knowledge, proves the environmental relativity and geographical determinism of the manifestation of the laws of the functioning of nature and society. The article discusses the re lationship between structure, dynamics and functioning in geographical studies, presents the theoretical and mathematical bases for modelling the functional features of geosystems and substantiates the functional approach and the corresponding models. The functions of geosystems are investigated and modelled in the form of the interaction of their components, the characteristics of which are regarded as the factors that jointly influence the degree of manifestation of these functions. It is shown that the pos sibility of expl aining the regu larities of the functioning of geographical systems is ensured are provided by the use of the logarith mic scale of the characteristics of the influencing factors.

Presented are the results from taking an inventory and analyzing the land cover transformation during 2001-2012. The study revealed 246 types of transitions between land cover classes according to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, including 229 types of changes with a change of land cover classes. The density of changes is highest in the taiga and steppe zones of Eurasia and North America, savannas and woodlands of Africa and South America, the Arctic tundras of North America and Eurasia. It was found that the natural zones with a complex structure of land cover (open woodlands, shrublands and savannas of the tropical belt and hard-leaved summer-dry open woodland and shrubs of the subtropical belt) have the larg est number of transition types (17) and types of changes (10 and 8, respectively). The contribution from the particular transfor mation processes to the structure of land cover changes within the natural zones was calculated to show the principal land cover trajectories for each natural zone. The findings provide a means of assessing the degree and nature of land cover transformation within the natural zones and identifying, on this basis, the leading land use trends which would have a considerable influence on the structure and dynamics of present-day land surface landscapes across the globe.

The formative stages of the geosystem mapping methodology are outlined. It is determined that the early stages of geosystem mapping showed a continuity of the ideas of geobotanical mapping: concerning the hierarchical structure of the phytosphere, and the invariant and the variable states of plant communities. It was found that geosystem mapping involves integrating the facies according to structural and structural-dynamic indicators differing from a traditional typization. Data were generalized having regard to the assignment of the facies to a particular landscape area. Use was made of the facies categories of optimal, limited and reduced development caused by a difference in their structure and biotic productivity. It was determined that a next mapping stage implied identifying the dynamic categories and geosystem state variables associated with one primary geomer regarded as the parent core. The map legend was based on the characteristics of the relief and vegetation. The absence of other indicators has limited the possibilities of using the map to solve forecasting problems. It was established that at present, given a significant body of landscape data, there is almost no research devoted to the cartographic solution of the problem of assessing changes in the natural environment. There is a need for mapping of the structural, dynamic and genetic uniqueness of geosystems and to explain their diagnostic features in all crucial components. We determined that the current stage of mapping should be focused on solving the problem of geographical map-based forecasting. For solving the forecast issues, we ide ntified the features of structural-dynamic and evolutionary transformations of geosystems, their stability, and the direction of transformation under the influence of various factors. The methodology of geosystem mapping are suggested.

Presented is a draft atlas entitled «Healing springs and medicinal herbs» that was prepared at the Faculty of Geography of the Lomonosov Moscow State University as part of a series of medical-geographical atlases of Russia. Based on the synthesis of accumulated information the Atlas will for the first time provide a complex representation of healing water and therapeutic mud sources and medicinal herbs of Russia systemically displaying the medical-geographical aspects of this natural resource as a component of the health-improving potential of the country. The Atlas is aimed at the solution of tasks covering the inventory, assessment and recommendations for utilization and protection of healing springs and medicinal herbs as a part of the national assets of the country. It would satisfy the information demands of people providing for their broader involvement in the sphere of scientific and traditional medicine. The geography of healing springs and medicinal herbs will be for the first time more com pletely displayed in the Atlas as well as showing their possible uses for the main classes of diseases. The Atlas includes six sections containing information on natural and socio-economic conditions, healing springs and medicinal herbs, diseases requiring natu ral medicinal resources for their treatment and prevention, on the study, protection and prospects for use of healing springs and medicinal herbs. A considerable body of reference information is included in the Appendix. Medical-geographical maps of model areas (the Tyva Republic, the Far East and the Crimea) will be published in the Atlas along with the all-Russia choro graphic maps. The Atlas will provide an information base for assessing the potential of the ecological, medical and spa tourism, sanatorium-resort therapy, the development of resource-saving extraction of water, mud and herbs for medical, health-improving, recreational and other purposes with due regard for environmental protection issues.

Using the method of mapping by high resolution satellite imagery mapping, a study was made of the key areas which are located in the southern part of the forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones of Tatarstan and of Orenburg, Saratov and Voronezh oblasts. Two key indicators were determined: the gully length density and gully head density within the basins; results of the investigation were used in compiling respective maps in vector format. It is established that the density of the gully length in the basins varies over the range from 0 to 0.5 km/km ² (from the absence of gullies to strong gully erosion), and the density of gully heads from 0 to 3 units head/km ² . The slope type of gullies is dominant in all basins (about 80 %), while the coastal and bottom types have approximately the same proportion (14 and 10 %, respectively). Using methods of mathematical statistics we determined a high directly proportional dependence of the indicators of the contemporary gully network on the level of ploughness of the basins and the mean annual precipitation amount, and an indirectly proportional dependence on the level of sodding. An abrupt reduction in gullying indicators was determined. It was found that among the chief reasons behind an abrupt reduction in the gullies to date is a decrease of the rate of agricultural development, with an additional factor, namely, a dramatic decrease in surface runoff down the arable slopes during spring snowmelt caused by climate warming. It is concluded that that a significant part of the gully forms in the study area is currently inactive and massively passes into the balka stage.

An analysis of geoinformation data on the spread of steppe fires is proposed, the areas of which are identified on the basis of a series of Landsat satellite images for 1984-2015. We selected five key sites located in different geographic areas of the Trans-Volga region and South Ural, covering clusters of the Orenburgskii state nature as well as adjacent agricultural areas. By analyzing the long-term dynamics, we determined a widespread trend of an intensification of steppe fires. Since the mid-1990s till the present, it has been manifested in a significant increase in the area of occurrence and in recurrence frequency. It has been established that the cause for an intensification of fires in the steppe regions is a significant reduction in agricultural production, accompanied by restoration of vegetation cover on unused lands and accumulation of dry phytomass. It was determined that, given the favorable conditions for the occurrence of fires, the weather and climate factors increased in importance, implying a higher amplitude of fluctuations in the areas of the burnt-over areas, especially in abnormal years. Data on the current frequency of grass fires (both in protected areas and in a large part of agricultural lands) indicate that the vegetation cover and other components of steppe ecosystems are constantly in a state of post-pyrogenic succession. Using an example of one of the sites (the Burtinskaya steppe), a high restorative capacity of tree-shrub areas within the boundaries of the ecotopes occupied by them was revealed. It was noted that the absolute regime of reserve that excludes any economic activities, combined with an intensification of fire phenomena in the adjacent territories, gives rise to an acute fire-hazardous situation. It is pointed out that there is a need to establish a unified system for ecological monitoring of fires.

For rehabilitation of disturbed ecosystems in mining areas, it is proposed to identify centers of biological diversity concentra tion in the immediate vicinity of coal-mining enterprises. Such centers should be selected on the basis of assessing natural land scape vulnerability to anthropogenic impact and calculating the rare species index. This research was done by using, as an ex ample, the Novokuznetsk district of Kemerovo oblast. In assessing vulnerability through a comparison (in matrix form) of calculated parameters of anthropogenic transformation and sustainability of landscapes, five levels of vulnerability (very high, high, medium, low, very low) were identified. The proportion of the territory of the district with low and very low vulnerability makes up 70.8 % and 7 %, respectively. The rare species index was calculated, based on assessing biodiversity represented by more than 1404 species, including 46.3 % of plant species and 36.3 % of animal species from the regional Red Data Book. GIS technologies were used at all stages of investigations. As a result, six centers of biodiversity concentration were identified for the Novokuznetsk district. The sites encompass key types of landscapes with very low and low vulnerability and a high index of rare species. Three of them are located in the Salair chain of hills, namely, at the interface of steppe, forest and valley landscapes (site I with rare species index of 9.1) as well as within taiga landscapes (6.4 for sites II and III). Three sites are located in the Kuznetsk Alatau; these are rare landscapes with tilia sibirica (IV - 23.1), and typical taiga landscapes of eastern (V - 23.1) and northern (VI - from 8.8 to 23.1) low mountains. The suggested approach can be used as a tool for solving environmental problems of mining regions.