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The characteristics of the basic principles for solving the problems of interstate cooperation in transboundary river basins are presented. It is shown that in order to solve problems, it is necessary to have an idea of the patterns of functioning of these complexes under different economic policies of the states engaged in water use. Based on the long-term practices of interstate interaction, it was noted that the larger is the number of states intersecting a transboundary watercourse, the more difficult is the process of implementing measures of integrated water resources management. The main factors of development and exacerbation of water use conflicts in transboundary river basins are identified. An analysis of institutional and legal formats of interaction between states - water users has been carried out. The predominance of bilateral agreements and the lack of interest in the development of universal multilateral treaties were noted. From the standpoint of structural and functional integrity, the expediency of considering transboundary river basins from the standpoint of the basin principle is substantiated. It is concluded that under conditions of significant anthropogenic fragmentation of transboundary river basins, a quasi-integral natural-social geosystem of the regional level is formed. It is noted that taking into account the complexity and inconsistency of the “transboundary river basin” category, a universal approach is needed to solving the problems of interstate interaction, which makes it possible to combine the basic principles (limnological, institutional-legal and basin principle) into a single conceptual model. Such tasks can be successfully solved through the implementation of the main provisions of a systematic approach, the application of which will make it possible to determine the individual characteristics of a transboundary basin and synthesize them into a single whole, develop integrated water resource management schemes, coordinate joint actions of water-user states and move from private solutions of problems of interstate interaction to complex problems.

It has been defined that the clear spatial differentiation in the Far East is characteristic of the manifestation of the continentality and oceanicity interaction: minimal in the central areas of the continents and oceans and maximal in the transboundary ones. It has been established that the probability of origin and development of the related anomalous processes and disasters was included in the relation of continentality and oceanicity. Many peculiarities of the dynamic of the geosystems and anomalous processes were clarified. So, for example, the number and intensity of anomalous processes increase: the frequency of storms and storm surges grows up as well as the washway of the sea shores and submarine nearshore slope etc. intensifies. As a result, the strip of active interpenetation of the continentality and oceanicity emphasized currently by mottled alternation of the “strange” by origin forms, processes and formations (in the goltsy zone of the middle altitudes - formation of rock glaciers and cryogenic sorting of grounds and ice blisters and more in the valleys of mountain rivers) becomes displaced to the east, to the coastal zone. The repetition frequency of the extreme processes and their effect on the geosystems in the continental margin of the Russian Far East increase in recent decades. It has been established that the use of continentality and oceanicity characteristics allows us to determine the ecological risks and has the high potential of application in the solving of the urgent problems. It has been stated that the selection of the sustainable nature management strategy in the areas under consideration should make allowance for the existing risks and environmental restrains determined by them.

It has been established that the main factor hindering the development of agricultural production in Russia is soil degradation of agricultural landscapes, including chernozems - the country’s most important natural resource. It is concluded that the chief reason behind the deterioration of the genetic properties of soils is a long period of their extensive use. The changes in the political and economic systems of the country that took place at the turn of the 20^th and 21^st centuries also affected agriculture. A course was taken for the transition to intensive farming, for achieving maximum possible crop yields in small areas with high quality soils. To work out the methods of intensive farming within the chernozem belt of the Ural, it became necessary to preliminarily rehabilitate soil properties. In this regard, the study of the processes of restoration of the properties of degraded chernozems was the goal of this study. As a method of restoring soil properties, a largely forgotten agricultural method was used, which is a long-term fallow. The restoration of the main properties of chernozem was carried out simultaneously with the recovery of the species composition of vegetation and included three stages: the stage of “young” fallow (5 years from the time of withdrawal from arable land), “middle-aged”, or 12 years of stay in the fallow, and “old-age”, after a 25-year period of restoration of soil properties. At the end of each stage, the species composition of phytocenoses was studied and the chemical, biological and physical properties of chernozems were determined. It has been established that at the end of the period of stay of soils in the state of fallow, they almost completely restore their genetic properties, including those that ensure their fertility. Thus this agricultural method does not require capital expenditures for its implementation and allows the relevant goal to be achieved.

This paper presents results from determining the soluble and total forms of metals in natural environments of the Bazaikha river basin in the Krasnoyarsk agglomeration. It was found that the copper, aluminum and zinc concentrations in snow water filtrate exceeded the ecological standards for fishery waters. According to the increase in the proportion versus the background, the water-soluble forms of heavy metals in snow cover were arranged in the following series: Mn (1.14 mg/kg) < Cu (1.79) < Ni (2.38) < Al (3.25) < Fe (4.20) < Zn (4.46) < Sr (5.71 mg/kg). The content of mineral fraction in solid precipitate suggests a predominance of zinc-nickel-strontium aerotechnogenic pollution of snow cover as compared with the background. According to the increase in the mean concentration of metals, the mineral form of elements in solid precipitate were arranged in the following series: Cu (20.1 mg/kg) < Ni (46.8) < Sr (277.6) < Zn (386.6) < Mn (752.5) < Al (7457.7) < Fe (14 881.7 mg/kg). It was established that the concentration of copper and aluminum in the surface waters of the Bazaikha river exceeds ecological standards for fishery waters. In the order of increasing the mean content of water-soluble forms of metals in the surface waters of the river, the following sequence is obtained: Mn (0.001 mg/dm3) = Cu (0.001) < Sr (0.085) < Al (0.090) < Fe (0.091 mg/dm3), while in the order of increasing the mean concentrations of suspended forms of metals the sequence is arranged thus: Cu (0.002 mg/dm3) < < Mn (0.010) < Sr (0.132) < Fe (0.483) < Al (0.608 mg/dm3). It is concluded that most of the elements are transported by the river in the suspended runoff, which is characteristic for manganese, aluminum and iron. Almost 50 % of strontium and copper compounds in such redox conditions migrate in the water-soluble form. Geochemical coefficients as calculated from results of analyzing the collected samples show that in conditions of the Bazaikha rivershed there is a low degree of involvement of the metal masses under investigation in water migration processes.

Results from studying the flow of major ions in the water of the Amur river near Khabarovsk for the maximum water discharge in 2013 are presented. The effect of the regulated Zeya and Bureya rivers on the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of the Middle Amur is considered. An uneven distribution of the sum of ions across the width of the river was noted, with the greatest differences observed during the winter low-water period and the leas differences occurred during the spring high-water period. It was found that at the crest of the historical flood the differences in the distribution of the sum of ions across the width of the Amur did not exceed 26 mg/L, and the maximum value in the middle of the river (up to 82.8 mg/L) was higher than during the 1998, 2002, 2009 and 2019 floods. The yearly largest sum of ions (132 mg/L) was recorded as a result of the removal of dissolved matter from the flooded farmland and urbanized areas in December at the beginning of freeze-up. The priority influence of the Sungari river on the temporal and spatial variability in ion concentrations in the water of the Amur river is shown. An estimate was made of the ionic flow during the winter low-water period, spring flooding and historical flooding, the decline of which in September was accompanied by the greatest removal of salts (6644 thousand tons). Hydrocarbonate and sulfate ions, the calcium ion and, to a lesser extent, the potassium ion and chloride ion made the main contribution to the formation of the ionic flow. The maximum share of the ionic flow of anthropogenic genesis (sulfates and chlorides) is observed in May during spring flood, when snowmelt dominate in the Amur water runoff as well as of the hydrocarbonate ion and sodium ion in December, when salts are exported from moisture-saturated soils.

A combined analysis is made of the structure of the St. Petersburg mud volcano and the lake bottom surface surrounding it by using bathymetric, seismoacoustic, backscatter and water column data. A high-precision digital elevation model with a horizontal resolution of up to 10 meters was developed for the bottom surface in the area of the volcano. By analyzing the resulting model, it was possible to update the morphometric parameters of the underwater structure under consideration and prepare its detailed morphological description. It was found that the volcanic edifice consists of several ridge-like parts located on the wings of the Gidratnyi Fault and crossing it. A canyon-shaped and curved in plan 800-m wide valley was mapped to the south-east of the fault. A graphical representation of backscatter data with separation by types of sedimentary layers was created via comparison of the intensity of the reflected signal and expected mathematical model values. Based on the results of the data analysis, it was established that the mud volcano largely consists of clay with the possible inclusion of relatively large fragments (up to 10 cm). On the bottom surface around the volcano there presumably are also large fragments; however, fine-grained fractions (sandy, clays and silts) are dominant. A three-dimensional visualization of the water column data is presented for the study area with outcrops of gas in the form of two the detected gas flares with the observed heights of 800 and 700 meters. According to a statistical sample of the values of the reflected signal amplitudes, the intensity of gas release in the flares differs by approximately 7 times. The seismoacoustic data of the chirp profiler indicate the possible presence of gas hydrates.

This paper presents the results of a large-scale soil-geobotanical profiling of phytocoenoses at the contact of different environments in the Baikal region. We obtained evidence which is responsible for the spatial stratigraphy and trends in the formation of vegetation at the regional level of its organization. We identified the pattern of alternation of forest and steppe cenoses in conditions of extrazonality of steppes in the central part of the western shores of Lake Baikal (Priolkhonie) and in the middle part of the bottom of Barguzin depression. It was established that there are no clear floristic and cenotic links of vegetation with edaphic conditions where both steppe and forest communities occur on the same soils. Forestation of territories occupied by steppe cenoses is observed everywhere. Vegetation forming at the contact of forest-steppe and zonal steppe (Selenga river basin) is characterized by an alternation of forest and steppe cenoses according to topographic features with a clearly pronounced link with the types of soils characteristic for the zones at the contact between forest-steppe and zonal steppe. Forestation of steppe territories occurs within a zonal forest-steppe, and tree species encroach on the zonal steppe with the spatial expansion of the interzonal ecotone. In conditions of altitudinal zonality (surroundings of Davan Pass, Baikal Ridge), there occurs a gradual transition from one altitudinal zone to another - forest to subgoletz, and subgoletz to mountain tundra - due to invasion of tree species into the cenoses at the contact of the zones (interaltitudinal-zonal ecotones). Cenoses form on the same soil. Such investigation can serve as the methodological basis for indication of vegetation development in the Baikal region as a whole.

This article provides the description and maping of landscape complexes in Davsha Bay (Barguzin nature reserve) and an assessment of their disturbance caused by anthropogenic and pyrogenic factors. The landscape map chart of the territory was obtained by using Landsat images and an automatic classification by the method of maximum likelihood as well as the method of factoral-dynamic classification. As a result, we singled out four classes and ten groups of facies pertaining to the mountain-taiga Baikal-Dzhugdzhur and southern-Siberian classes of geoms. On southern and southwestern slopes of the second Baikal terrace there occur mixed forests of common pine, drooping birch, Siberian stone pine and larch on podzol soils. The western slopes and the first Baikal planation terrace are covered by low-quality larch forests characteristic for the pseudo-subgoletz subbelt as well as by Siberian stone pine-larch forests on poor sod-podzol soils. In conditions of sufficient humidity and well-drained soils on the steep north-western slopes and in the flat-interfluve portion of the ridges of capes there occurs a true dark-coniferous taiga of Siberian stone pine with the inclusion of Siberian fir and a mature shrub layer on burozem soils. The overwash zone is occupied by psammosteppes with the inclusion of plant species registered in the Red Data Book. In the surroundings of the village of Davsha, the 1961 and 2015 crown and ground fires damaged, to a different extent, pine and Siberian stone pine-larch forests in the northern part of the bay. Numerical scores of landscapes, the construction of the matrix and identification of the zones of possibilities and limitations of infrastructuring the various classes of trains showed the transport and engineering advantages of the creation of ecotrails of class 2 (hiking) and 3 (walking). With an increase in the flow of visitors within the village of Davsha, it is suggested that the class of trails should be increased from 3 (walking) to 4 (excursion) in order to decrease the anthropogenic impact.

Results from studying 13 lithological cores from the Kaliningrad Bay of the Baltic Sea are presented. In the cores, the textural features, the grain-size distribution of sediments, the natural moisture, the content of organic matter and vivianite mineral were determined. The study revealed a pattern characteristic of all cores concerning changes in the grain-size distribution of sediments in the depth of their occurrence: in the upper part (to a depth of 32-65 cm), there occur sandy (0.25-0.063 mm) sediments underlain by homogeneous, organic-rich silts (less than 0.063 mm) of olive shades. Changes in the other parameters were also observed in approximately the same layers. Thus, the organic matter content in the upper (0-65 cm) layer averages 6 %, and in the deeper silty sediments, 29 %. Moisture values in the upper layer vary from 45 to 90 %, in the lower - from 90 to 185 %. Formations of the vivianite mineral occur exclusively in the lower layers of sediments. Based on the identified changes in the sedimentary layer, two lithostratigraphic divisions are distinguished: the lower (I) and upper (II) members corresponding to different stages of sedimentation. The lower member formed during the period of predominance of the river flow and is composed of plastic, olive-colored silts identified as “sapropel formations”. They are classified as a mineralized type of sapropel with an ash content of 70 to 87 %. The thickness of the sapropel layer averages about 1 m. Sapropel formations were identified in all columns, which suggests that they have a large distribution in the sedimentary layer.

This article analyzes the modern agro-climatic potential of the Karachai-Cherkess Republic for the period from 1961 to 2020. It was found that the climate changes observed over 60 years within the flat temperate semi-humid and semi-arid landscapes contribute to an increase in agricultural productivity by improving the conditions of heat and moisture supply: the annual air temperature increased by 0.7 °C, the duration of the calendar period with an average daily air temperature exceeding 5 °C increased by 19 days, the sum of active temperatures increased by 7 %, and precipitation increased by 10 %. Accordingly, this suggests an improvement of the conditions for the growth and development of agricultural crops. Mountain landscapes with absolute altitudes of up to 2000 m show a rise of annual air temperature by 0.6-0.7 °C and of the precipitation amount by 5-11 %; as a result, an increase of the hydrothermal coefficient and humidity factor occurs. Noteworthy also is a tendency toward the softening of winters as well as an increase in average July temperature. Thus the mountain landscapes with absolute altitudes of up to 2000 m are facing favorable conditions for the growth and development of agricultural crops. In mountain landscapes with absolute altitudes (heights) over 2000 m, an increase in annual temperature by 0.4-0.7 °C is noted. A tendency toward milder winters and an increase in average July temperature in these landscapes are also observed; however, these landscapes show a deterioration in the conditions of moisture supply due to a decrease in precipitation and moisture indicators, such as the hydrothermal coefficient and the humidity factor; accordingly, there is taking place a deterioration of agro-climatic conditions.