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Results of the activity of the journal “Geografiya i Prirodnye Resursy” are considered for the past 40 years, with emphasis on the solution of currently relevant geomorphological problems. The main directions and characteristics of geomorphological publications on the pages of the journal are analyzed. The long-term dynamics of the publishing activity of geomorphologists is revealed as well as determining their leaders and the spheres of the greatest interest in the development of geomorphology in different regions of Russia and the world. The chief causes of changes in the temporal structure of publications and the reasons behind their decline at present are identified.

An analysis is made of the development of nival-glacial subjects continually present in publications of the journal «Geo grafiya i Prirodnye Resursy» from 1980 to 2019, i. e. from its very first issue. Short periods of decline in the activity of authors were most commonly due to objective factors of a scientific-organizational nature. This growing body of publications can therefore be regarded as a full-fledged nival-glacial research database.

Presented are the main themes of publications in social geography reflecting changes in research priorities during the past forty years. In different periods of the life of the society, emphasis was placed on problems concerning development of taiga ter ritories and later on the interaction of production with the environment and with public demands. An important milestone in publications on economic and social geography was associated with the transition of the country’s economy to market relations, which involved an increase of the number of contributions on ecological and social subjects.

This paper considers the subject-matter of publications reflecting the various aspects of basic and applied research done in the traditional and new areas of modern cartographic science. The largest number of publications corresponds to the general section and to the heading entitled «Research techniques» accounting for more than 60 % of contributions on this subject-matter. The journal publishes the most fundamental theoretical-methodological papers as well as contributions actualized from the metho dological and practical perspective, authored by Russian and foreign researchers which are concerned with issues related to the development of physical-geographical, socio-economic and ecological mapping and the formation of a fundamental academic direction of atlas mapping and cartographic-statistical and mathematical-cartographic methods of modeling in developing the contents of a broad spectrum of thematic maps.

It is shown that since the beginning of field development, a single natural and historical process of oil and gas generation and accumulation has been accompanied by the transformation of the entire complex of geological, biochemical, geochemical, thermobaric and hydrogeological environmental conditions and modern landscape genesis. Studying this process within the ter ritory of leading oil and gas production regions delivers interesting results in the three aspects of anthropogenic transformation of oil and gas geosystems: geotechnics (infrastructure), geotechnologies (extraction) and geotechnical metabolism (man-made me tabolism and matter cycles). The research done on regional geoecology dictates a need to study all stages of oil production. We determined the parameters of regional geoecology and oil and gas ecology for dealing with the currently important problems of assessing the operation of enterprises of the oil and gas sector in the context of the ecological policy of the Russian Federation. The integrated geographical approach implemented as part of mega-ecology is suggested for forecasting the results of the global process of technogenesis in the landscape sphere and for determining the most crucial parameters of sustainable development of Russia’s oil and gas regions. Ugra, the leader of Russia’s oil production (235,3 million tons, 43,3 %), faces issues with its resource base. Since 2009, there has been a production decline by 43 million tons in the region, with the watercut level in the main de posits reaching 90-95 %. The hydrocarbon indicator was developed and used in ranking 30 oil and gas regions. The most im portant indicators of oil and gas ecology are given to illustrate the situation with the oil and gas sector of the economy: from prospecting, exploration and well stimulation to declining production and closing businesses down. It is established that produc tion and processing of hydrocarbons are responsible for 55 % of atmospheric emissions of pollutants, 33 % of polluted effluents, 35 % of solid waste and 80 % of the total volume of greenhouse gases.

Maximum permissible concentrations for chemical elements in soils (MPCs) of Russia, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and the USA are compared. In Russia, general sanitary, water-transferred and translocation MPCs are created; in Germany, general sanitary and translocation, and in the Netherlands, the USA and Canada, general sanitary. It is found that Russian MPCs for total contents of chemical elements are adequate for Mn and V, American, for Co, Cu, and Pb; Netherlands, for Pb and Zn; Canadian, for Ba, Co, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn, and German, for Cr, Ni, and Pb by taking into account the typical levels of elements in the background soils across the world. The methodologically closest Russian and Netherlands standard rates of total contents of chemical elements are compared in this paper with the typical levels for background Retisols gleic, Phaeozems, and Chernozems in the center of Western Siberia. It is established that use of the Netherlnds MPCs for the soils under study gives fewer cases of false Pb pollution, but in all the soils under consideration the Netherlands MPCs for Ba is exceeded. False pollution by total Zn is observed in the top-soil; by Cr, Cu and V, in subsoil horizons of Retisols gleic as well as by Cr, Ni and V, in most samples of Phaeozems and Chernozems. It is concluded that for the soils under consideration the utilization of Rus sian MPCs gives fewer cases of false pollution by V. But in the background Retisols gleic, Russian MPCs for Mn and Pb ac cumulated in the biogeochemical barrier in the top-soil horizons are exceeded. Russian MPCs for metal mobile fraction are the most correct for Co, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb. The MPCs for mobile fraction of biogenic Mn and Zn are underestimated. Background levels (mg/kg in subindex) of total concentration (mobile fraction extracted by acetate-ammonium buffer) are proposed for Ba404-515, Co12-19(0.001-0.23), Cr143-188(0.001-0.72), Cu32-41(0.01-0.72), Mn423-874(0.09-64), Ni30-62(0.003-1.3), Pb18-27(0.003-0.87), V112-170 и Zn55-104(0.004-0.42) in Retisols gleic on Tobol Upland, Phaeozems on Ishym Upland, and Chernozems in the Trans-Ural region.

A study is made of the characteristic features in the soil chemical composition for the main landscape complexes on Belyi Island (Kara Sea): flat watersheds, slopes of the marine terraces, river and lake valleys, and sea coast layda. Soil samples were examined on content of main trace elements (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb), total organic carbon and nitrogen, par ticle size distribution and ion-salt composition. It was shown that the landscapes refer to three classes of water migration: acids, acid gleyic and salt sulfidic. Soils of the island are characterized mainly by sand texture and low content of trace elements. The mean values of concentration Clarkes (CC) were 0,2, 0,3, 0,4, 0,4, 0,7 and 0,9 for Cr, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn and Hg, respectively. The lowest content of trace elements was recorded for arenosols of watersheds and the marine terrace slopes, where CC = 0,1-0,4. Content of trace elements is related by a positive correlation with the quantity of clay and silt fractions. The study revealed an increase in the concentration of alphitite, water-soluble salts and trace elements in soils of accumulative landscapes. The Zn content in soils of accumulative landscapes is 12,9-28,9 mg/kg, whereas this value increases to 70 mg/kg in accumulative landscapes of laydas and to 92 mg/kg in superaquatic landscapes. The Cu content in accumulative landscapes, in comparison with autonomous landscapes, increases by a factor of 1,4-8,1, and by a factor of 15 in lake sediments. In the vertical soil profile, the distribution of the trace elements is recognized to be dependent from biogenic accumulation and that on the permafrost geochemical barrier. The radial (lateral) distribution of Mn, Fe, Zn and Pb in the gleysols is characterized by the eluvial-illu vial type: the maximum values were recorded in the superficial biogenic and suprapermafrost layers.

We have examined the geographical features in the distribution and the radiation parameters of radioactive dumps of rocks in the Elkon uranium ore area on the territory of South Yakutia. It is pointed out that the dumps under study are geomorpho logically located on the Elkon horst which is a protrusion of crystalline basement rocks, towering over the territory of the Aldan highlands. It is found that most of these dumps lie within streambeds and in the bottoms of mountain rivers of the zone of hy pergenesis and, geochemically, they are influenced by steep-slope topography, a cold humid climate and mountain-taiga vegeta tion dominating land cover. It is shown that these rock dumps were formed in the last third of the 20 ^th century, during a large-scale and intense geological exploration for radioactive raw materials in this area. Radiation parameters of the dumps under study, such as the gamma radiation exposure dose, the content of ²³⁸ U, ²³² Th and ⁴⁰ K, as well as the effective specific activity of these radionuclides were determined. It is found that the most active rock dumps, in their radiation parameters, approach radioactive ores. The dumps under study were ranked according to the degree of radiation danger to the population on the basis of the particular values of the gamma radiation exposure dose and effective specific activity of these radionuclides. It is established that the main source of radioactive contamination of soil and vegetation cover and the surface waters in the Elkon uranium ore area on the territory of South Yakutia are 40 rock dumps which are unevenly distributed in the total area of about 500 km ² of the mountain-taiga permafrost landscapes. It is determined that more than half of these dumps, in their radiation parameters, are classified as hazardous and specially hazardous.

We have examined the landscape structural features of the Mukhtel lowland and the mountains surrounding it on the southwestern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. An analysis is made of the main formation factors for modern landscapes and for the structure of vegetation as the main indicator of its spatial organization. The influence of the landscape inversion is determined, which manifests itself in the formation of extensive swamps (mari) within the lowland and forest natural complexes in the lower parts of the slopes of the surrounding mountain ranges. The landscapes of hummocky-swale swamps with subarctic components of the flora in the areas of permafrost stretching along the shore of St. Nicholas Bay (Bugristaya Mar’ stow) and landscapes of abrasion-denudation ledges similar in natural conditions to the landscapes of the mountain tundra in the northern part of the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk have been identified. The description is provided for the altitudinal zonality of landscapes of low mountains and azonal landscapes of river valleys and coastal-marine accumulative landforms. A rare (for the Okhotsk Sea region) combination of diverse landscapes is observed in a small area a well as a sharp difference between plain and low-mountain natural complexes. Characteristic features of the distribution of elementary landscapes depending on the exposure of slopes, topography and soil composition were revealed. The 1:250 000 landscape map has been compiled on the basis of a conjugate analysis of thematic maps displaying the topography, soils and vegetation cover.

The economic significance of the historical and cultural potential, including the field-established geographical centers of the regions, is revealed. The advantages and disadvantages of the methods of determining the geographical centers of territories are considered. Their relationship with geoinformation systems is determined. It is found that the software of these systems has the functionality of automatically calculating the geometric center (centroid) of a polygonal object. It is suggested that the centroid can be used as the geographical center of the territories. The water area of Lake Baikal is used as the object for the study of software for geoinformation systems. We collected and systematized the digital topographic maps at a scale of 1:100 000 for the territory of Lake Baikal. A cartogram of digital material used in the experiment is compiled. The criterion is suggested for as sessing the quality of software for geoinformation systems. We calculated the centroids of Lake Baikal (in some widely used commercial software for geoinformation systems and in the software package of one of this article’s authors). The layout scheme of the lake centroids is developed. Based on analyzing the location of the centroids of the water area of Lake Baikal and on assessing the quality criteria, an assessment is made of the possibility of using the commercial software for geoinformation systems in order to determine the geographical center of territories. The coordinates of the geographical center of Lake Baikal are sug gested, which have been determined by authors.