Pleiades Publishing Ltd

We give an outline of the topographic features of the Main Ethiopian Rift and the Afar Triangle as well as of the Ethiopian Highlands. We highlight the role played by the active tectonics and young volcanism which have largely determined the appearance and morphological diversity of contemporary landscapes of Ethiopia. A brief description of several unique natural sites is provided.

Field observations have been used to characterize air pollution in Ulan Bator by heavy metals during the 2008/2009 heating season. The degree of technogenicity of emissions and their main sources are determined. The diurnal and seasonal dynamics of atmospheric pollution are considered. It is found that many pollutants exceed maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). The most dangerous components in the urban atmosphere include Pb (up to 26 mean daily maximum permissible concentrations (MPCmd) and airborne particles (up to 21 MPCmd). The study revealed very high levels of total air pollution, especially in the center of the city (air pollution index (API) > 50)). Soluble forms of heavy metals as contained in the snow are characterized by a maximally high degree of pollution hazard for the urban environment, with a low degree corresponding to solid-phase depositions. Snow cover pollution decreases as follows: yurt districts > industrial zone > multi-storey districts.

A water management assessment for the Selenga basin is made. The territorial-sectoral utilization of water for separate areas of the basin is considered. The influence of discharged waste waters on the river runoff is demonstrated.

Results from many years of investigations of the ecological state of environmental sites in Primorie and Priamurie are discussed. It is found that processing wastes of tin ore feed-stock have a negative influence on the ecosphere as a whole. It is found that the levels of ions of ammonium, arsenic, copper and other heavy metals in snow cover exceed maximum permissible concentration (MPC). The study revealed a significant accumulation of total and mobile forms of elements in soils and vegetation. Some recommendations and suggestions are made in order to cope with the ecological problems.

The high importance of exports of mineral raw materials for the economy of Mongolia and the weakening of its foreign trade interactions with Russia are revealed. It has been established that the value of Mongolian exports for a number of mineral raw materials exceeds Russian ones and has serious growth prospects. Using the example of coal and copper exports, the real prerequisites for the emergence of risks of competition between the exporters of Mongolia and the eastern regions of Russia for foreign markets of mineral raw materials in the near future are revealed. From an economic and geographical point of view, the strengths and weaknesses of the competitiveness of Mongolia and Russia in these markets are compared. The main disadvantage for Russia in comparison with Mongolia is its less advantageous transport and geographical position relative to the key Chinese sales market. The main ways to reduce the severity of competition between exporters of Mongolia and the eastern regions of Russia for external raw materials markets in the context of modern geopolitical challenges are proposed: a wide diversification of export deliveries of mineral raw materials to many countries around the world (primarily a reorientation to East, Southeast, and South Asia) and an increase in processing into semifinished products or finished products.

We examine the causes for changes in the delta surface and carry out an analysis of the area characteristics for the last 50 years. It is shown that the dynamicity of the subaerial delta surface, caused by contemporary erosion-accumulation processes, manifests itself most clearly at periods of increased hydraulicity, which promotes restructuring of the relief in elevation and plan, and of the hydrographic network. We investigate the interrelations of particular landscape components with the hypsometric position, the location relative to the main elements of the hydrographic network of the delta, and with the humidification conditions of the territory. Data are provided for the distribution and structural composition of the key vegetation species in accordance with the hydrologo-geomorphological properties of their habitat. It is found that the structural and age characteristics of plant complexes can be used to determine the transformation dynamics of topographic features and, in the future, to indicate the intensity and time intervals of delta surface reconfiguration. Based on observational evidence and remote sensing data, we carried out a landscape-hydrologo-geomorphological regionalization of the delta surface, the principal criterion of which were the intensity and directedness of the leading Hydromorphological processes. A zoning of the subaerial delta surface was instrumental in identifying different (in resistance to erosional changes) tracts of the delta and recommending the most acceptable of them for economic development of the territory.

An analysis of statistical data has shown that most Russia’s cities with unfavorable ecological conditions refer to the Siberian Federal District. This is due to considerable amounts of atmospheric emissions from large industrial enterprises with imperfect equipment and technologies as well as to the unfavorable conditions of diffusion of dust and gas emissions. Attention is given to the role of nonferrous metallurgy, including aluminum smelting, in environmental impairment. It is shown that the pollutant emissions not only pollute the atmosphere, but also when returning to land surface, they alter the soil-geochemical habitat conditions for vegetation and animals and lower the quality of human life. The shifting of aluminum smelters to Siberia and the construction of major plants pose a threat of impairment in the ecological situation over a significant part of the territory, which is illustrated with the impact of pollutants from several aluminum smelters. Thus, in spite of the fact that the aluminum smelters of Khakassia are provided with up-to-date equipment, their 30-year-long operation has led to formation of a technogenic geochemical anomaly with an area of about 80 km2, containing 0.05 to 0.2% of the total amount of fluorine in the 0–15 cm topsoil, and water-soluble fluorine from 1 (10 mg/kg) to 3 MAC. The investigations show that the Soderberg method when used to obtain aluminum in large amounts (0.8–1 mln. t per year) is not as ecologically safe as advertised. It is therefore necessary to perfect the technologies used or to decrease the amount of aluminum produced.

Presented are the results from analyzing the dynamics of the ethnic mosaic index of the Russian regions between the population censuses of 1959 and 2010, with a division into two periods: the late Soviet period (until 1989) and the post-Soviet era. In the late Soviet period, the growth of polyethnicity embraced 55% of the regions of the RSFSR. They were mostly Russian regions that experienced an influx of migrants mainly from Ukraine and Belarus as well as from other Union Republics and a number of national autonomies of Russia. Already then most of the autonomous republics showed a tendency for an increase in the share of the population of titular enthnicity. In the post-Soviet period, in spite of the ongoing decline in the Russian population in Russia, most regions of the country (71%) experienced a decree of the degree of homogeneity of the ethnic composition of the population. This category included many “Russian” regions where a markedly reduced share of the Russian and Belarusian population was never compensated for by the influx of migrants from North Caucasus and the Baltics and the CIS. From the previously extensive territorial massif with increasing polyethnicity in the center of the European part of the country there were only a few regions left in the post-Soviet period, which formed a ring around Moscow. In this situation, Moscow itself began to play the assimilation function with respect to foreign-language-speaking migrants of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Most of the national republics showed a steady increase in the share of titular ethnic groups, including the indrawal of a given ethnic group to within the boundaries of the autonomy accompanied by an outflow of Russians. Only in a few republics (Karelia, Komi, Udmurtia and Khakassia) and a number of autonomous okrugs) did the proportion of the Russian population increase.