The Polar Asymmetry of the Geographical Envelope

The author reviews the Soviet and foreign literature on polar asymmetry and suggest that an appropriate correction be made in the hierarchy of the geographic zonality concept developed since the work of V. V. Dokuchayev (1846–1903) in Russian geographic writing.     

Zonality And Geographical Zones

A theory of zones is formulated. Zones are regions that form a linearly ordered set in space. Concentric zones can be distinguished around any agent on the basis of the degree of interaction between the agent and its environment. Horizontal and altitudinal natural zones in terrestrial and oceanic areas as well as socioeconomic zones around cities and market centers are geographical zones. The displacement of zones over time is analogous to wave motion. Moving zones are historical periods imprinted upon the landscape. The intersection of two zonal systems forms a mosaic of regions. Artificial zoning is designed to insure an orderly arrangement of parts of a residential neighborhood around a civic and shopping center or around a transportation node.     

The Landscape Levels of Continents and Geographical Zonality

The traditional two-dimensional concept of latitudinal natural geographical zones is challenged on the ground that it ignores the altitude factor and differences in the character of the surface environment. An alternative three-dimensional model of zonal systems is proposed, in which so-called landscape levels corresponding to particular geomorphic levels are distinguished in terms of radiation balance and elevation. The zonal systems are combined into four worldwide groupings: (1) an inner terrestrial group corresponding to a rocky surface environment; (2) an outer terrestrial group corresponding to a cryogenic rocky environment; (3) an outer ice group, corresponding to ice-covered segments of the earth's surface, and (4) an oceanic group. The paper is devoted to the first three continental groups of zonal systems. The traditional zonality is found to be well expressed in the inner terrestrial group, but the outer groups reflect mainly Markov's law of polar asymmetry (see Soviet Geography, February 1964).     

无与伦比的世界三极

正南极、北极、中国西藏,被世人称之为世界三极。能够走进世界三极大地是每一个旅游爱好者和摄影人的梦想。我本不是一个有梦想的人,我只是一个旅游爱好者,天生好动的我喜欢新奇,喜欢异地风光,从开始游历大城市的高楼大厦到参观名胜古迹,在旅行的过程中总会为发现新鲜事物而兴奋,那些未知的美好景色,让我的退休生活充满了阳光,使我停不下行走的脚步。旅行让我开阔了视野,丰富了知识,增长了阅历。退休拿起相机后,我     

General Geographic Concepts

Following are fragments of a book devoted to theoretical geography on which Professor Smirnov, head of the Department of Economic Geography of Odessa University, was working at the time of his death in July, 1969. An attempt is made to formulate a system of general geographic concepts that would constitute the axiomatic foundation of geography. Several types of fundamental concepts are distinguished: spatial concepts; concepts of the structure and functions of geographical formations; concepts of simple and complex formations, etc. The present paper is limited to an examination of spatial concepts associated with geographical space, which is viewed as one of the general properties of geographical formations. Three basic spatial concepts are discussed: (a) the concept of group space, meaning the space occupied by a set of interrelated objects, as opposed to the individual space of a single object; (b) the concept of spatial integration of phenomena, implying causal relationships; (c) the concept of geographical commonality of phenomena, as opposed to the theory of uniqueness or local exclusiveness. The interplay of general laws and purely local relationships gives rise to a spatial field of interaction known as the geographical field. A geographical formation and its field of interaction may be centered, as in urban settlement, industry and other nodal phenomena, or they may be noncentered, as in rural settlement, agriculture and other spatially continuous phenomena. Other concepts are the area, shape, orientation and spatial dynamics of development of geographical formations.     

Soviet Geographic Literature

A review of geography publishing in the Soviet Union analyzes the output of literature by categories of end-users: (1) publications designed for professional geographers, including works on theory and method, university textbooks, periodicals and serials, and bibliographic and information services; (2) geographic publications intended for the public at large, including regional studies of different levels of sophistication on the Soviet Union and foreign areas as well as popular geography books; (3) geography textbooks and study aids for elementary and secondary schools, which represents the largest portion of geography publishing in terms of volume, with an average of 4 million books printed each year. Recommendations for improvements in geography publishing include the creation of a Council on Literature, made up of professional geographers; the establishment of a centralized publishing house that would specialize in geography (except for textbooks, government publications and special-purpose literature), and the establishment of a translation journal that would disseminate some of the more significant foreign articles in Russian translation.     

Asymmetry and activity-related change in the male humerus

Some previous studies of activity-related change in the human skeleton have been of doubtful validity because specific changes have been related to particular tasks. Claims to establish such relationships have often concentrated on the development of entheses. Such work is marred by the incorrect assumption that muscles work in isolation in the performance of a single activity. In addition, normal skeletal asymmetry is often ignored, as is age and sex. In the present work, paired humeri of males from two medieval British sites, Norwich and Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, were compared using a series of measurements. Comparison of left and right sides demonstrated that humeral asymmetry decreases with age. Comparison of the sites showed that the Norwich males were more asymmetric than those from the Mary Rose. All asymmetries exhibited a right-sided dominance. The majority of the species is right-handed: the Norwich males followed this trend. The general lack of asymmetry in the Mary Rose males suggests that they were using their arms more equally. When left and right sides were compared directly, a new measurement of the greater tubercle (where three muscles insert) and measurement of the diameter of the head demonstrated that the Mary Rose males had significantly larger dimensions of the left shoulder than the Norwich males. These results extend earlier work, which had suggested a correlation between the use of heavy medieval longbows and os acromiale. Statistical comparison of the sites demonstrated that such work can indicate patterns of activity but not individual occupations.     

Australian Geography and Geographic Information Systems

In Australian universities geography has had traditional links with geology, environmental science and the social sciences. Human geographers’ pursuit of links into the humanities has distracted many of them from understanding the implications of the increasing interest shown by computer science, geomatics and other disciplines in geography. The emergence of a dialogue overseas between the humanities and the geographic information systems community is an important development which may result in this new grouping colonising some of the traditional disciplinary areas of human geography. It is clear that although this emerging cross‐disciplinary linkage has not had any influence on the current phase of mergers and cross‐disciplinary linkages in Australia, it will undoubtedly become important locally in the future.     

Integrated Regional Geographic Atlases

The author reviews work on atlases of Soviet republics and oblasts published in 1961–64, containing maps on physical geography, population, economy and culture. He finds that these atlases suffer from a lack of practical purposefulness and inadequate coordination. These weaknesses are to be remedied in a new coordinated project of natural-resource atlases of the major republics and economic regions of the USSR initiated in 1963.     

Some aspects of the Polar Regions

Die Vegetationsverhältnisse der illyrischen Länder. By Dr. Günther Beck v. Mannagetta, Prag. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1901. 6 plates, 18 figures in text, and 2 maps. Pp. xv + 534.

Finland As It Is. By Harry de Windt, F.R.G.S. London: John Murray, 1901. Pp. 316. Price 9s.

Springtime in the Basque Mountains. By A. L. Liberty. London : Grant Richards, 1901. Pp. 299. Price 12s.

An Artist's Walks in Bible Lands. By Henry A. Harper, author of Walls in Palestine, etc.; with a Photogravure Frontispiece and 55 other Illustrations from Drawings by the Author. London: The Religious Tract Society. Pp. 256. Price 6s. net.

A Geography of Asia, including the East Indies. By Lionel W. Lyde, M.A., F.R.G.S. London : Adam and Charles Black, 1900. Price 1s. 6d.

With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple : Narrative of Four Years’ Residence on the Tibetan Border, and of a Journey into the Far Interior. By Susie Carson Rijniiart, M.D. Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier, Edinburgh and London, 1901. Pp. 406. Price 6s.

Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate. By S. Le Strange. Oxford : The Clarendon Press, 1900. Price 16s.

John Chinaman. By E. H. Parker. London : John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1901. Price 8s.

The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell of Leigh. Edited by E. E. Ravenstein. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1901. Pp. viii + 209.

The Land of the Wine. By A. J. Drexel Biddle, F.K.G.S., F.E.S.A., F.R.M.S. London: Funchal, Drexel Biddle, Publisher. Philadelphia and San Francisco. 1901.

The Sherbro and its Hinterland. By T. J. Alldridge, F.R.G.S. London : Macmillan and Co., Limited. New York : The Macmillan Company, 1901. Price 15s.

The Thirteen Colonies. By Helen Ainslie Smith. New York and London : E. P. Putnam's Sons, 1901. Price 12s.     

Geographic Conferences in Havana

Professor Semevskiy, who is visiting professor at the University of Havana lists the proceedings of monthly geographic meetings in the Cuban capital. His previous report on geography at the University of Havana appeared in Soviet Geography, November 1963.