The Subject of Geography and the Science of the Man-Nature Relationship

A philosopher views the geographical environment as a natural-social concept, in which individual elements function simultaneously in a system of natural and social relationships. The geographical environment should be the province of a discipline called general geography, which would exist in addition to specialized physical and social geography. However, since general geography is limited spatially to the earth's landscape sphere, it cannot deal with the broader aspects of the man-nature relationship now that man's influence extends increasingly beyond the earth into outer space. A new discipline called “noology” is proposed to deal with the interplay between human society and all of nature.     

The Effect of Climatic Fluctuation on the Physical Environment and Conditions of Economic Development of the Middle OB' District

Physical-geographic field work in the West Siberian plain has uncovered a peculiar stratification of peat bogs and other physical-geographic phenomena that are related to climatic fluctuation. These phenomena include local relief changes reported by old residents and evidence of differential tree growth based on study of annual rings. It is recommended that economic development of the Middle Ob' district, particularly the use of floodplain meadows, be sufficiently flexible to take account of the cyclical physical-geographic changes that appear to be typical of the area.     

Stages and Methods of Economic-Geographic Prediction

An important technique of economic-geographic prediction is the comparative analysis of alternative combinations of productive forces that are likely to modify the existing system of the geographical division of labor and the system of economic regions. A suggested sequence of steps is designed to locate future productive capacity to a maximum extent in already developed regions with minimum inputs into new territorial development. Only industries whose growth cannot be insured in developed regions should be located in new pioneering regions. The predictive process is illustrated with particular reference to the economic development of the USSR up to the year 2000 and beyond. The principle of uniform spatial development, once a keystone of Soviet economic planning, is found to be economically unsound. Rapid returns on investment can be obtained by more intensive use of existing developed territories.     

COTTAGE SETTLEMENTS AND GARDEN COOPERATIVES IN THE MOSCOW AREA

Spaee-time shifts are analyzed for a particular type of suburban recreational, development—the cottage, settlements and garden cooperatives around Moscow. Measurement of the appearance, stabilization and decline of this recreational function along six major rail lines radiating from Moscow shows a centrifugal shift fostefed by the development of high-speed transportation and the conversion of older recreational areas close to the city to residential and industrial uses. A characteristic feature of the expansion of the recreational zone Over time has been a leaping movement in which the centers of recreational development, after having taken shape for one or two decades, will suddenly leap outward to a more distant zone. Furthermore, suburban cities are beginning to generate their own demand for recreational space and are becoming nuclei of their own recreational zones.     

Marginal Cost Estimates of the Water Resources of the USSR

A water-management regionalization and determination of marginal cost estimates of water resources over the next three decades (to about 2000) outlines a set of priorities for the construction of dams and interbasin diversion projects. The predicted water requirements are based on the assumption that irrigation needs will increase at a moderate rate (30 million hectares by the end of the forecast period). The resulting marginal cost estimates are expected to affect long-term plans for the location of water-intensive activities (irrigation, water transport, thermal power generation, chemicals, pulp and paper) for which water costs may represent 40 to 50 percent of the total cost difference between alternate locations.     

THE IMPACT OF THE SYSTEM OF MINOR CIVIL DIVISIONS ON AGRICULTURE

Mathematical techniques are used to test the hypothesis that Soviet farm efficiency, as reflected in farm profit rates, is higher in areas where the boundaries of collective and state farms coincide with the boundaries of rural soviets, the lowest local government areas. Conversely, farm performance suffers when farm territories are broken up among two or more rural soviets. The use of Karl Pearson's coefficient of contingency, which may be used to measure the strength of a relationship between qualitative variables, shows a positive relationship between farm profit rates and boundary coincidence. The authors therefore urge frequent review of local government areas to insure that they correspond to the boundaries of agricultural operating units.     

The Use of Electric Models in Geography

The use of electrical models, such as conducting sheet analogues, in geography is based on the fact that a wide variety of problems, say, the flow of groundwater and an electrical current, are founded on the same set of differential equations. The technique of electrical analogues is found to be useful in the solution of a number of geographical problems that cannot always be handled effectively by electronic computers. For example, conducting sheet analogues can be used to obtain map transformations in which area is proportional to the magnitude of a particular mapped feature, for example, equidemic projections in which countries or continents are mapped on the scale of their population density. Other problems that may be suitable for analogue simulation include those involving population potential as well as those in which optimization calls for least cost or least effort.     

HILLSLOPE TERRACETTES

Several systems of lines of steps or terracettes, commonly known as “cattle tracks” or “sheep tracks”, were observed on treeless, grass-covered hillslopes in the Kislovodsk area of the North Caucasus. Three types are distinguished: (1) anthropogenic, or man-made, tracks, which suggest purposeful human activity and are distinguished by flat-bottomed or concave walkways; (2) animal tracks, connecting grazing areas and distinguished by deeper and narrower walkways produced by hooves; (3) delapsive terracettes (from the Latin delapsus = slip down), produced by a creeplike downslope movement of unconsolidated slope material on top of the bedrock surface. In contrast to the man-made and animal tracks, which have walkways bare of vegetation and grassy side walls, the naturally produced pseudotracks are distinguished by grassy top surfaces and bare side walls. Downslope rates of movement of these natural terracettes are estimated at several tens of millimeters to several centimeters a year.     

GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MIGRATION LINKAGES IN THE MOSCOW CAPITAL REGION

A study of migration processes in the Moscow Capital Region over the period 1970-1985 begins by assessing their contribution to overall population growth within the region vis-à-vis natural increase and territorial and administrative changes. Attention then is turned toward movements both within the Moscow Capital Region and between it and other oblasts in the European RSFSR. Although the overall volume of migration within the Moscow Capital Region and between it and remaining oblasts of the European RSFSR declined, the relative popularity of the former as a destination among migrants in European Russia remained unchanged (translated by H. L. Haslett, Birmingham, UK).