ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PROBLEMS AND THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEXES IN DEVELOPED REGIONS: THE KMA

Present and anticipated future environmental problems associated with past and projected development of the iron ore resources of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA) (the most rapidly expanding production basin in the USSR) are outlined. The area's environmental problems recently have become a major concern, as a result of a heavy emphasis on accelerating production from surface mines in the basin, with few resources being allocated for land reclamation and pollution control activities (see Soviet Geography, November 1986, pp. 679-682 and May 1988, p. 537). Major attention is given to identifying development strategies mitigating further environmental disruption and experimentation with promising land reclamation and pollution control measures (translated by Andrew R. Bond).