Big encyclopedia of oil and gas. Geography of terrain types. Analogue provinces
Terrain types and their constituent tracts are subject to mapping in nature. This important work has not yet essentially begun, and at present it is not possible to map the geographical distribution of all types of terrain. We will limit ourselves to presenting a table of the occurrence of terrain types in the provinces of the south of the Russian Plain (Table 3).
Despite the conventions of the frequency scale, the table gives an idea of the internal structure of the provinces. In the future, the conditional scale of occurrence of terrain types should give way to exact percentages. The latter will allow us to approach the development of practical recommendations for each province separately, since each type of locality needs its own special system of economic measures.
Considering the geography of terrain types, it is easy to notice that two groups stand out among the provinces, sharply different from each other in their frequency of occurrence.
First group form provinces with low, flat terrain. It is characterized by the widespread occurrence of upland terrain, the weak development of riverine terrain and the complete absence of low-mountain terrain. It includes: in the forest-steppe zone - steppe forest-steppe of the Dnieper lowland, forest-steppe of the Oka-Don lowland, forest-steppe of the Lowland Trans-Volga region; in the steppe zone - the province of the Black Sea steppes and the steppe Lowland Trans-Volga region.
1Second group constitute provinces with elevated, dissected relief. In the provinces of this group, the role of the riverine type of terrain sharply increases due to the reduction of the upland type, a low-mountain type of terrain appears; in all provinces (with the exception of the Central Russian Upland) there is a remnant-watershed type of terrain. This includes: in the forest-steppe zone - the forest-steppe of the Volyn-Podolsk Upland, the forest-steppe of the Central Russian Upland, the forest-steppe of the Volga Upland, the forest-steppe of the high Trans-Volga region; in the steppe zone - the Lower Don province, the steppe of the High Trans-Volga region.
The group of lowland and the group of elevated provinces differ from each other not only in external, morphological features - different frequency of terrain types, but also in the different history of landscape development. This can be seen especially well in the example of the provinces of the forest-steppe zone. The group of elevated provinces combines areas of ancient, pre-glacial forest-steppe; On the territory of these provinces there are refugia (shelters) of heat-loving preglacial and interglacial flora and fauna. The hills, both in the forest-steppe and in the steppes, are places of concentration of relicts of different ages.
On the contrary, the group of lowland provinces consists of territories with a relatively young forest-steppe landscape, formed in post-glacial times. The predecessors of the forest-steppe landscape in the lowlands were lowland swamps and meadows that existed in the late glacial and partly post-glacial times, when the lowlands were still poorly drained. The post-glacial evolution of the landscape of forest-steppe lowlands is closely related to the progressive erosion of the relief, their drainage, the formation of steppes on chernozems at watersheds and the penetration of forest groups there.
All this can be seen in the high and low groups of provinces landscapes-analogues of genetic type.
The study of terrain types acquires important practical significance in the light of recent decisions of the party and government on planning issues Agriculture. The new planning procedure involves
End of work -
This topic belongs to the section:
Milkov F.N. Physical geography: the study of landscape and geographic zoning. - Voronezh: Voronezh State University Publishing House, 1986. - 328 p.
The monograph covers the most important problematic issues of complex physical geography; it sets out the current state of the study of geography. The publication is intended for physical geographers of a wide profile, teachers and students.
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River valleys and landscape boundaries
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Lecture 1. The place of landscape science
Among the geosciences. Landscape science and geoecology
The place of landscape science among the Earth sciences. Landscape science and geoecology.
The relationship between the concepts “geographical envelope”, “landscape envelope”, “biosphere”.
Definition of the term “landscape”, “natural-territorial complex (NTC)” and “geosystem”.
Ecosystem and geosystem.
Landscape science is a part of physical geography, part of the system of physical-geographical sciences (general geosciences, regional studies, paleogeography, special physical-geographical sciences), which forms the core of this system.
Landscape science, the object of study of which is the landscape sphere, has its own number of landscape sciences: general landscape science, landscape morphology, landscape geophysics, landscape geochemistry, landscape mapping.
Landscape science has the closest connection with the special physical-geographical sciences (geomorphology, climatology, hydrology, soil science and biogeography).
In addition to its own geographical disciplines, other earth sciences are close to landscape science, especially geology, geophysics and geochemistry. This is how the sciences of landscape geophysics (studies the energy of geosystems) and landscape geochemistry (studies the migration of chemical elements in the landscape) arose.
In addition, landscape science is based on fundamental natural laws established by physics, chemistry and biology.
Let us examine the last aspect of this topic - the connection between landscape science and geoecology. The term "ecology" literally translated from Greek means "the science of habitats." It was proposed back in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel and began to be used to characterize the relationship of plants and animals with the natural environment. Then, within the framework of biology, the doctrine of ecology arose, which began to develop rapidly based on the study of the relationships between organisms and the environment, communities and populations of these organisms, and since the 30s of the last century - ecosystems as natural complexes consisting of a collection of living organisms and their environment environment. Somewhat later, from the 50s to the 60s of the 20th century, all problems of the relationship between human society and the environment began to be classified as environmental. Ecology has gone beyond biology and turned into an interdisciplinary complex of scientific areas. Classical ecology began to be called bioecology. Due to the fact that the term “ecology” has become polysemantic, adding the root “geo” to it emphasizes the connection with geography. The term "geoecology" arose in the West in the 30s of the last century. Although the interest of geography in such problems appeared much earlier. Actually, it was geography from the very beginning of its existence that was engaged in the study of the human environment, the relationship between man and nature.
Of the Soviet geographers, the first to draw attention to the need to study the relationships between geography and ecology was Acad. V.B. Sochava in 1970. Gradually, a modern idea of geoecology emerged as an integral part of a large interdisciplinary complex of environmental problems and the sphere of overlap between geography and ecology. Geoecology can be defined as a science that studies irreversible processes and phenomena in the natural environment and biosphere that have arisen as a result of intense anthropogenic impact, as well as the immediate and distant consequences of these impacts.
Based on this definition of geoecology, its connection with landscape science is seen primarily in the following. Landscape science studies the structure, morphology, dynamics of natural landscapes, and geoecology studies the response of natural systems to anthropogenic impact, using the achievements of landscape science. However, between geoecology and landscape science one can also see an area of overlapping interests, because In addition to natural ones, the landscape science course also studies natural-anthropogenic landscapes created with the direct participation of humans. To date, the doctrine of geoecology cannot be considered established. There are still many ambiguities in defining its tasks and boundaries and in the formation of its conceptual apparatus.
Correlation of concepts
"geographical envelope", "landscape envelope", "biosphere"
The term “geographical envelope” was proposed by academician A.A. Grigoriev in the 30s of the last century. The geographic envelope is a special natural system in which the earth's crust, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere interact and are in unity. With a more detailed definition, the geographic shell (GE) is understood as a complex but ordered hierarchical system, which differs from other shells in that the material bodies in it can be located in three states of aggregation- solid, liquid and gaseous. Physiographic processes in this shell occur under the influence of both solar and internal sources energy. At the same time, all types of energy entering it undergo transformation and are partially conserved. Within the GO there is a continuous and complex interaction, exchange of matter and energy. This also applies to the living organisms inhabiting it. Upper and lower boundaries geographic envelope Different scientists do it differently. According to the most generally accepted point of view, the upper boundary of the GO coincides with the ozone layer, located at an altitude of 20 - 25 km. The lower boundary of the GO is combined with the Mohorovicic boundary (Moho), separating the earth's crust from the mantle. The Moho boundary is located on average at a depth of 35-40 km, and under the mountain ranges - at a depth of 70-80 km. Thus, the thickness of the geographic shell is 50-100 km. Subsequently, there were proposals to replace the term “geographical envelope”. So, A.G. Isachenko (1962) proposed calling the geographic shell the epigeosphere (epi - on top), emphasizing that it is the outer shell of the earth. I.B. Zabelin used the term “biogenosphere” to emphasize its most important feature - life in an envelope. Yu.K. Efremov (1959) proposed calling the geographic envelope landscape.
We have accepted that the landscape shell (sphere) is not identical to the geographical one, but has a narrower framework. Landscape shell (sphere) - the most significant part of the geographic shell located near the earth's surface at the contact of the atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere, a kind of focus for the concentration of life (F.N. Milkov). The landscape envelope is a qualitatively new formation that cannot be attributed to any of the spheres. Compared to GO, the landscape shell is very thin. Its thickness ranges from several tens of meters to 200 - 250 m and depends on the thickness of the weathering crust and the height of the vegetation cover.
Landscape shell plays important role in a person's life. All products organic origin a person receives from the landscape shell. A person can only be outside the landscape shell temporarily (in space, under water).
You are already familiar with the concept of the biosphere. The main points concerning the origin, development of this term and the very doctrine of the biosphere are very well covered in the manual by B.V. Poyarkova and O.V. Babanazarova “The Doctrine of the Biosphere” (2003). Let me just remind you that the word “biosphere” itself first appeared in the works of J.-B. Lamarck, but he put a completely different meaning into it. The term biosphere was associated with living organisms by the Austrian geologist E. Suess in 1875. Only in the 60s of the last century, the outstanding Russian scientist V.I. Vernadsky created a harmonious doctrine of the biosphere as the sphere of distribution of life and special the shell of our planet.
According to V.I. Vernadsky, the biosphere is a general planetary shell, that region of the Earth where life exists or existed and which has been and is being affected by it. The biosphere covers the entire land surface, the entire hydrosphere, part of the atmosphere and the upper part of the lithosphere. Spatially, the biosphere is located between the ozone layer (20 - 25 km above the Earth's surface) and the lower limit of the distribution of living organisms in the earth's crust. The position of the lower boundary of the biosphere (approximately 6 - 7 km deep into the earth's crust) is less certain than the upper one, because our knowledge of the distribution of life is gradually expanding and primitive living organisms are being found at depths where they were not supposed to exist due to high temperatures rocks.
Thus, the biosphere occupies almost the same space as the geographical envelope. And this fact is considered by some scientists as a basis for doubting the appropriateness of the existence of the term “geographical envelope”; there have been proposals to combine these two terms into one. Other scientists believe that the geographical envelope and the biosphere are different concepts, because The concept of biosphere focuses on the active role of living matter. The situation is similar with the landscape envelope and the biosphere. Many scientists consider the landscape envelope as a concept equal to the biosphere.
Undoubtedly, the term “biosphere” has greater weight for world science, is used in various branches of knowledge and is familiar to every more or less educated person, in contrast to the term “geographical envelope”. But when studying the disciplines of the geographical cycle, it seems advisable to use both of these concepts, because the term “geographical envelope” implies equal attention to all areas that make up its composition, and when using the term “biosphere” the emphasis is initially placed on the study of living matter, which is not always fair.
An important criterion for dividing these spheres may be the time of their emergence. First, the geographic envelope arose, then the landscape sphere differentiated, after which the biosphere began to acquire all greater influence among other areas.
3. Definition of the terms "landscape",
"natural-territorial complex (NTC)" and "geosystem"
The term "landscape" has wide international recognition.
The word "landscape" is borrowed from the German language (land - land, schaft - interconnection). IN English language this word denotes a picture of nature, in French it corresponds to the word “landscape”.
The term “landscape” was introduced into scientific literature in 1805 by the German geographer A. Gommener and meant a set of areas visible from one point, located between nearby mountains, forests and other parts of the Earth.
Currently, there are 3 options for interpreting the content of the term “landscape”:
1. Landscape - general concept, similar to such as soil, relief, organism, climate;
2. Landscape - a really existing section of the earth’s surface, a geographical individual and, therefore, the original territorial unit in physical-geographical zoning;
Despite all the differences in the definitions of landscape, there is a similarity between them in the most important thing - the recognition of landscape relationships between elements of nature in complexes that actually exist on the earth's surface.
Landscape - a relatively homogeneous area of the geographic envelope, characterized by a natural combination of its components and phenomena, the nature of the relationships, and the characteristics of the combination and connections of smaller territorial units (N.A. Solntsev). Natural ingredients - the main components of natural systems (from facies to landscape shell inclusive), interconnected by processes of exchange of matter, energy, and information. Natural ingredients mean:
1) masses of the solid earth’s crust;
2) masses of the hydrosphere (surface and underground waters on land);
3) air masses of the atmosphere;
4) biota - communities of organisms;
Thus, the landscape has five components. Often, instead of the masses of the solid earth's crust, relief is called as a component, and instead of air masses- climate. This is quite acceptable, but it must be remembered that both relief and climate are not material bodies. The first is the external shape of the earth, and the second is a set of certain meteorological characteristics, depending on the geographical location of the territory and the characteristics of the general circulation of the atmosphere.
To characterize the landscape, a landscape scientist needs information from geomorphology, hydrology, meteorology, botany, soil science and other special geographic disciplines. Thus, landscape science “works” to integrate geographical knowledge.
Natural-territorial complex (NTC) can be defined as a spatio-temporal system of geographical components, interdependent in their placement and developing as a single whole.
PTC has a complex organization. It is characterized by a vertical tiered structure, which is created by the components, and a horizontal one, consisting of natural complexes of a lower rank.
In many cases, the terms “landscape” and “natural-territorial complex” are interchangeable and synonymous, but there are also differences. In particular, the term “PTK” is not used for physical-geographical zoning, i.e. has no hierarchical and spatial dimension.
The term PTC, unlike landscape, is much less often used as a general concept.
In 1963 V.B. Sochava proposed calling objects studied by physical geography geosystems. The concept of "geosystem" covers the entire hierarchical series of natural geographical unities - from the geographical shell to its elementary structural divisions. Geosystem is a broader concept than PTC, because the latter is applicable only to individual parts of the geographical envelope, its territorial divisions, but does not apply to the civil defense as a whole.
This relationship between the geosystem and the PTC is a consequence of the fact that the concept of a system is broader in nature than a complex.
System - a set of elements that are in relationships and connections with each other and form a certain integrity, unity. System integrity is also called emergence.
Every complex is a system, but not every system can be said to be a complex.
To talk about a system, it is enough to have at least two objects with which there is some kind of relationship, for example, soil - vegetation, atmosphere - hydrosphere. The same object can participate in different systems. Different systems can overlap and this is where the connection comes in various items and phenomena. The concept of “complex” (from Latin “plexus, a very close connection of parts of the whole”) presupposes not just any, but a strictly defined set of interconnected blocks (components). The PTC must include some mandatory components. The absence of at least one of them destroys the complex. It is enough to imagine a PTC without a geological foundation or without soil. The complex can only be complete, although for the purposes of scientific research it is possible to selectively consider particular connections between the components in any combination. And if the elements of the system can be, as it were, random one in relation to another, then the elements of the complex, at least the natural-territorial one, must be in a genetic connection.
Any PTC can be called a geosystem. Geosystems have their own hierarchy, their own levels of organization.
F.N. Milkov distinguishes three levels of organization of geosystems:
1) Planetary- corresponds to the geographical envelope.
2) Regional - physical-geographical zones, sectors, countries, provinces, etc.
3) Local - relatively simple PTCs from which regional geosystems are built - tracts, facies.
The geosystem and PTC are characterized by a number of properties and qualities.
The most important property of any geosystem is its integrity . From the interaction of components, a qualitatively new formation arises, which could not arise due to the mechanical addition of relief, climate, natural waters, etc. A special quality of geosystems is their ability to produce biomass.
Soil is a kind of “product” of terrestrial geosystems and one of the brightest manifestations of their integrity. If solar heat, water, parent rocks and living organisms did not interact with each other, then there would be no soil.
The integrity of the geosystem is manifested in its relative autonomy and resistance to external influences, in the presence of objective natural boundaries, orderly structure, greater closeness of internal connections compared to external ones.
Geosystems belong to the category of open systems, which means that they are penetrated by flows of matter and energy that connect them with the external environment.
In geosystems there is a continuous exchange and transformation of matter and energy. The entire set of processes of movement, exchange and transformation of energy, matter, as well as information in the geosystem can be called functioning. The functioning of the geosystem consists of the transformation of solar energy, moisture circulation, geochemical circulation, biological metabolism and mechanical movement of material under the influence of gravity.
Structure Geosystems are a complex concept. It is defined as a spatiotemporal organization or as the relative arrangement of parts and methods of their connection.
The spatial aspect of the structure of a geosystem consists in the orderliness of the relative arrangement of its parts. There are vertical (or radial) structures And horizontal (or lateral). But the concept of structure presupposes not just the relative arrangement of the component parts, but also the ways of connecting them. Accordingly, there are two systems of internal connections in the PTC - vertical, i.e. intercomponent, and horizontal, i.e. intersystem.
Examples of vertical system-forming connections (flows) in the geosystem:
1) Atmospheric precipitation and its filtration into the soil and groundwater.
2) The relationship between the content of chemical elements in soils and soil solutions and in the plants growing on them.
3) Sedimentation of various suspensions at the bottom of the reservoir.
Examples of horizontal flows of matter in the geosystem:
1) Water and solid runoff from various watercourses.
2) Aeolian transfer of dust, aerosols, spores, bacteria, etc.
3) Mechanical differentiation of solid material along the slope.
The concept of the structure of a geosystem should also include a certain regular set of its states, rhythmically changing within a certain time interval (seasonal changes). This period of time is called characteristic time geosystems and it is one year: the minimum period during which all typical structural elements and states of the geosystem can be observed.
All spatial and temporal elements of the geosystem structure constitute its invariant. Invariant - This is a set of stable characteristic features of a system that makes it possible to distinguish this system from all others. Even more briefly, we can say that an invariant is a framework or matrix of the landscape (A.G. Isachenko).
For example, the Central Russian Upland is characterized by the type of karst sinkholes. The invariant of this type of urochish is its diagnostic feature - sharply expressed on terrain is a closed negative form of relief in the form of a cone-shaped funnel.
These sinkholes may be formed in chalk or limestone deposits, and may be forested or covered with meadow vegetation. In these cases we have different options or variations of the same invariant - karst sinkhole areas.
In the process of functioning, species variants can replace each other - a chalk sinkhole that is not overgrown with vegetation can be transformed into a meadow-steppe, and a meadow-steppe into a forest one, while the invariant (the karst sinkhole as such) will remain unchanged.
But under certain conditions, a change in the invariant is also observed. As a result of siltation, a karst sinkhole in one case can turn into a lake, in another - into a shallow steppe depression. But this change of invariant also means a change from one type of tract to another. U local geosystems The dimension of a tract or facies is most often invariant to the lithogenic base.
Dynamics of the geosystem- changes in the system that are reversible and do not lead to a restructuring of its structure. Dynamics mainly includes cyclical changes that occur within one invariant (daily, seasonal), as well as restorative changes in states that occur after the geosystem is disrupted by external factors (including human economic activity). Dynamic changes indicate a certain ability of the geosystem to return to its original state, i.e. about its sustainability. It should be distinguished from dynamics evolutionary changes geosystems, i.e. development . Development - a directed (irreversible) change leading to a radical restructuring of the structure, i.e. to the emergence of a new geosystem. Progressive development is inherent in all geosystems. Restructuring of local PTCs can occur before human eyes - overgrowing of lakes, swamping of forests, appearance of ravines, drainage of swamps, etc.
In the process of its development, PTCs go through 3 phases. The first phase - origin and formation - is characterized by the adaptation of living matter to the substrate, and the impact of biota on the substrate is small. The second phase is the active and strong influence of living matter on the conditions of its habitat. The third phase is a deep transformation of the substrate, leading to the appearance of a new PTC (according to K.V. Pashkang).
In addition to internal reasons, on The development of PTCs is also influenced by external factors: cosmic, global (tectonics, general atmospheric circulation) and local (the influence of neighboring PTCs). The combined activity of external and internal factors ultimately leads to the replacement of one PTC by another.
Human activity began to have a great influence on PTC. This leads to the fact that PTCs change; even the term natural-anthropogenic complex (technogenic complex) has appeared, in which, along with natural components, society and phenomena associated with its activities appear. Currently, PTC is often considered as a complex system consisting of 2 subsystems: natural and anthropogenic.
With the development of ideas about human impact on the environment, the concept of a natural-production geosystem arose, where the natural and production components in natural-anthropogenic landscapes are studied in tandem. Here a person is considered in the social, cultural, economic and technological spheres.
Ecosystem and geosystem
One of the features of modern geography is its ecologization, Special attention to the study of problems of interaction between man and the natural environment.
Ecosystem - any community of living beings and its habitat, united into a single functional whole based on the interdependence between individual environmental components. Ecosystems are studied by ecology, which is part of the disciplines of the biological cycle. There are microecosystems (tussock in a swamp), mesoecosystems (meadow, pond, forest), macroecosystems (ocean, continent), there is also a global ecosystem - the biosphere. An ecosystem is often considered synonymous with biogeocenosis, although biogeocenosis - part of the biosphere, a homogeneous natural system of functionally interconnected living organisms with an abiotic environment.
As a result of active economic activity In society, significant changes occur in ecosystems and their transformation into technogenic ones (drained swamps, flooded lands, deforested forests).
The natural system studied by geography is called geosystem - a special kind of material system consisting of natural and socio-economic components, territory.
An ecosystem and a geosystem have similarities and differences. The similarity lies in the same composition of biotic and abiotic components included in both of these systems.
The differences between these systems are expressed in the nature of the connections. In a geosystem, the connections between the components are equivalent, i.e. relief, climate, water, soil, and biota are equally studied. The ecosystem is based on the idea of fundamental inequality of the components included in it. In the center of ecosystem studies, plant and animal communities and all connections in the ecosystem are studied along the lines of plant and living communities - the abiotic component of nature. The connections between abiotic components remain out of sight.
Another difference between an ecosystem and a geosystem is that the ecosystem is seemingly dimensionless, i.e. does not have a strict scope. The ecosystem also includes a bear’s den, a fox’s hole, and a pond. Given such a broad and uncertain scope, some categories of ecosystems may not coincide with geosystems.
The last difference may manifest itself in the fact that in the geosystem, in contrast to the ecosystem, new components appear, such as population, economic objects, etc.
Air masses and climate.
Natural waters and runoff.
Tracts and sub-tracts.
4. Geographical area as the largest morphological part of the landscape.
Planetary, regional and local levels of geosystems.
Natural systems can be formations of various sizes, either very extensive, complexly arranged, up to the landscape shell, or relatively small in area and more homogeneous internally. All natural geosystems, according to their size and complexity, are divided into three levels: planetary, regional and local.
The planetary level of geosystems includes the geographic envelope as a whole, continents, oceans and physical-geographical belts. Thus, Shubaev, in his book on general geoscience, differentiates the geographical envelope into continental and oceanic rays: three continental - European-African, Asian-Australian, American and three oceanic - Atlantic, Indian and Pacific. Next he considers geographical zones. Other geographers (D.L. Armand, F.N. Milkov) begin to count the planetary level of geosystems from the landscape shell (sphere), followed by geographic zones, continents, and oceans. Geosystems at the planetary level are the sphere scientific interests general geoscience.
The regional level of geosystems includes physical-geographical countries, regions, provinces; for some geographers, physical-geographical belts, zones, subzones. All of these units are taught as part of regional physical geography and landscape science courses.
The local level of geosystems includes natural complexes, as a rule, confined to meso- and microforms of the relief (ravines, gullies, river valleys) or their elements (slopes, peaks, bottoms). From the hierarchical series of geosystems at the local level, facies, tracts and localities are distinguished. These geosystems are the subject of study of landscape science, especially its section concerning landscape morphology.
The main source of receipt new information o PTC is field research with the landscape at its center. But there are a great many specific individual landscapes on Earth. According to rough estimates, their total number should be five or six figures. What can we say about localities, tracts, facies! Therefore, like any other science, geography cannot do without classification of the object being studied. Currently, a widely accepted grouping of geosystems is one in which several geosystemic taxa (ranks) are listed from top to bottom, and each lower one is included as a structural element in the higher one. This way of arranging objects is called hierarchy (from the Greek “career ladder”).
Regional geosystems
(physiographic provinces, regions and countries)
The main object of study in the course of regional physical geography is the physical-geographical country. Physiographic country - this is a vast part of the continent, corresponding to a large tectonic structure and quite uniform in orographic terms, characterized by climatic unity (but within wide limits) - the degree of continental climate, climatic regime, the originality of the spectrum of latitudinal zoning on the plains. And in the mountains - a system of types of altitudinal zones. The country covers an area of several hundred thousand or millions of square kilometers. Examples of physiographic countries in Northern Eurasia are the Russian Plain. Ural Mountain country, West Siberian Plain, Alpine-Carpathian mountainous country. All countries can be united into two groups: mountainous and lowland.
The next geographical unit in the hierarchy of geosystems is physiographic region - part of a physical-geographical country, isolated mainly in the Neogene-Quaternary time under the influence of tectonic movements, continental glaciations, with the same type of relief and climate and a peculiar manifestation of horizontal zoning and altitudinal zonation. Examples of physiographic regions are the Meshchera Lowland. Central Russian Upland. Oka-Don Lowland, steppe zone of the Russian Plain, taiga zone of the West Siberian Plain, Kuznetsk-Altai region.
Further, when zoning the territory, they allocate physiographic province - part of the region characterized by common relief and geological structure, as well as bioclimatic features. Typically, a province coincides with a large orographic unit: a highland, a lowland, a group of mountain ranges, etc. Examples: Meshchera province of mixed forests of the Russian Plain, forest-steppe province of the Oka-Don Plain, Salairo - Kuznetsk province.
Physiographic (landscape) region - a relatively large, geomorphologically and climatically isolated part of the province, within which the integrity and specificity of the landscape structure are preserved. Each region is distinguished by a certain combination of mesorelief forms with their characteristic microclimate, soil varieties and plant communities. The district is the lowest unit of the regional level of differentiation of the geographical envelope. Examples: Kuznetsk Basin, Salair, Mountain Shoria, Kuznetsk Alatau.
When analyzing cartographic materials, the approximate sizes of geosystems at different levels were calculated. In general, the higher the hierarchical level of the geosystem, the larger its area (Table 2).
table 2
Approximate sizes of geosystems of various ranks in flat areas
Vertical thickness of geosystems V.B. Sochava estimates the following values:
Facies - 0.02 - 0.05 km
Landscape -1.5- 2.0 km
Province - 3.0 - 5.0 km
Physiographic zone - 8.0 - 18.0 km
But there is a lot of uncertainty in such assessments, because there are no comprehensive data and even theoretically clearly developed criteria for establishing both the upper and lower boundaries of geosystems of different hierarchical levels.
Landscape zoning.
3. Geographic sectorality and its impact on regional landscape structures.
4. Altitudinal zonation as a factor of landscape differentiation.
I. Erosion-denudation dissected lowlands with wide flat watersheds, dome-shaped peaks or individual flattened ridges with dark coniferous and mixed forests on mountain forest brown, less often soddy-podzolic soils.
24. Dark coniferous and mixed forests on mountain forest soddy-podzolic, podzolic and brown soils.
25. Dark coniferous forests on mountain forest brown, less often soddy-podzolic soils.
II. Watershed surfaces with wide convex and ridge-like watersheds, with rocks, peaks with sparse mixed (fir-cedar-small-leaved) forests on mountain-forest brown soils.
26. fir-cedar, birch-cedar forests on mountain-forest brown soils.
27. cedar-fir forests with birch on mountain-forest brown and mountain sod-podzolic soils.
D. River valleys.
I. Terraced valleys composed of sand-pebble-boulder, loamy-gravel-pebble material with sogrove and willow-poplar forests, alternating with floodplain meadows, shrubs and swamps on alluvial-meadow and swamp soils.
28. larch-spruce forests on peaty-gley soils, in combination with swampy birch, spruce-birch forests (sogras) on peaty-gley, humus-gley soils.
29. a combination of small-leaved-coniferous forests, swamps, bush thickets, meadows on turf-meadow, peaty-humus, and sometimes peat-gley soils.
30. forb-grass meadows alternating with willow and poplar forests on alluvial turf and meadow soils.
31. grass, moss bogs with a combination of swampy forests on humus-peaty soils.
32. Border Kemerovo region
33. Landscape border
Mid-mountain exaration and erosion-denudation landscapes.
Glacial landscapes in the Alatau-Shor Plateau occupy relatively small areas. 91 glaciers with a total area of 6.79 km2 were discovered in this mountainous region. The distribution area of glaciers extends from the Bolshoy Taskyl mountain in the north to the Teren-Kazyr ridge in the south of the Kuznetsk Alatau within the Tegir-Tysh mountain range. Glaciers are located in groups, forming separate centers of glaciation, which, in turn, can be combined into regions. Northern - glaciers near Mount Bolshoy Taskyl with a total area of 0.04 km 2. Central - glaciers near Krestovaya Mountain, Middle Kanym Mountains, Bolshoi Kanym Mountains, Cheksu Mountains with a total area of 2.65 km 2. Southern - glaciers lying north and south of the Tigirtish mountain range with a total area of 4.1 km 2.
The main physical and geographical feature of the Kuznetsk Alatau is the extremely low hypsometric level of glacial landscapes. Most of them are located at an altitude of 1400-1450 m. Some glaciers end at an altitude of 1200-1250 m. In the southern region, individual glaciers descend to 1340-1380 m. Slope glaciers lie the lowest. Some of them are located within the upper border of the forest. The glaciers of the Kuznetsk Alatau lie lower than in other inland mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere at the same latitude.
The determining factor in the existence of glacial landscapes of the Kuznetsk Alatau is wind redistribution and snowstorm concentration of snow on the leeward slopes of the mountains. Glaciers occupy leeward ledges of mountain terraces, leeward slopes behind vast areas of watersheds and plateau-like peaks, form in karas and on shaded walls, at the foot of steep slopes and in erosion-nival hollows. In Kuznetsk Alatau, glaciers do not descend into valleys, but are located on slopes, so the most common type of glaciers in this area is slope glaciers.
The existence of modern glaciers in the Kuznetsk Alatau is explained by a combination of climatic and orographic facts favorable for glaciation
In geographical literature the term " facies"was introduced in the 30s 20 by Ramensky. He considered facies as the smallest unit of landscape, the entire territory of which is characterized by the same type of origin and ecological regime (i.e., the same biota). Later, the term facies for use in the same sense was used by Solntsev, who developed the theory of morphology of L. In which facies received general recognition.
Facies is the only natural geosystem characterized by complete homogeneity. On its area, the vertical structure of geohorizons is the same. According to M.A. Solntseva, within the facies, the same lithology of surface rocks is preserved, the nature of the relief and moisture is the same, and 1 biocenosis grows. But landscape space, according to the general systemic law of necessary diversity, is structurally differentiated. Complete natural homogeneity is preserved in the area only in very small areas and therefore the size of the facies is small. Under different conditions, their area varies from 10-20 m2 to 1-3 km2. In the mountains their sizes are even smaller.
Facies connected with each other by horizontal material-energy flows form surrounding geosystems. In contrast to intercomponent vertical (regional) connections, interfacial connections are called lateral (lateral) horizontal. They may be due various factors: gravitational force, transfer of water and air masses, biogenic migrations of matter, etc. As a result, facies are integrated into several encompassing geosystems that are different in nature and genesis, which leads to a polystructural landscape space. Their essence lies in the recognition of the possibility of coexistence in the same landscape space of several heterogeneous geosystem formations (for example: a coastal zone along various reservoirs with any fluctuations in water in it).
Term tract was also introduced by Ramensky. It was taken from vernacular in which it designated an area different in nature from the surrounding territory. To date, tracts are called PTKs, which are a naturally constructed system of genetically, dynamically and territorially connected facies or their groups (sub-tracts) and usually occupy one particular mesorelief component. Typical tracts of flat landscapes are: a ravine with a ravine forest, a moraine hill forested with dark coniferous taiga, a steppe hill, a takyr in the desert, a meadow estuary among the steppe, etc.
Term geographical area Until now, it does not have an unambiguous definition in the landscape literature. In the most general form, it is considered as the largest morphological part of the landscape. It is characterized by a special combination of the main tracts of a given landscape. It is always associated not with some mesoform of relief, but with their morphological combination. The most important integrating factors for a terrain is the positional unity within a particular macroform of the relief and the associated paragenesis of the tracts composing it. On the elevated plains of the European part of Russia in the forest-steppe zone, the following areas are distinguished: flat meadow-steppe, slope, valley with upland oak groves and ravine-gully network, floodplain-terrace pine forest, floodplain forest-meadow, etc.
Terrain (in physical geography) terrain, in physical geography one of the morphological parts geographical landscape. Represents a group of conjugate tracts, associated with individual large forms of relief (for example, with watersheds, river valleys and terraces, etc.) or with fluctuations in the depth of occurrence of the same bedrock (pre-anthropogenic) rocks (for example, limestone subject to karst under the cover of loess-like loams). M. in landscape science are also considered complex systems tracts of the same type that merged in the process of their development (for example, systems of raised bog massifs in taiga landscapes), and parts of the landscape that differ from each other quantitative ratio areas occupied by different types of tracts (for example, pine forests, swamps in the taiga, etc.) with a homogeneous qualitative composition of the latter. In geographical literature the term "M." also used in a general sense (as a landscape, a territory with a peculiar combination of natural conditions). ═ A. G. Isachenko.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .
See what “Terrain (in physical geography)” is in other dictionaries:
1) part of the territory, characterized by a common c.l. signs (natural, historical or other). 2) In physical. geography large morphol. part of the geographical landscape, a complex of tracts... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary
- - scientist and writer, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg University; born in the village Denisovka, Arkhangelsk province, November 8, 1711, died in St. Petersburg on April 4, 1765. Currently... ... Large biographical encyclopedia
- [τόπος (ςopos) place, area; γράφω (γrafe) I write] a scientific discipline that studies the earth’s surface (i.e., elements of the physical surface of the land and objects of activity located on it ... ... Geological encyclopedia
I. Definition, composition, space, population. II. Relief. Geological conditions. The soil. Water. III. Climate. IV. Flora and fauna. V. Ethnographic composition, religion, life and occupations of the population. VI. Agriculture and its conditions... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron
Terrain type, like landscape or region, is one of the most common and important concepts in landscape (complex physical) geography. V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky wrote back in 1928 that “...the search for types of localities is the first, most important, essential, integral feature of geographical science...” (p. 48). Researchers have shown particular interest in this concept post-war years, during the period of widespread development of theoretical and field landscape work. Despite the widespread, if not universal, recognition of terrain types as landscape complexes, until recently different researchers have not put the same content into this concept. In this article we make an attempt to clarify the concept of “terrain type” and find out its place and significance in landscape geography.
Short review existing views in the literature on the scope and content of the concept “type of terrain”
In special geographical literature, the term “type of locality” or similar “typical localities”, “types of localities” began to be used from the middle XIX V. Tracing the literature published since that time, it is not difficult to identify three different points of view on the scope and content of the concept of “terrain type”. According to the first of them, the type of terrain is a regional physical-geographical unit. One of the first to express this point of view was P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky . In Western Siberia, he distinguished the Tobol-Ishim, Barabinsk, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Altai, Upper Irtysh and Lower Ob “typical localities” (Semyonov, 1884). As N.I. Mikhailov correctly notes, “typical localities” in this case are essentially synthetic geographical areas of regional zoning...” (Mikhailov, 1955, p. 122). V. P. Semenov-Tian-Shansky in widely famous work“Types of localities in European Russia and the Caucasus” (1915) by “types of localities” meant regional units close to the physiographic provinces in modern idea.. So, into independent “types; localities,” he singled out the Polesie subglacial water accumulation, the Donetsk ridge, the Volga loose ravine region, the Zhiguli or Samara Luka, the Trans-Volga lowland and others. B. L. Bernstein divided the territory of the Yaroslavl province into “physical-geographical areas,” which he considered synonymous with physical-geographical regions.
According to the second point of view, until recently the most widespread, the type of terrain is a general typological concept. While putting broad typological content into this term, researchers did not limit its use to any taxonomic framework.
Over 100 years ago, N.A. Severtsov identified “clans of localities” on the territory of the former Voronezh province, symmetrically located along the rivers. In particular, he named the following types of areas: low sand spits; sandy-silty sediments with alder, meadows and lakes; steep edge of the valley with marginal forest, yarugi or treeless; a strip of villages; a strip of cultivated fields with fallow lands; steppe (Severtsov, 1950).
A. N. Krasnov in 1886 used the term “type of terrain” when describing the right bank of the Volga and Oka in the former Nizhny Novgorod province. He named 19 types of terrain, which in their volume are close to the types of tracts in the modern concept (exposed steep clayey slopes, bottoms of shady flooded ravines, etc.). In the same period, P.P. Semenov describes the types of localities of Central Asian deserts, highlighting the loess foothills watered by ditches; short transverse valleys of the Kopet-Dag with their irrigated rivers; bare and waterless slopes and peaks of Kopet-Dag; coastal steppe flow of a large Central Asian river; a cultural oasis remote from the mountains; sandy desert near the Repetek station.
G. N. Vysotsky also uses the term “type of locality” in a general typological sense. Thus, he calls the eastern slopes of Ergeni, characterized by rugged terrain and frequent changes in soil and plant groups, a “variegated type of terrain,” while the Caspian semi-desert is an example of a monotonous territorial type (Vysotsky, 1904).
IN Soviet period the term “terrain type” as a general, non-taxonomic concept was widely used in the works of employees of the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the 40s, a special group was created to compile complex physical and geographical maps. In addition to the institute’s staff, representatives of the Soil* and Botanical Institutes took part in its work. Of the three maps compiled by this group, two are landscape-typological in nature. The main objects depicted on them are the terrain types of the European part and the eastern regions of the country. These researchers do not give a detailed definition of the type of terrain highlighted on the maps; it is only known that each type of terrain is characterized by “a specific and similar combination of physical-geographical conditions” (Gerasimov and Kes, 1948, p. 352). As special types of terrain, such natural complexes as loaches, taiga plateaus, mountain-hill taiga, taiga small mountains, taiga-ridge plains, steppe small hills, steppe plains, elevated tundra, low-lying swampy tundra, salt marshes, takyrs, deserts are identified as special types of terrain. sandy hilly and dune plains, etc.
The ideas underlying these maps of terrain types were further developed in the works of V. S. Preobrazhensky, N. V. Fadeeva and L. I. Mukhina (Preobrazhensky and Fadeeva, 1955; Preobrazhensky, 1957; Preobrazhensky et al. 1959 ; Preobrazhensky, Fadeeva, Mukhina, 1961; Types of terrain and natural zoning of the Chita region, 1961; Fadeeva, 1961). These authors, relying on the statements of G.N. Vysotsky (1904, 1909) about phytotopological maps, or maps of habitat types, did a lot of work to identify and map terrain types Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Chita region.
V. S. Preobrazhensky proposes to consider as a type of terrain “those areas of territory that have a complex of natural conditions necessary (or unsuitable) for the growth of a certain set of agricultural crops” (Preobrazhensky, Fadeeva, Mukhina, Tomilov, 1959, p. 42). He and his collaborators identify the following natural complexes as independent types of terrain: in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - mountain dry steppe, mountain steppe, forest-steppe and mountain forest-steppe, mountain taiga, pre-alpine open forest, char, meadow flat riverine plains, meadow gently sloping plains, birch forests, pine forests. forests, mountain tundra (ibid.); in the Chita region - dry steppe, steppe, forest-steppe, taiga, pre-goltsy open forest, loaches, meadow plains, birch forests, goosefoot, pine forests (Types of terrain and natural zoning of the Chita region, 1961).
It is easy to see that V. S. Preobrazhensky and his colleagues distinguish landscape complexes that are far from equivalent as types of terrain: steppe, forest-steppe, taiga, i.e. zonal complexes (types of landscape, in the opinion of most researchers) are placed on a par with meadow flat riverine plains, birch forests, pigweeds and pine forests, occurring as separate fragments in zonal complexes.
Essentially synonymous with the type of terrain as a general typological concept are many of the geographical landscapes of L. S. Berg (1947) (spruce forests of the lowland forest zone, ravine landscape of the forest-steppe, sands of the desert zone, river valleys of the desert zone, etc.), landscapes in the works of B B. Polynova (1926, 1927), types of territory in the works of A. N. Ponomarev (1937) and Z. M. Murzaev (1953), landscape and type of landscape in the view of N. A. Gvozdetsky (1958, 1961) and some other geographers.
According to the third point of view, a terrain type is a taxonomic unit of typological landscape mapping. In a number of previously published works (Milkov, 1953, 1955, 1956a, 1956b, 1957a, 19576, 1959a, 1959b, etc.), we sought to substantiate the concept of “terrain type” as one of the most important landscape-typological units of a certain taxonomic significance. In doing so, we proceeded from the position that in nature there are two, although closely interrelated, but independent series of landscape complexes: regional and typological. Regional complexes (district, province, zone, country) are units of landscape zoning, typological ones are units of landscape mapping. Both complexes have an independent system of taxonomic units, which includes: tract type, terrain type, landscape type.
The type of terrain represents a relatively equivalent, from the point of view of economic use, territory, which has a natural, unique combination of tracts. Like other typological units, a locality type has a discontinuous area and its distribution does not depend on the boundaries of regional units. For the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the south of the Russian Plain, we described the following types of terrain: floodplain, above-floodplain-terrace, riverside (slope), upland, interfluve undrained, watershed-outwash, remnant-watershed, low-mountain.
An interpretation of the type of terrain close to the above is found in a large number newest works, devoted to physical-geographical zoning and landscape-typological mapping of different regions of our country. Among the landscape-typological works, the following can be named: N.I. Akhtyrtseva (1957a and b, 1959, 1961) on the Kalach Upland, S.T. Belozorova (1958) on the Odessa region, 3. P. Berdnikova and N.N. Smirnov (1959) on the relationship between riverine and upland types of terrain in the south of the Central Russian Upland, K. I. Gerenchuk (1956, 1957) on the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, G. E. Grishankova (1958, 1961) on the Eastern Yails of Crimea and the Central Russian Upland, M. M. Koinova (1957) about the Stanislav region, A. I. Lanko, A. M. Marinich and others (1959) about the Ukrainian SSR, and many others.
The type of terrain as a taxonomic typological unit is recognized by N. A. Solntsev. He believes that localities represent “a natural combination of a certain type of tracts (Solntsev, 1961, p. 56) and at the same time are organic integral part landscape (region).
Thus, of the considered points of view on the concept of “terrain type,” the last two are currently the most widely recognized, according to which the terrain type is considered as a general typological concept and as one of the main taxonomic units of landscape mapping. Despite the differences in these views, we do not see a sharp, insurmountable line between them. Representatives of both points of view see the type of locality as the most important typological landscape complex, the knowledge of which helps to reveal the internal content of regional units. However, it should be emphasized that the recognition of terrain type as a general typological concept does not eliminate, but, on the contrary, makes it more urgent to develop a taxonomic system for terrain types.
On the leading factors shaping terrain types
The terrain types of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the Russian Plain, which are well known to us from field work, usually show the closest connection with elements of erosional relief. This is confirmed in the names of the terrain types: nominal, floodplain-terrace, riverside (slope), remnant-watershed.
In the conditions of the Central Russian forest-steppe, where the valley-gully relief is perfectly expressed, and the subsoil almost everywhere is carbonate loess-like rocks of uniform composition, erosional relief acquires an exceptional, leading role in
formation of terrain types. This connection of vegetation and soils with the relief of the Central Russian forest-steppe was repeatedly pointed out by N. A. Severtsov, G. I. Tanfilyev, G. F. Morozov, B. A. Keller. It is therefore quite natural that the types of terrain - landscape complexes - in the Central Russian forest-steppe in many cases coincide with certain types of locations.
It should be noted that there is no complete coincidence of terrain types with location types even in the conditions of the Central Russian forest-steppe. Firstly, different types of terrain are often observed here in similar location conditions. Thus, on the flat interfluves of the Oka-Don lowland, not one, but three types of terrain are clearly visible: upland, interfluve undrained and watershed-outwash (see profile); secondly, almost every type of location is not one, but a complex complex of location types. For example, the upland type of terrain consists not only of flat, elevated-plain “upland formations”, in the concept of G.N. Vysotsky (1904), it closely intertwines a number of tracts of different locations: the uplands themselves (levels), drainage hollows, peaks ravines, steppe depressions, ponds.
Along with the relief, the lithology of the parent rocks that serve as the subsoil also plays a leading role in the formation of terrain types. If in the Central Russian forest-steppe, in the isolation of terrain types, the first place belongs to the relief, then in the Caspian lowland it very often does not play such a decisive role and the lithology of the parent rocks comes first. True, the estuary type of terrain in the Caspian semi-desert owes its existence to the relief, however, in the vast expanses of the semi-desert, landscape differences are caused not by the relief, but by the replacement of clayey and loamy soils with sandy and sandy loam.
The leading role of lithology in the formation of semi-desert landscape complexes was established by E. A. Eversmann. In the first part of the “Natural History of the Orenburg Region” he wrote about steppes devoid of fat (semi-deserts in the modern concept): “the latter can also be divided into clayey and solonetzous steppes (Katkil among the Kaysaks), actually into salt marshes, salt mud (among the Kaysaks Sur) and, finally, to the sandy steppes, sands (among the Kaisaks, kum). This division is based on nature itself and is important for determining the distribution of plants and animals." (our detente.- F. Milkov) (Eversmann, 1949, p. 219).
The landscape-forming role of lithology increases even more in dry deserts, where moisture reserves in soils are determined mainly not by meso- and microforms and relief, but by water permeability, capillarity and other soil properties. N.A. Gvozdetsky identifies the following types of Central Asian deserts: 1) loess-clay ephemeral, 2) clayey wormwood (wormwood-saltwort), 3) sandy psammophytic, 4) rocky gypsophytic, 5) saline halophytic (Gvozdetsky and Fedina, 1958). These types of deserts, from our point of view, are nothing more than enlarged types of terrain.
A completely different situation than in the Central Russian forest-steppe is developing, on the one hand, in semi-deserts and deserts, on the other, in the Baltic states, in the north of Belarus and in adjacent areas. Here, the complex glacial relief - from coarsely hilly and hilly to completely flat in place of drained lake reservoirs or secondary moraine plains - is combined with an extremely variegated, rapidly changing lithology of Quaternary sediments - subsoils (sands, clayey, loamy and sandy loam moraines, banded clays, cover loams and etc.). Under these conditions, the identification of terrain types from a methodological point of view turns out to be, perhaps, more difficult compared to the identification of the same typological complexes in the Central Russian forest-steppe or in semi-deserts. There is a need to develop new techniques and approaches to identifying and mapping terrain types that are different from those used in other areas of the country. Interesting experiments to identify the types of terrain in the glacial north-west of the Russian Plain were carried out by 3. V. Borisova (1958), A. B. Basalikas and O. A. Shleinyte (1961), 3. V. Dashkevich (Borisova) (1961), V A. Dementyev (1961).
In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the relative importance of relief and lithology of source rocks as leading factors in the formation of terrain types varies depending on the degree of their “expressiveness” and, to a certain extent, on the climatic background (an increase in the lithological factor in sharply arid areas).
Distribution area and regional characteristics of terrain types
The type of terrain usually generalizes big number specific areas. By specific locality, we, as before (Milkov, 1956b), mean a spatially unified, non-disconnected fragment of a type of locality within one regional unit - a landscape area.
A specific area in its properties is closest to regional units of landscape zoning and in some cases, during large-scale studies, can and should serve as an object of independent study. More often, however, a specific locality is studied not as an independent object, but as a standard for many other similar specific localities, which together form a type of locality. Spatial isolation and at the same time landscape proximity of the type of terrain throughout the entire range constitutes the most important property of this landscape complex, which is difficult to overestimate for theory and practice. In this regard, a completely legitimate question arises: how large is the area of the same type of terrain? The following three possible answers to this question can be accepted.
Firstly, we can assume that the type of terrain is a landscape complex that has unlimited distribution. This assumption is based on the fact that similar landforms and lithology of source rocks - the leading factors in the formation of terrain types - are repeated in different provinces, zones and even continents. However, the identification of terrain types in such a broad interpretation loses its scientific and practical significance. Despite the fact that the remnant hills and ridges of the Volga Upland and the Kyzylkum desert, or sandy plains. Polesie and the Turkmen Karakum, in terms of relief forms and lithology, are somewhat similar to each other; in landscape terms, they are so far from each other that hardly anyone would risk combining them into one type of terrain.
Secondly, a locality type can be considered a landscape typological complex of local regional significance. The tendency to limit types of terrain to a relatively narrow regional framework is noticeable in the works of K. I. Gerenchuk (1957). In practice, excessive regional limitation of terrain types can lead to blurring of the lines between a terrain type and a specific location. In the end, you can get to the point that for each landscape area it seems advisable to develop its own special system of terrain. Apparently, this is what N.A. Solntsev (1957) means, proposing to replace the term “type of terrain” with another term - “terrain”. In this case, we are deprived of the opportunity to use in practice the most important quality of typological units - to serve as a criterion for establishing landscape similarity and relative economic equivalence of territorially separated specific areas. From our point of view, in all cases, even with the most large-scale studies, when we are faced with practically specific localities, it is better to talk not just about “localities”, but about “types of localities”, thereby emphasizing that the described locality is not a region, not a unique individuality, but only a fragment of a widespread type.
Finally, the type of terrain as an intrazonal landscape complex. This interpretation of it seems logically the most justified, since the types of terrain usually do not go beyond the landscape zone; their totality within a landscape zone forms a landscape type - a typological taxonomic unit of a higher rank than the terrain type. However, the nature of typological units is such that sometimes they do not take into account the boundaries of regional units and the same type of terrain can be found in different landscape zones, just as the area of a landscape type does not repeat the area of distribution of any particular landscape zone. For example, such types of terrain as upland, floodplain, floodplain-terrace and riverside (slope) are equally widespread in forest-steppe and steppe zones Russian Plain; Fragments of upland and riverine types of terrain are also found in the south of the mixed forest zone.
What, ultimately, is the criterion for establishing the boundaries of the distribution of a particular type of terrain? It lies in the very definition of the type of terrain - the boundaries of a locality are determined by the geography of its constituent characteristic tracts and dominant tracts. To clarify what has been said, let us consider the boundaries of the distribution of the upland type of terrain. This type of terrain, perfectly expressed in the watersheds of the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the Russian Plain, represents a combination of the following types of tracts: level areas, steppe depressions, drainage hollows, and the tops of gullies. To the north of the forest-steppe - in the taiga and mixed forest zones - watersheds are rarely flat, and where they are found, they are characterized by groundwater occurring close to the surface, are often swampy and, therefore, are not similar to the plain-type plains of the forest-steppe and steppe zones . However, in some areas of taiga and mixed forests, mainly in the so-called opoles, the upland type of terrain continues to be found. A classic example of an opole is Yuryevskoye in the Vladimir region. On its territory there are quite well developed flats without signs of waterlogging; there are saucer-shaped depressions and runoff hollows. The fact that the Yuryevsky opole region belongs to the plain type of area is also confirmed by the peculiarities of its economic use: the opole region, covered with fertile dark-colored soils on loess-like loams, like the plains of the forest-steppe and steppe zones, is almost completely plowed.
Southern border The distribution of the upland type of terrain is the northern semi-desert: here the role of solonetz tracts in the structure of upland areas sharply increases, and the importance of runoff hollows disappears. The upland-plain locations of the southern semi-desert and desert constitute a different type of terrain, different from the upland. The area of the upland type of terrain extends very widely from west to east. In addition to the Russian Plain, it is found on the plains of Hungary, distributed in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of Western and Central Siberia, very close analogues are known in the prairies of North America.
Different types of terrain have different habitats - sometimes very extensive, sometimes relatively limited. One of the most extensive habitats belongs to the floodplain type. Establishing its boundaries is a task for special research, but it seems to us that the Dnieper or Dniester floodplains and Central Asian tugai form independent types of terrain, different from the floodplain type of terrain middle zone Russian plain.
Here it is appropriate to raise another question - about the role climatic factor in the formation of terrain types. Obviously, relief and lithology are the leading factors in the formation of terrain types only on a certain, albeit fairly broad, climatic background. Such a background is provided by zones of a region located within one zone with the same or similar moisture balance, which is expressed in the ratio of the annual amount of precipitation to the amount of evaporation.
Recognizing wide areas for terrain types, we must not forget about the presence of certain landscape differences in these typological complexes, caused by local regional features of nature. For example, the weak development or complete absence of fresh ravines is a regional feature of the riverine (slope) type of terrain in the High Trans-Volga region. A regional feature of the interfluve undrained type of terrain of the Central Russian forest-steppe are aspen bushes, which are unusual for the interfluve undrained type of terrain of the Dnieper lowland. The almost complete absence of steppe depressions represents a regional feature of the upland type of terrain of the Kalach Upland.
Taking into account the above, when identifying, characterizing and mapping terrain types, one should constantly keep in mind not only their general - typological - features, but also the main regional features. This problem turns out to be not easy, and some researchers, trying to solve it, follow the path of fragmenting terrain types. Following this path, one can identify countless types of terrain and still not solve the problem - the regional influences on the types of terrain are so diverse. The only satisfactory solution is to combine typological units with regional ones in the text and on the landscape map. Typological units should be considered in inextricable connection with regional ones, and in both units one should see only different aspects of a single whole - the landscape sphere of the earth. It was precisely this path that a team of geographers from Voronezh University followed in the monograph “Physico-geographical zoning of the central black earth regions” (1961). In it, in addition to brief information about types of terrain in general The Central Black Sea Region, in some detail, indicating the areas, describes the types of terrain in each physical-geographical region.
As a generalization of everything stated above about regional influences on terrain types, it seems appropriate to introduce the concept of “variant of terrain type” (Milkov, 1959a and b). Depending on the nature of regional influences, we can talk about zonal, altitudinal-geomorphological and lithological variants of the terrain type. The flatland type of terrain in the forest-steppe and steppe zones represents two zonal variants of the same type of terrain. The riverine (slope) type of terrain on the Central Russian Upland and on the Oka-Don Lowland are not two different types of terrain, but different altitudinal-geomorphological variants of the same riverine (slope) type of terrain. Finally, the riverine type of terrain in the north of the Central Russian Upland, with outcrops of Devonian limestone, and in the south of the Central Russian Upland, with outcrops of white chalk, are not different types terrain, but only lithological variants of the same riverine (slope) type of terrain.
Theoretical and applied significance of studying terrain types
At present, the overwhelming majority of geographers quite reasonably admit that without preliminary identification and mapping of terrain types, it is difficult, if not impossible, to objectively identify physical-geographical areas. The main significance of terrain types lies precisely in the fact that their study leads to a more in-depth knowledge of regional differences in the nature of the country. Moreover, even physical-geographical regions (other authors refer to landscapes), which until recently were depicted as a kind of “homogeneous whole,” represent a complex unity consisting of unequal typological complexes.
The study of terrain types has not only theoretical, but also versatile applied significance. The relative economic equivalence of terrain types makes it possible to carry out a primary qualitative accounting of land wealth using a landscape-typological map. Good results on the economic assessment of the types of terrain in Transbaikalia were obtained by V. S. Preobrazhensky, L. I. Mukhina and N. V. Fadeeva (Preobrazhensky, Fadeeva, 1955; Preobrazhensky et al., 1959; Fadeeva, 1961, etc.). The first experiments in economic assessment of terrain types were given in the works of Voronezh economic geographers (Velsky, Porosenkov, 1961; Goncharov, 1961). With the help of terrain types, the internal natural and economic differences of limited territories - individual collective farms and state farms are successfully revealed (Nature and economy of the Chapaev collective farm, 1956; Velsky, 1957, 1959; Tarasov, 1957). A promising problem, standing on the verge of physical and economic geography, is the district and regional grouping of collective farms according to the predominant type of terrain, identifying the characteristics current state economy and prospects for its development for each group of collective farms (Milkov, 1961a).
V.V. Nikolskaya and L.F. Nasulich conducted Amur region interesting research on identifying types of terrain that differ in the degree of soil moisture and soakability, which largely determines the nature of their economic use (Nikolskaya and Nasulich, 1958).
The study of terrain types helps the planning of new cities and towns (Dorfman, 1961), opens up new opportunities in the study of erosion processes, and makes it possible to draw not a generalized average for the region, but a real picture of the gullyiness of the territory (Ezhov, 1957, 1958, 1959). There is no doubt that the broad and in-depth study of terrain types, which has developed in recent years in our country, will contribute to the further strengthening and development of landscape geography.