Age, Genesis, and Seismogenic Deformations of the Vuoksa River Terraces on the Karelian Isthmus (Northwestern Russia)

—Terraces at four hypsometric levels were studied in the Vuoksa River basin (northern part of the Karelian Isthmus, NW Russia). New data on nine sections of late Quaternary–Holocene sediments have been obtained. Their age has been determined (for the first time for surface deposits in the studied region) in the interval from 90 to 2 ka. The terrace sediments are disturbed by deformations (faults, folds, and liquefaction) caused by six strong earthquakes in that period. The relationships among the terrace levels, ages, stratigraphy, and structures of loose sediments point to their formation under the impact of differentiated tectonic motions triggered by the activation of the ancient “Vuoksa” fault zone in the late Neopleistocene and Holocene.

Художник Мария Масленникова: поэзия Карельского перешейка и Гималаев в пастели

The purpose of the article is to identify the ideological and stylistic features of the work of the modern Russian artist Maria A. Maslennikova, who continues the best traditions of Russian culture, especially the art of St. Petersburg. Until now, not a single article has been devoted to the talented representative of artistic creativity, working in the pastel technique. But the master takes an active part in various exhibitions in Russia and abroad. The totality of Maslennikova's artworks is a significant example of contemporary fine art. The artist's graphic sheets embody important topical searches of contemporary art: the original author's development of the landscape genre, Russian-Finnish interaction in the field of art, the specifics of the perception of northern nature, the continuation of the traditions of the Leningrad landscape. The realistic method closest to the artist proves its relevance in her works and demonstrates the limitless possibilities that allow it to solve a variety of artistic tasks. The artist's work fully manifested the so urgent nowadays “ecological consciousness”, calling for the preservation of natural wealth, the growth of ecological culture. Reproductions of the master's paintings are published here for the first time. The statements of Maria Maslennikova, who has an undoubted literary talent, about herself, her work, and their origins, are very valuable. Along with pastels, she uses oil, acrylic, gouache, and acrylic tempera. Attention is drawn to the originality of the painting technique, most often used by the master — working with very soft dry pastels on pastel or primed paper. The pastel landscape, representing the quivering, austere or monumental image of the nature of the Karelian Isthmus, is the most widespread in the work of the master. The landscape of the Himalayas also occupies a large place in her work. The artist makes her unique contribution to the artistic and aesthetic comprehension of the Himalayas and Eastern culture. The unrecognizability of nature by man, the need to search for their harmonious coexistence is the main pathos of the master's work, the identification of which is aimed at the entire complex of meaningful and artistic means of her works, which is consistently considered in this article. Задачей статьи является выявление идейно-стилистических особенностей творчества современной российской художницы Марии Александровны Масленниковой, продолжающей лучшие традиции российской культуры, в особенности искусства Санкт-Петербурга. Талантливой представительнице художественного творчества, работающей в технике пастели, до настоящего времени не было посвящено ни одной статьи. Но мастер активно принимает участие в различных выставках в России и за рубежом. Корпус работ Масленниковой является значительным образцом современного изобразительного искусства. В листах художницы воплощены актуальные поиски современного искусства: оригинальная авторская разработка жанра пейзажа, русско-финское взаимодействие в области искусства, специфика восприятия северной природы, продолжение традиций ленинградского пейзажа. Наиболее близкий художнице реалистический метод доказывает в ее работах свою актуальность и демонстрирует безграничные возможности, позволяющие решать самые разные художественные задачи. В творчестве художницы в полной мере проявилось столь актуальное ныне «экологическое сознание», призывающее к сохранению природного богатства, росту экологической культуры. Приводимые репродукции картин мастера публикуются впервые. Ценны высказывания Марии Масленниковой, обладающей несомненным литературным дарованием, о себе, своем творчестве, его истоках. Наряду с пастелью художница применяет масло, акрил, гуашь, акриловую темперу. В статье обращено внимание на своеобразие живописной техники, чаще всего применяемой мастером, — работе очень мягкой сухой пастелью по пастельной или грунтованной бумаге. Пастельный пейзаж, представляющий трепетно-строгий или монументальный образ природы Карельского перешейка, является самым распространенным в творчестве мастера. Изображение природы Гималаев также занимает большое место в ее творчестве. Художница вносит свой неповторимый вклад в художественно-эстетическое осмысление Гималаев и восточной культуры. Непознаваемость природы человеком, необходимость поиска их гармоничного сосуществования — основной пафос творчества М. Масленниковой, на выявление которого нацелен весь комплекс содержательно-художественных средств ее работ, последовательно рассмотренный в предлагаемой статье.

Invasions of bird-dispersed shrub species in specially protected natural reservations of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Region

The research deals with recent invasions of bird-dispersed shrubs in specially protected natural reservations of St.Petersburg and Leningrad Region. The results of bird-dispersed woody species inventory in 5 partial nature reserves and nature sanctuaries of the area (See Fig. 1), based upon the extensive phytocoenological research data of 2014-2018, are given (See Table 1). Out of the adventive shrub species listed, the two most aggressive invaders were chosen according to their constancy and abundance in natural forest communities. These are Lonicera nigra in Komarovskiy Bereg [Komarovo Coast] Nature Sanctuary and Amelanchier spicata in Lisinskiy [Lisino] Partial Nature Reserve. For this purpose, distributions of these species are traced along with different forest types they invade, paying attention to species constancy and projective cover in different layers of forest communities (See Tables 2 and 4). Values of intralandscape species activeness, based upon the proper relevé sets, were also calculated for both aboriginal and adventitious plant species from different community types in each study area (See Tables 3 and 5). Lonicera nigra has never been detected as an invader before. It is presumably dispersed by robins, thrushes, and warblers, also by means of barochory and secondary hydrochory. The latter is proved by the occurrence of the oldest shrubs in riverine Norway spruce and Scots pine forests on the Littorine terrace of the Gulf of Finland within Komarovo Coast Nature Sanctuary. The results of secondary bird dispersal of this species are observed in sorrel spruce forests where the untypical low shrub layer is being formed (See Fig. 2). These plants are remote form brooks or drainage channels (See Table 2). L. nigra acts as one of the most active species in the sanctuary forest coenofloras studied (See Table 3). Nevertheless, floristic composition of these forest communities remains yet unchanged in its main features. The invasion of L. nigra in the sanctuary area was first mentioned in literature by NN Tzvelev in 2000 but it took place much earlier, as the ancestral plant specimens were likely to grow in a transplant nursery near the present-day sanctuary north-eastern border in the early XX-th century. According to Komarov Botanical Institute Herbarium (LE) data, the secondary area of L. nigra in Russia is restricted to several findings in the Karelian Isthmus. Amelanchier spicata, the June berry, listed among the most aggressive plant invaders in European Russia, is dispersed by thrushes along roads in forests and then invades sorrel and horsetail-peatmoss spruce and pine forests on southern-boreal watersheds in Lisino Reserve, often as a gap-filling species. It is less common and abundant in secondary birch and aspen forests. In contrast to Lonicera nigra, it is infrequent and never abundant in riverine forests (See Table 4), the fact probably explained by difference in prevailing bird distributor species. A. spicata is never found in feathermoss pine forests on fluvial-glacial sand as well as in dwarfshrub-peatmoss pine bog forests. The invasion of this species in the reserve area probably took place after 1984-1987 when the species was not registered in forest communities of the area according to the author’s personal observations. In 2017, the activeness of A. spicata is low in all the forest types it inhabits, being compared to that of the dominant aboriginal species (See Table 5). As follows from the correlation analysis results, no one of the discussed invaders affects the projective cover of any of the native plant species in both protected areas significantly. Speaking of Amelanchier spicata, it is in fact far less aggressive than in the more southern areas of Central and Southern Russia where the species transforms forest communities actively and affects aboriginal field- and ground-layer plants negatively, even as far as to the extinction of some of the latter, as it is well-known from the literature on the subject. We are just at the beginning of the invasion process in the forests of the Russian North-West yet. The invasion of both species studied is likely to be connected with the climate change processes. The research reveals that a neglected adventive species, persisting long within a given area, may also suddenly become an aggressive invader (the case of Lonicera nigra). The invasion of adventive shrubs into the paludified forest communities, including those of the boreal peatmoss spruce forests which served as etalons of floristic stability quite recently, is also alarming.

The distribution of village names based on pre-Christian Finnic personal names in the northern Baltic Sea area

The article studies pre-Christian Finnic anthroponyms and their spread in the northern Baltic Sea area at the end of Middle Ages (c. AD 1520). This is done by analysing village names based on pre-Christian Finnic personal name elements. The primary research material consists of various editions of documents from the 15th and 16th centuries. The analysis demonstrates that village names based on pre-Christian Finnic anthroponyms are most densely located in Varsinais-Suomi, Häme, Northern and Eastern Estonia, Southern Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and Eastern Ingria. The first four areas are home to significant Iron Age settlements. It seems that the use of the pre-Christian Finnic name elements under investigation originally started in these areas and spread eastwards.

Brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus — new fish species for Russia

The native habitat of the brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus is located in the eastern part of North America. This species was introduced in Europe, Southwestern Asia and New Zealand. It was supposed that it entered Russia from the southwest and now inhabits some water bodies at the border with Ukraine and Belarus. Information about bullheads in Russia was searched for in scientific editions and angler’s blogs. Anglers’ reports have been verified by survey and fishing. It turned out that brown bullheads did in fact appear in Russia, but not where they were expected: they were found by the city of Saint Petersburg on the Karelian Isthmus, i.e., on the territory between Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. They inhabit at least three lakes. This invasion resulted from release by unauthorized individuals. The revealed habitats are linked by brooks with the river systems of the Baltic Sea Basin. The following spread of the brown bullhead is possible due to intentional releases and natural processes.

Human-environment interaction during the Holocene along the shoreline of the Ancient Lake Ladoga: A case study based on palaeoecological and archaeological material from the Karelian Isthmus, Russia

This paper presents the results of pollen, diatom, charcoal, and sediment analyses from Lake Bol’shoye Zavetnoye, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus, north-western Russia. The main goal is to contribute to the discussion of Neolithic land use in north-eastern Europe. The article aims to answer questions related to Stone Age hunter-gatherer economy, ecology, and anthropogenic environmental impact through a comprehensive combination of multiple types of palaeoecological data and archaeological material. According to diatom data, Lake Bol’shoye Zavetnoye was influenced by the water level oscillations of Ancient Lake Ladoga during much of the Holocene. Intensified human activity and prolonged human occupation become visible in the Lake Bol’shoye Zavetnoye pollen data between 4480 BC and 3250 BC. During the final centuries of the Stone Age, a new phase of land use began, as several anthropogenic indicators, such as Triticum, Cannabis, and Plantago lanceolata appear in the pollen data and a decrease in Pinus values is recorded. In general, the results indicate that socio-cultural transformations could have taken place already from the mid-5th millennium BC onwards, including new ways of utilizing the environment, perhaps also in the field of subsistence, even though the livelihood was based on foraging throughout the period.

Palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic conditions on the Karelian Isthmus (northwestern Russia) during the Holocene

The Holocene evolution of climate in easternmost Fennoscandia and adjoining regions is poorly known, compared with regions to the west. To address this, a 224-cm-long sediment core from Lake Medvedevskoe, situated on the Central Upland of the Karelian Isthmus, northwestern Russia, was examined to investigate variations in the Holocene climate. Analyses indicate that the dry and cold late Pleistocene climate was replaced by the warmer and more humid early Holocene climate after ca. 10.5 cal ka BP. During the early Holocene, the lake transitioned from an oligotrophic to a mesotrophic state, characterized by a “Corynocera ambigua/Microtendipes pedellus-type” phase, which has been found in other lakes across Fennoscandia. Taxonomic shifts in the chironomid and cladoceran communities associated with climatic amelioration were identified at ca. 10.6 and 9.17 cal ka BP using breakpoint analysis. Reconstructed July temperatures indicate climatic patterns comparable to those seen in eastern Fennoscandia. The warm period between ca. 9.5 and 5.5 cal ka BP (T July 14.5–15°C) was interrupted by a slight cooling between ca. 8.5 and 8.1 cal ka BP, possibly relating to the 8.2 event, with peak temperature reached at ca. 7.8 cal ka BP. Neoglacial cooling started after ca. 5.5 cal ka BP, the median reconstructed July temperature dropped to 2–3°C cooler than present (mean T July 13.5°C) before recovering in recent time.