ON THE PROBLEMS OF STUDYING FOREST BIOMASS QUALIMETRY IN EURASIA

Нарастающие катастрофические сценарии последствий глобального потепления определяют актуальность оценки углероддепонирующей способности планетарной растительности. Поэтому исследование структуры и квалиметрии биомассы древесных и кустарниковых растений имеет важное значение. Проанализировано несколько методов неразрушающего контроля древесины, каждый из которых имеет свои ограничения, и представленный краткий их анализ может способствовать выбору вари- анта, наиболее пригодного для того или иного метода неразрушающего контроля. Дан анализ состояния проблемы квалиметрической оценки фитомассы деревьев как сырья в промышленном производстве, так и в селекционных программах. Показаны возможности квалиметрической оценки древесины путем лазерного зондирования. бортовое и наземное лазерное сканирование дает с высокой точностью характеристики структуры дерева и древостоя, которые связаны с плотностью древесины. Разработка картографических продуктов по географическим градиентам в сочетании с возможностями дистанционного зондирования локальных структурных показателей древостоев обеспечивает поддержку мелкомасштабного картографирования плотности древесины. Дана характеристика впервые составленной базы данных о квалиметрии биомассы лесообразующих пород центральной Евразии и показаны перспективы ее использования. The increasing catastrophic scenarios of the consequences of global warming determine the relevance of the assessment of the carbon-depositing ability of planetary vegetation. Therefore, the study of the structure and qualimetry of the biomass of woody and shrubby plants is important. Several methods of non- destructive testing of wood are analyzed, each of which has its own limitations, and the presented brief analysis of them can contribute to the choice of the option most suitable for a particular method of non-destructive testing. The analysis of the state of the problem of the qualimetric assessment of the tree phytomass as raw materials in industrial production and in breeding programs is given. The possibilities of qualimetric assessment of wood by laser sensing are shown. Airborne and ground-based laser scanning provides high-accuracy characteristics of the structure of the tree and the stand, which are related to the density of the wood. The development of cartographic products based on geographical gradients, combined with remote sensing capabilities of local structural indicators of stands, provides support for small-scale mapping of wood density. The characteristic of the first compiled database on the qualimetry of the biomass of forest-forming species of central Eurasia is given and the prospects for its use are shown.

From the Demotic to the Literary

Understanding why Persian ceded ground to the vernacular Turkic in Central Asia in the 18th century is key to detecting major cultural realignments in the Balkans-to-Bengal complex. To date, however, focus has been predominantly on the constraining of Persian’s hegemonic status in Asia, its shaping colonial knowledge, and its stamping an imprint on other literary languages in post-colonial situations. Taking this literature as a point of departure, I change perspective and examine the process whereby a vernacular idiom acquired prominence prior to the onset of Russian colonization. By setting aside the issue of scope of Persian, I turn to an exploration of writing practices in Turkic in the early modern period in Khorezm, a major oasis in Central Asia within the territory of what is today Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. Interpreted in the literature so far as an isolated phenomenon, the ascendance of Chaghatay Turkic in Khorezm has been in fact studied in isolation from similar processes of vernacularization. By reconnecting writing practices in this oasis to patterns of literary consumption in Central Eurasia more generally, I point to an area of shared vernacular sensibilities across Khorezm, the Middle Volga, the Kazakh Steppe and the Tarim Basin. Furthermore, I argue that the promotion of the vernacular among Turkic-speaking Muslims in the Russian empire in the early 20th century was built on earlier processes of elevation of a written culture from the demotic to the literary.

Magnetostratigraphic dating of late Miocene megalake regressions in Central Eurasia

<p>The largest megalake in the record formed in Eurasia during the late Miocene, when the epicontinental Paratethys Sea became tectonically-trapped and disconnected from the global ocean. The Paratethys megalake was characterized by several episodes of hydrological instability and partial desiccation, but the chronology, magnitude and impacts of these paleoenvironmental crises are poorly known. The Panagia section on the Taman Peninsula of Russia is the only place known to host a continuous sedimentary record of the late Miocene hydrological crises of Paratethys. Paleomagnetic measurements allow the development of a polarity pattern that can be used to date the regression events. The Panagia polarity pattern consists of 17 polarity intervals, 9 of normal polarity and 8 of reversed polarity, plus 4 additional short-term polarity fluctuations, that are inferred to correspond to the 11-7.5 Ma interval. We identified four major regressions that correlate with aridification events, vegetation changes and faunal turnovers in large parts of Europe. Our paleogeographic reconstructions reveal that Paratethys was profoundly transformed during the regression episodes, losing ~1/3 of the water volume and ~70% of its surface during the most extreme events. The remaining water was stored in a central salt-lake and peripheral desalinated basins while vast regions (up to 1.75 million km2) became emerged land, suitable for the development of forest-steppe landscapes. The dry episodes of the megalake match with climate, food-web and landscape changes throughout Eurasia but the exact triggers and mechanisms remain to be resolved.</p>