THE ROLE OF TECHNOGENIC IMPACT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DANGEROUS GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE MOUNTAIN REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

The article presents an assessment of technogenic impact on the development of hazardous geological processes in the mountainous regions of the Northern Caucasus in the current century. Technogenic impact is determined by the stability of rock formations that make up the Krasnodar Territory, Kabardino-Balkaria, and North Ossetia relative to the impacts of other forces. It is also noted that the activity of hazardous geological processes is largely determined by the interaction of climatic conditions, which determine their speed, and technogenesis. Examples of problematic territories of the North Caucasus are given. To assess climatic changes and major catastrophes, a typology of atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere was developed under the leadership of B.L. Dzerdzeevsky. Typification materials from the period between 1899 and 2018 are posted in the public domain, at www.atmospheric-circulation.ru. The largest catastrophes, in which landslides and mudflows became more active, and the interaction of natural and man-made factors in these disasters are considered.Hazardous geological processes can disrupt the sustainable development of individual regions with their negative impact on the environment. The assessment of their danger is therefore of special current relevance. The article considers the possibility of predicting catastrophes associated with these processes. Long-term forecasts of landslides, mudflows and other processes continue to be important. The methodology of such forecasting was previously developed in sufficient detail. The greatest importance is assigned to operational forecasts that will make it possible to warn of possible danger hours or even days ahead.

THE V.I. VERNADSKY FOUNDATION: EDUCATING, DEVELOPING, ACTING

The article discusses the best educational practices of the V.I. Vernadsky Non-governmental Ecological Foundation (the V.I. Vernadsky Foundation), based on Vernadsky’s doctrine of the noosphere. The V.I. Vernadsky Foundation has been working on the environmental education of Russian citizens for more than a quarter of a century. Since the previous decade, the issue of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations (the SDGs) has been an integral part of most of the V.I. Vernadsky Foundation’s programs and projects. The article presents possible ways of creating incentives for contributing to the development of ecological culture across the population of our country. The necessity of greening the consciousness of the population has been proven, which implies an unconditional understanding of the need to introduce environmental ideas into all spheres of life. The main factors of the adolescents’ interest in ecology and the major directions of attracting a youth audience to environmental activities and building an eco-oriented lifestyle model have been determined.

FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF EXTREME EXOGENIC PROCESSES IN THE ALIBEK VALLEY (WESTERN CAUCASUS)

In the mountains, special types of geosystems are formed, whose origins are attributable to exogenic processes - debris flows, avalanches, landslides, etc. Since 2009, a regular survey of key objects and centers of heterogeneous extreme process development has been carried out for their identification and monitoring in the Central Caucasus (the Cherek- Balkarsky basin). To obtain a more complete picture of their course in the Northern Caucasus as a whole, and to track that cycle, the authors considered it expedient, beginning in 2021, to monitor also the Western Caucasus, the area of Teberda and Dombai. The article analyzes the results of expeditionary observations, as well as meteorological indicators that affect the course of extreme exogenic processes, their derivatives for 2020 and for the first eight months of 2021, from the Teberda and Terskol meteorological observatories.On the left side of the Alibek River valley, the predominant processes are talus and, to a lesser extent, avalanches. That side has a southern exposure and is arid relative to the right, northern one. On the one hand, moisture is insufficient for the successful formation of debris flows; on the other hand, sparse vegetation in the upper parts of the slope and the lower upper border of the forest do not inhibit exogenous processes.Air temperatures in Teberda are 4-5°C lower than in Balkaria. This contributes to the reduction of glacier melting, inhibiting exogenic processes. Higher moisture and the lack of grazing contribute to the formation of rich and dense vegetation, with a similar effect. This factor neutralizes the more active than in the Central Caucasus, frost weathering and high saltitudes, contributing to a higher rate of mobility of both water and debris.

THE LONG ROAD TO THE LIGHT: ON THE NINETIETH ANNIVERSARY OF T.L. BYSTRITSKAYA

Tatyana Lvovna Bystritskaya is a prominent representative of the post-war pleyade of Soviet soil scientists, who laid the foundations of functional ecological soil science in connection with the problem of bioproductivity of terrestrial ecosystems. She can rightfully be considered as one of the most signifi Russian researchers of the year-round carbon cycle and conjugated biophilic elements in natural and anthropogenic steppe ecosystems on the chernozem soils of the USSR. Tatyana Lvovna Bystritskaya is also the developer of the methodology for instrumental monitoring of “soil life” (the daily and seasonal dynamics of soil solutions using ion-selective electrodes), an international expert on black fusion soils of Eurasia and on the fusion processes unfavorable to agricultural soils, author and co-author of classical monographs on the bioproductivity of herbal ecosystems in connection with soil processes and nature management, on the genesis and evolution of soils in the opolian landscapes of Central Russia, on the vertisols of Eurasia, soil solutions of chernozems and gray forest soils in Russia and Ukraine. In November this year, Tatyana Lvovna celebrates her ninetieth birthday, and we present this publication as a humble gift on this momentous occasion.

A HISTORY OF THE MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY “MEDIATING CAMERA”

The Ninth International FestivalBiennale “Mediating Camera” was held in Moscow in May 2021. This is the first Russian festival organized on the principles of visual anthropology and still adhering to that vision. The present article reports on the festival, the history of its establishment and development, and the changes it endured in the first twenty years since the turn of the millennium. The introduction briefly discusses visual anthropology and its situation in the USSR on the eve of Perestroika. The next section describes the first Russian documentary film festivals with similar angles. Further in the article, the authors discuss the approaches and principles adopted by the festival’s creators, a volunteer group of Moscow State University’s Center for Visual Anthropology. The main focus of attention is the initial period of the festival’s formation, when the organizers’ approaches to organizing the festival first took shape.

VARIABILITY OF CADMIUM AND LEAD CONCENTRATION IN THE WATERS OF A LARGE PLAIN RIVER DURING A THIRTY-YEAR OBSERVATION PERIOD

The article presents new analytical data on the content of cadmium and lead in river water obtained by the authors using highly sensitive specialized methods of analytical spectrometry. For the first time, a more than thirty-year (1983-2018) study has been carried out, tracing the concentration of elements in the mid-stream water of the Oka River in the area of Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve (PTBZ) - a location remote from the zone of formation of technogenic dispersion flow. The general trend was found to be characterized by a gradual decrease in metal content, correlating with the implementation of various environmental measures in the river basin. The trend of decreasing concentration is well expressed for cadmium from 1983 to 1991 and is weaker from 1992 to 2018. Estimates are made of the average regional anthropogenic-dependent concentrations of elements in the Oka River waters, exceeding the Clark (background) values for the world’s rivers significantly. It can be predicted that, if this trend persists, cadmium concentrations in the water of a large plain river will approach the background values for surface waters of the Russian plain.

ENSURING THE SAFETY OF THE GIZHGIT RIVER BASIN (BAKSAN GORGE, KABARDINO-BALKARIA)

The article presents materials on the current state of the Tyrnyauz Mining and Processing Plant’s tailing dump, its negative impact on the environment and a possible scenario of this impact in the future. An analysis of the development of dangerous natural processes in this area is given. The author indicates measures that can ensure the safety of this facility, and work currently being done in that direction is noted. The article considers measures for the reclamation of the dry beach of the tailings dump of Tyrnyauz Mining and Processing Plant, including the restoration of the discharge well, in the interest of preventing environmental contamination risks in the Gizhgit river basin area.

BRAZILIAN GEODES IN MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY’S MINERALOGICAL GALLERY “NATURE’S ART IN

The article describes the morphological features and mineral composition of two amethyst geodes from the exposition of Moscow State University’s mineralogical gallery “Nature’s Art in Stone”, based on the Primo Rovis collection. The article presents data from the studies of the phase composition of the geodes by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro X-ray spectral (XRD) analyses, and contains microphotographs. The mechanism of mineral phase crystallization of the described geodes is proposed.

EARLY RESEARCH OF PALEOZOIC AGNATHANS AND FISHES: THE STUDIES OF STEPAN SEMYONOVICH KUTORGA (1805-1861)

Agnathans and fishes with massive bone armors were widely spread among the vertebrates in the Early Paleozoic. Their remains were well preserved in fossil state. At present, many species of Devonian agnathans and fishes have been described and studied. Different taxonomic systems have been suggested based on their fossil exoskeletal elements. But in the first part of the nineteenth century, when scientists first came across such remains, their nature was not immediately understood. Discovered remains of armored ichthyofauna were identified as bones of reptiles and amphibians even by outstanding scientists of that time. Professor of the Imperial St. Petersburg University Stepan Semyonovich Kutorga was among them. This article supplies a brief biography of the scientist and an analysis of his works in the formative period of vertebrate paleontology in Russia. S. S. Kutorga was at the origin of the system of monographic descriptions and collections - the most important source of information in fundamental paleontological research. Kutorga’s collection, currently stored at the St. Petersburg State University, is the first monographic collection of Devonian ichthyofauna in our country.

PETER SIMON PALLAS - A TRAVELING NATURALIST IN THE CRIMEA

Peter Simon Pallas was an outstanding scientist and encyclopedist of the eighteenth century, and one of the most prominent naturalists to work in Russia. His research gained worldwide recognition in his own lifetime. Pallas was also a pioneer in various fields of natural science. His travel notes and descriptions of natural objects are distinguished by novelty and originality of thought, and their significance for the emerging natural science of his time can hardly be overestimated. This applies also to his works devoted to his travels in the Crimea: in many respects, they have not lost their significance to this day. According to the works of Russian scientists V.F. Zueva and K.I. Gablitsa, Pallas initiated a comprehensive natural-scientific, historical and ethnographic study of the Crimean Peninsula. Pallas’s notes strove to describe - with objectivity, thoroughness and precision - the geology of the peninsula, the diversity of its flora and fauna, its history, ethnography, administrative structures, and many other pertinent aspects of the place. This article discusses a small part of his research limited to the geological structure of the peninsula.