In Pacific Russia two longitudinal zones, i.e. the seaside and continental, could be distinguished that include the territories of the subjects of the Far Eastern federal district ofRussia. Combinations of economic activities by both the RF subjects and the longitudinal zones are considered the territorial structures of economy. Distinctions between the zones in terms of their territorial structures of economy, socialeconomic potential and level of development are discussed. The persistence of the territorial structures in the longitudinal zones was estimated by the changes of homogeneous types of economic activities in the RF subjects and their relationships measured as a percentage of the added value for the period of 2004 to 2013. 

The impact of the Atlantic andArcticoceans on land vegetation was studied using the NDVI data which indicate the amount of photosynthetically active plant mass. The information was generalized by two profiles crossing the territory ofEuropealong 50° N and 57° E. The profiles provide for the maximum representation of the plant communities range and the effects of the impact of each ocean by itself. In summer the cooling effect of the Atlantic Ocean reaches the distance of about2500 km, i.e. to the foreststeppes ofWestern Ukraine. Variations of annual bioproductivity grow from the Atlantic coast to the inner regions with a sharp increase near the western limit of the forest-steppe zone and in the Trans-Volga region. The NDVI values along the longitudinal profile in the eastern part ofEuropealso increase with the greater distance from the sea coast reaching their maximum at the northern limit of the forest-steppe zone. The vegetation cover ofEuropeshows a differentiated response to recent climate changes, both in space and in time. In the summers of 1981–2011 the plant productivity generally increased except for the sea coasts and the south-eastern part of the sub-continent. 

An original database was compiled by the author with the use of the Electronic catalog of the Russian State Library. By its analysis it was found out that in 1987–2015 939 Ph.D. and 188 D.Sc. theses on sustainable development have been defended inRussiaand theUSSR. The largest numbers were recorded in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2012, mainly because of the transitional period during the reforms of the RF Ministry of Education and Science when the previous regulations were temporally operating. After 2012 the amount of defended theses on sustainable development decreased sharply. About 92.5% of theses are devoted to economical and territorial aspects of sustainable development and the rest 7.5% to philosophical, social, educational, legal and political issues. Territorial aspects of sustainable development are usually studied by regional examples and examination of rural and urban areas. The titles of 348 works include names of different countries (38,8%) as well as the territorial entities of theRussian Federation(61,2%). Aside fromRussia,Tajikistanvery often appears in the titles whereasKazakhstan, the European Union,China,Iran,Kyrgyzstan,Vietnam, theUnited Statesand other countries are less frequently mentioned. The most studied regions ofRussiaare the Southern and the North-Caucasian federal districts. No theses on sustainable development were found for a number of principal resource-exploration, industrial, tourist and other regions of Russian Federation such as Karelia, Crimea, Mari El, Tuva, Khakassia, Chuvashia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Vladimir Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Ivanovo Oblast, Kostroma Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, Kursk Oblast, Magadan Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast, Sevastopol, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

Materials of the event analysis during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene history of the PontusManych-Caspian (PMC) system suggested several stages with different courses of paleogeographic evolution, i.e. the Karangatian-Late Khazarian; Tarkhankut-Burtass-Early Atelian; New Euxinian (regressive)BurtassLate Atelian; New Euxinian (transgressive)-Early Khvalynian; and the Holocene (Early and Late). It is established that during the evolution of PMC structures there were different types of interaction and interface between them when the principal natural components changed interdependently and synchronously, or autonomously without noticeable transformation. The conjugate type of interaction is typical of the Karangatian-Late Khazarian and the New Euxinian-Early Khvalynian stages; during other epochs the independent path of development dominated. 

Space imagery of the GoogleEarth information system made it possible to compile a map of natural and anthropogenic geosystems of theHuang Hedelta – a most dynamic delta of the world. Rapid advancing of delta wings into the sea caused by the great sediment runoff is followed by intensive, predominately agricultural, development of the «new» land and, respectively, the settlement of the territory. The map shows that in recent years the aquaculture and oil production become widespread in the delta area along with traditional agricultural land use. The materials of imagery interpretation disclose the inevitable conflicts of nature management related to the expansion of oil production that displace agricultural fields, aquacultural farms and nature protection areas. 

The rare earth metals (REM) which are considered to be critical mineral resources are becoming increasingly important for the high-tech sector of world economy. Analysis of the spatial distribution of REM-containing raw materials shows that it is less concentrated compared to that of their current production whereChinaaccounted for the lion’s share until recently.Chinais the main supplier of both raw concentrates (rare earth oxides), and, more recently, pure metals and alloys on the global market. Increase in labor costs, stricter environmental standards of production, but above all, the growing domestic demand for REMproducts resulted in the reduction of Chinese deliveries for the world market. In response to the market destabilization the developed countries have started to implement the concept of creating a complete industrial chain outsideChina. Significant investment projects realized in the «non-China space» are described. The revival of verticalintegrated forms of doing business in the developed countries with the aim of monitoring and control of the entire chain by a parent company is noted. Possible entry ofRussiainto the global REM-chain is discussed. 

The article deals with the territorial natural-economic systems of Northern Iran which extends along theCaspian Seacoast and their development under the influence of a complex system of natural and socioeconomic attractors. Changes along the latitudinal (West-East) and longitudinal (sea-mountains) axes are analyzed in the context of «nature-population-economy» models. The results of the study also identified the main features of settlement, including the rank-population size correlations and the effects of agglomeration. Specific features of modern Iranian industrialization are described.

The «relief» of natural and anthropogenic caves and cavities under theMoscowcity territory is described basing on field observations and literary sources. The description of morphology, genesis and recent dynamics of the underground surfaces is also given. Special attention is paid to a poorly studied issue – the functioning of sewer streams. Vlumes of Moscow caves and cavities are estimated, environmental aspects of underground landforms dynamics are also reviewed. A special term «subrelief» (meaning »UNDER landforms» and «NEARLY landforms») is introduced for describing surfaces of underground caves and cavities. It could be explained by the concept of «relief» which is regarded in the Russian geomorphologic science as a system of landforms on the Earth`s surface (in contrast to «subrelief»). 

The article questions the idea of low migration activity of the Russian population in terms of the incountry resettlement in comparison with foreign countries. Reasons preventing a direct comparison of data on internal migration inRussiaand other countries are analyzed. They are related to differences in the size of units of administrative and territorial division and diversity in approaches to the definition of in-country migration. Based on 2013–2014 migration data of it was concluded thatRussiaand several countries with advanced migration statistics differ substantially.Russialags behind the leading countries about twice. However, it overpasses other countries, especially of eastern and southernEurope, in terms of migration intensity. Analysis of internal migration flows by age shows that, in general,Russiaand other developed countries have similar age migration profiles. In contrast to other comparable countries, the Russian peak at the age of 15–29 years is more clearly defined and biased to the youngest age. It results from a greater briefness of socio-demographic events, which leads to migration movements. Contrary to our expectations the differences between the age profile of migration inRussiaand other countries in the rest of the age groups are not great. 

This article is based on agglomeration theories of the French spatial economics school (A. Torre, B. Pecqueur et al.) that focus on the spatial (proximity) as well as non-spatial (intracorporate connections, cognitive similarity, institutional conformity, social connections) collocation dimensions. Agglomeration economies could be achieved by territorial concentration of firms from the same or different industry sectors. The first case refers to localization effects (MAR-effects), the second one is about urbanization influence (Jacobs effect). Porter effects produced by concentration of competing firms of the same branch are less common. Basing on the results of in-depth interviews atHitachi, SKF and Pareto-Print plants in theKalininregion of the Tver’ Oblast, it was revealed that MAR-effects are the most important ones for the firms. This is due to the proximity of the same branch firms. Porter-effects are more specific for printing and publishing due to the presence of competing goods producers in the cluster. Jacobs effects are non-relevant for the target area as there are no appropriate conditions for appearance of localized knowledge spillover and the industrial composition of district economy is weakly diversified. 

The results of hydro-geochemical and isotopic studies of tabular ground ice and crater-lake water from the gas-emission crater in theYamalPeninsulaare analyzed. These data are compared with the results of similar studies of tabular and ice-wedge ice, as well as surface and atmospheric waters of theYamalPeninsula. Similarity in the isotopic and ionic composition of the crater tabular ground ice and stratified tabular ice of Marre-Sale area was found, in contrast to the ionic and isotopic composition of surface and atmospheric waters, as well as polygonal ice wedges in the region. 

The results of long-term study (early February 2010, 2012 and 2015) of organic matter (organic carbon, lipids and hydrocarbons) in comparison with the content of suspended matter in snow–ice cover of the Rugozerskaya Bay, region of the MSU Biological Station (BBS), the periphery of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea are presented. It is shown that the differences in accumulation of the studied compounds depend on physical conditions of snow and ice formation and biogeochemical processes occurring at the snow–ice and ice–water boundaries. In snow, the content of organic matter in February remained almost the same in different years (not exceeding 34 mg/l), because in the beginning of winter the BBS activities has virtually no effect on the pollution of snow cover. At the same time the combustion spheres were found in suspended matter of snow along with mineral particles, diatoms and spores of plants. Dominance of pyrene in the composition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the snow points at the intake of organic matter pyrolysis products from the atmosphere, the amount of which increases from February to March. According to the conditions of ice formation the concentration of studied compounds occurs in different parts of the ice core. In the top part, and in snow, the mineral part prevailed over the biological one. The algae species diversity consistently increased from the snow to the bottom layers of ice. By March, the accumulation of organic matter occurs in the lowest layers of ice due to the active biogeochemical processes at the ice–water boundary. The obtained data was compared with the results of studying the organic matter in snow and ice in other parts of the White Sea and in the reference areas of theArcticand Antarctic.