The results of analyzing the spatiotemporal variations of 2007–2015 low-flow period parameters are presented. Time-series data on the annual and seasonal runoff were used, as well as hydrobiological data on phytoplankton concentrations and young fish numbers for different species. The role of low-flow period in cyclic runoff oscillations in different parts of the basin, seasonal flow redistribution during the extreme low-flow period, interchange of relatively high-water years with relatively low-water years within the period and the increase of water flow probability from the river source to its mouth is discussed. A considerable decrease in phytoplankton concentration in the middle reaches of the Don River during the low-water years was revealed. The decreasing reproduction of the majority of fish species is characteristic of the Tsimlyansk reservoir caused by the shrinkage of spawning areas during the low-water years.

In its natural-climatic features the Balaklava Bay is unique both for the southern shore of Crimea and the Black Sea as a whole. The hydrological and hydrochemical surveys of Sevastopol and Balaklava bays were performed during and immediately after extremely high rainfall events in February 2015. Surface water concentrations of all biogenic elements, such as phosphates, inorganic nitrogen and silicic acid, as well as the carbonate system values (total alkalinity, ТСО2), reached maxima for the whole period of observations.

The paper identifies the problem of solid waste management within the territory of the Sorokinsky raion; basing on the calculated data the fire hazard of solid waste at the landfill site is evaluated; the amount of landfill gas and the percentage content of toxic elements released during fire are calculated; a project on solid waste disposal is suggested.

The article attempts to assess the development of digital economy in the regions of the Russian Federation basing on available statistical indicators and taking into the account the existing international practices, in particular the index of the digital economy and society I-DESI, published by the European Commission in 2016. Indicators that characterize infrastructure, human capital and the digital government were used for assessment. As a result, a deep digital inequality of the country’s regions is revealed, which is comparable to the inequality between the developed and developing countries.

The use of laser scanning methods and GIS technology while studying the gully erosion provides the accurate morphometric characteristics and quantitative data on the rate of ravine propagation. For the first time laser scanning methods and remote sensing data were used to study the development of gully erosion in the mountains of Zhetysu Alatau. The research was carried out within a key area to the south of the Sary Ozek village in the Kerbulak district (the Almaty Region, Republic of Kazakhstan), in the western part of the Zhetysu Alatau Mountains. The semi-stationary observations and the study of gully erosion on the eastern slopes of the Malaysar Range were performed in autumn periods from 2012 to 2017. The results show that the territory’s environment is particularly supportive for the development of gully erosion. The ravines of the area under study are predominantly bottom and sometimes sloping, with upper and deep parts growing due to fluvial processes. The results of field and in-office studies are presented. Threedimensional pictures of ravines are produced in the form of point clouds, where each point has exact x, y and z coordinates for reliable observation of the dynamics of ravine development. The factors influencing the development of gully erosion are studied; the morphometric characteristics of ravines obtained from the remote sensing data are presented.

The tourism with its widest range of resource interests acts as a counterbalance to modern tendencies of social and economic space compression. In Russian regions there is a growing interest in «areal development» of tourism, which requires higher degree of territorial organization than the «site development». Fractional zoning is a geographical tool for involving the entire region in the tourist processes, but it still has a low applied value for tourism in Russia. The provinces of Canada are the world leaders in spatial delimitation for the purpose of practical tourism. All ten provinces of Canada actively use fractional tourist zoning, basing it on different principles, however. The Canadian experience of representing provinces in tourist mosaics should be taken into the account in Russian regions. Basing on the results of our studies and the experience from the Canadian provinces it is necessary to allocate the following tourist areas in the Perm region: North Urals, Mining Urals, Preduralje, Parma, Upper Kama, Middle Kama and Lower Kama. 

Oscillations of the Caspian Sea level under climate changes of different scale and direction during the Holocene and their reflection in the structure of the sedimentary series of the Northern Caspian Sea area were studied through the analysis of two-frequency seismoacoustic profiles and the drill cores using lithological, malacofaunistic, and geochronological (radiocarbon) methods The analysis of the Holocene sedimentary series of the Northern Caspian Sea revealed palaeogeographic events of different scale, namely the Mangyshlak regression and the multiple-stage New Caspian transgression. Both resulted from climatic changes varying in scale and direction. The Mangyshlak regression down to –90 m occurred in the Boreal period (according to the Blytt-Sernander scheme) of the Early Holocene characterized by rather high level of heat supply and aridity. A short-term sharp cooling known as «8200 event» and a simultaneous increase in aridity resulted in the maximum drop of the Caspian Sea level at the final stage of the regression. The New Caspian transgression had three transgressive stages: the first one developed under warm and wet climate of the Holocene Atlantic optimum; the second one was a response to the Subboreal cooling and increasing moisture supply on the East European Plain; the third stage is characterized by two groups of dates 1700–1100 and 700–360 yr BP and the hiatus between them suggests a lower level of the Caspian Sea at the warm and dry medieval interval, while the second group of the dates corresponds to the Caspian Sea level rise during cool and wet climate of the Little Ice Age. The transgressive stages are characterized by different mollusk assemblages: slightly brackish-water species were dominant in the early New Caspian basin, the presence of Didacna genus mollusks was insignificant; the middle transgressive stage is noted for widely spread mollusks of Didacna genus and the advent of Cerastoderma glaucum; the species composition of the late transgressive stage is similar to the present-day one and at the latest stages of its evolution some of the Black Sea species appeared, such as Mytilaster lineatus (brought in by chance with ships in the early 20th century) and Abra ovatа (acclimatized intentionally as a sturgeon feed in the mid-20th century). The regressive phases when the sea level went down to 9 m corresponded to the Subboreal thermal maximum of the Holocene and the period of warming and decreasing rainfall in the Volga drainage basin.

The results of monitoring the gully growth dynamics in different landscape zones of the southern megaslope of the East European Plain are presented. As key sites 104 gully heads in the Republic of Udmurtia, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Voronezh, Saratov and Orenburg oblasts and the Stavropol Krai were chosen. Various instrumental methods were used, such as measuring from a control point, repeated geodetic survey, repeated measurement using a terrestrial laser scanner. The results show a decrease in the annual growth rate of gully heads due to general climate warming and land use change at all key sites. The average annual retreat rate in all areas was 0,45 m/year, with a maximum of 0,78 m/year in the Voronezh oblast.

We analyzed the relief of granite-gneiss domes Havus, Kokkasel’skij, Riekka, Sortaval’skij and Iokirantskij in the Northern Ladoga Lake region. It is established, that the subisometric Havus and Kokkasel’skij granite-gneiss domes are projected in relief as elevations; within them a series of concentric lineaments is revealed according to the pattern of the distribution of relief development coefficients. Domes, which have a more complicated shape are both areas of elevation (Riekka, Iokirantskij), and t heregions of subsidence (Sortaval’skij dome). Computer modeling suggested that complicated relationships between the geological structures and modern relief are to a large extent conditioned by neotectonic activation of Archean domes under the northwest compression.

The study considers the main factors and territorial features of land use transformation within the boundaries of the Satino training station in the Borovsk district of the Kaluga region for the period from 1977 to 2017. The main components of these large-scale socio-economic transformations were the change of administrative boundaries of Moscow and the Moscow region, privatization of land, introduction of land use payment, reorganization of agricultural producers and the development of multi-structure in the agricultural sector of the economy, as well as the formation of land market. The use of modern statistical and cartographic methods of research has allowed to identify the categories of land, which have to a greater extent changed their area and structure.

Specific features of flora and plant communities dynamics of the of the Satino training and research station of the MSU Faculty of Geography (Borovsk raion of the Kaluga oblast) are considered for a fiftyyear period, including the results of nine-year long studying of seasonal dynamics and fluctuations of different types of meadows in the valley of the Protva River and the resulting changes in the phytomass and the NDVI values, obtained by terrestrial spectrometry.

Basing on the received materials, the database on the dynamic state of various components of vegetation cover of the area has been compiled and is constantly augmented. The data are used during the training of the first-year students of the Faculty of Geography and will become a basis for the legend of the updated vegetation cover map. 

Field hydrological and hydrochemical studies were carried out on the streams of the Satino training station area (right tributaries of the Protva River) in the period of summer low water. It is established that underground drainage areas of the streams are more than 10 times larger than their surface ones. Linear dependence of the growth of underground drainage areas with increasing depth of stream incision is revealed. Data on mineralization and chemical composition of water in different aquifers feeding these streams were obtained.

The example of a village of the Central Chernozem region makes it possible to show the discrepancy of registered and actual inhabitant numbers. The estimates of permanent («winter») rural population of Russia are questioned.