The article presents the results of the latest studies of the emission and distribution of microparticles in the environment based on monitoring and assessment of the ecological and geochemical state of urbanized areas and river basins. Scientific bases and technologies for geochemical analysis of microparticles in the atmosphere (aerosols, snow and rain), pedosphere (urban soils and road dust) and terrestrial hydrosphere (dissolved and suspended forms of chemical elements in water mass and bottom sediments) have been developed. It is shown that the analysis of microparticles is of key importance for understanding the mechanisms of pollution of the environmental components and the formation of technogenic geochemical anomalies in the Moscow metropolis and other cities. Our research made it possible to identify an association of chemical elements that enriches almost all components of the urban environment. It includes antimony, cadmium, copper, tungsten, zinc, lead, bismuth, tin, and molybdenum .With multiple emissions from various pollution sources in large cities, the Source Apportionment technology was used to quantify the contributions of sources to the pollution of the studied environments. The PMF receptor model was used for the first time to determine the contribution of dust, transport and industrial sources to the pollution of the Moscow atmosphere, which is necessary for assessing the air quality and geochemical load on terrestrial landscapes. The influence of long-range transport was estimated by calculating probable directions (reverse trajectories) of air advection using the NOAA HYSPLIT transport-dispersion model. Possible sources of metals and metalloids (MMs) in microparticles of Moscow road dust were identified using the PCA-MLR model. Statistical analysis of the experimental material allowed establishing the main factors and mechanisms that determine the spatial distribution of contamination of road dust and urban soils with MMs, as well as their most important carrier phases specific to different pollution sources. Based on the survey of the major rivers of Russia, a methodology and technology for hydrogeochemical analysis of river basins was elaborated. The analysis covers high-frequency (daily, weekly), seasonal and interannual variability of hydrological parameters, concentrations of chemical elements in dissolved and suspended forms, their particle size distribution, as well as chemical elements flows in river basins.

   Modern global space is characterized by a complex heterogeneous structure, a high degree of variability, and regularly repeating crises. Tourism is a first to react to any political, economic, natural-climatic and other changes. At the same time, it is obvious that the variety of tourist regions and factors affecting their formation and development made the reaction asynchronous and non-identical. Options for the models of countries behavior at the world tourist market as a part of the center-peripheral approach are the focus of attention in our work.

   The object of the study is spatio-temporal changes in international tourism during 1995–2022. During this period of time, the world economy underwent three serious collapses, i.e. a crisis associated with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the 2009 global economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

   The purpose of the work is to group the national tourist destinations on the basis of reaction to these crisis periods.

   To achieve the goal, mathematical and statistical methods are used, such as the cluster analysis and the method based on the calculation of indicators of the growth rate of international tourist arrivals. The scenarios of the behavior of national tourist destinations are compared both separately for each crisis and for all three crises in total. As a result, the following models of behavior were revealed: 1) steady growing; 2) delaying: a) a prolonged reaction; b) a protracted output); 3) stable decline; 4) reviving influence; 5) quick exit. The article proposes an analysis of the totality of factors responsible for this or that development of events in particular countries. The pilot study could go on by studying the factors that determine very different socio-economic dynamics in tourist destinations, as well as by expanding the methodological apparatus.

   The environmental iodine and selenium deficiency is prevalent in Russia, including the Oryol region, leading to an increased risk of thyroid cancer (TC) among the local population.

   The aim of the research is to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of the TC incidence in relation to the environmental distribution of iodine and selenium in the Oryol region.

   Samples were collected from 52 rural settlements (20 cm layer of pasture soils (n = 54) and drinking groundwater (n = 104)). The investigation revealed a high heterogeneity of the concentration of the elements both in soils and in natural water. The concentrations of I and Se were found to be lower in Greyic Phaeozems Albic (median I content: 1,68 mg/kg; Se: 0,155 mg/kg) than in Voronic Chernozems Pachic (I: 2,53 mg/kg; Se: 0,158 mg/kg). The iodine concentrations in all soil samples were lower than the optimal level (5 mg/kg), while Se content was lower than the optimum (0,2–0,7 mg/kg) in 55% of samples. The distribution of the elements in the groundwater is primarily in correlation with particular aquifers. Higher concentrations of iodine are associated with the Frasnian carbonate-terrigenous complex (I: 9,89 μg/l; Se: 0,09 μg/l), while lower concentrations are associated with the Famennian carbonate complex (I: 3,83 μg/l; Se: 0,2 μg/l). Concentrations were found to be below the optimum in 67 % of groundwater samples for iodine (10 μg/l), and in 99 % for selenium (2,5 μg/l). A notable variation in iodine and selenium levels was observed between the districts with low and high TC risk in the region. Based on the data obtained, it is possible to estimate the environmental impact on the TC morbidity.

   The paper examines the experience of functional zones identifying and mapping for developing sustainable natural resource management programs for the Vladivostok agglomeration (VA), with due account of the adjacent water area. The author suggests specific boundaries for the VA (12 149,2 km²), which consider the interconnection between land and marine spatial components within the existing nature management model. A series of maps has been created to study landscape dynamics and to develop recommendations for sustainable resource management, including marine spatial planning (MSP) and ensuring environmental security within the integrated management of coastal areas (IMCA). As a result, geoinformation layers were obtained, reflecting the current structure of nature management in the VA. Based on spatial analysis, a functional zoning scheme was proposed, showing zones for further development of terrestrial (1647,4 km²) and aquatic (3936,2 km²) areas, as well as conservation (1975,8 km²) and withdrawal (4178,3 km²) zones capable of ensuring the environmental safety of the VA. It was found that the Khasansky district within the VA includes only 11,8 % of areas allocated for residential and industrial development, while 81 % of the area has a specially protected natural status, allowing not only to preserve the unique natural potential but also to ensure the rational development of recreational resources.

   The article discusses an actual problem of surface water pollution.

   The aim of the work is to assess the influence of a variable urban environment on the elemental composition of river water.

   To achieve this goal, river water samples were taken in the lower reaches of the small Neglinka River, which flows through the territory of the town of Petrozavodsk and runs into the Onega Lake. Samples were taken on the same day (06. 19. 2023) before and after a short-term rainfall. Thereupon concentrations of 30 elements determined by the ICP-MS method were studied. These elements are most typical of an urbanized area and are important for its environmental assessment. The concentrations of 26 elements were compared with the regional background. The results indicate the pollution of river waters in urban conditions. The average concentrations of elements in dry weather exceeded the regional background: U (20.4–27.5 times), Mg (10.9–13.5), Na (11.4–11.7), Sr (6.7–6.9), Cu (6.4–6.5), Mo (6.0–6.6), Sb (5.8–6.5 and up to 7.3), Ba (5.0–5.2 and up to 7.4), Ca (4.8–5.3), K (4.4–4.9), Cd (4.0–5.8), Cr (3.9–5.1), P (3.6–5.1), Li (3.2–4.0), Ni (3.1–3.2), Co (2.2–2.6), Mn (1.9–3.2), etc. Background concentrations were not exceeded for Th and Fe. Different distribution of concentrations in river water at different sites was noted for a number of elements. The highest ratio of the maximum concentration to the minimum one was recorded for W (Cmax/Cmin = 7.5). A sharp increase in concentrations of Ti, Th, Zn, V, Ag, Sn, W, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Sb, Ni, etc. was found after rainfall, as well as a decrease in Mg, Ca, Na, Sr and U. The results obtained are important for understanding the ecological and geochemical relationships within a natural-anthropogenic geosystem, as well as for environmental decisions-making.

   Rare hydrological events, as the name suggests, occur quite infrequently, but are often catastrophic for humans. They are also inadequately provided with measurements (the so-called class imbalance). In its turn, this hinders the creation of reliable models for predicting such processes. This is especially evident when constructing models of natural processes using machine learning algorithms, which are particularly sensitive to class-imbalanced samples. The study attempts to overcome the above-mentioned limitations by supplementing a series for model training with artificially generated events.

   The subject and object of the study were long-term forecasts of ice jams occurring at the mouth of the Pechora River in the Arctic area of the European Russia.

   Data on ice jams were collected over a long period of observations, and applicable predictors and models were selected. The following machine learning algorithms were used: k-nearest neighbors (KNN), logistic regression, gradient boosting (CatBoost), and multilayer perceptron (MLP). As a result all models demonstrated higher quality of modeling after supplementing artificial events to a series. This confirms the prospects of the method of series supplementing for training models of rarely occurring processes.

   Relatively straight non-branching channels account for the smallest share among all morphodynamic types of channels, which is due to the instability of the rectilinear flow movement. Recently they have become objects of study from the point of view of their morphology, dynamics and conditions of formation, including on particular rivers, due to the difficulties arising in solving water management and water transportation problems. Despite their apparent uniformity and relatively weak intensity of channel reformations, they are characterized by certain morphological variability associated mainly with the parameters of the channels, their water content, and specific conditions of formation. Rectilinear channels could form an independent type and associated morphologically homogeneous sections in a wide-floodplain, adapted and incised channel. They could also occur in the form of small sections (“insertions”) between adjacent bends in a meandering channel, in floodplainchannel branches, in the branches of conjugated and single branchings. Rectilinear “insertions” are an integral part of complex chest (trapezoidal) bends, in which they separate the upper forced bend of the channel on the approach to the leading bedrock bank or the ledge of a high, rarely flooded floodplain, and the lower bend with an upper wing near the bedrock bank. Taking into account all factors, a complete classification of rectilinear channels has been elaborated. The conditions of their formation and specific features of their deformations have been defined, as well as possibilities of the optimal management of channel processes to ensure the stability of waterways and hydraulic structures, and the operation of water management facilities.

   On the basis of international and national statistical reports the article examines how Canada’s role in the global banking system has changed since the early 1970^s until now. Throughout almost the entire period under study the country’s share in world banking assets, despite some fluctuations, exceeded its share in the world GDP. For many decades, the Canadian banking community managed to maintain a strong international position and overcome various economic crises, including the Great Recession of 2008–2009, without significant losses. The stability could be explained by the long-standing institutional features of the Canadian banking system (for example, practice of regular license renewal), as well as a fairly flexible combination of market freedom and government regulations during the period under review. Canada’s position in the rankings has changed as follows: being the sixth largest power in the global banking in 1970, the country went down to 12^th position by the mid-1990^s, but then began a new ascent, and returned to sixth place in 2020. Canada’s current share remains somewhat lower than in 1970, which could be explained by a significant increase in the number of countries operating at the global banking arena. Toronto is the undisputed leader in banking among Canadian cities; back in the late 1970^s it got away from its main competitor (Montreal) against the challenging political events of that period. Currently, Toronto ranks sixth in the world in terms of the total assets of local banks. The next most important centers (Montreal, Levis and to some extent Edmonton) also enjoy a fairly great and stable prestige within the global banking system. Despite the dominance of Toronto, the continued independent role of these financial hubs gives additional stability to Canada’s banking community.

   The article studies the relationship between the immigrants’ settlement and the incomes in large European capitals using the examples of London, Madrid and Berlin. Cities were selected based on the importance of the immigration processes, the availability of regional statistical materials and their role in the countries. These cities have attracted large numbers of immigrants, especially in the last 30 years (and earlier in the case of London due to the influx of people from former colonies). The example of housing costs and income distribution shows the socio-ethnic stratification. As a result of the study, cities’ districts were classified based on the immigrants’ percentage, income levels and housing prices, which demonstrated a high degree of territorial mosaic and heterogeneity. For four European capitals, it was shown that a hypothesis of close relationship between the income and migrants microgeography is not always confirmed. The most complicated picture is in London. In Berlin and Madrid, migrant localization sectors are visible, but (not to mention Moscow) it is more difficult to identify their connection with income stratification. A most notable characteristic of the cities studied is the growing immigrants’ numbers and their share in total population, which can reach up to 15–25 %. This fact in itself becomes a significant element of social differentiation. At the same time, immigration in each city has its own characteristics and diversity. Differences between immigrant groups largely determine a degree to which they are isolated or integrated into the city’s social space. London attracts everyone, both rich and poor. Traces of the city’s former partition are still visible in Berlin. In Madrid, there is a concentration of Latin Americans who are culturally similar. And in Moscow, the influx of immigrants often provokes an increase in the cultural distance between them and the locals. A large number and proportion of immigrants, their poor integration into the host society, and inter-ethnic conflicts result in lower tolerance and increasing social and ethnic contrasts.

   The growth of the Moscow metropolis has led to profound changes in the hydrological processes of rivers located within the city limits. Based on 2019–2024 monitoring data for a network of stations on the Setun River, the river runoff formation in the context of urbanization was evaluated. The increase in impervious surface areas (from 25 % to almost 40 %) and the influence of industrial and municipal wastewater have led to the formation of specific water regime characterized by predominance of summer floods over the high water period, their large number (up to 29 events per year) and rather short basin lag time. Using the GrWat model, it was found that a twofold increase in residential areas and impervious surfaces downstream the river did not significantly affect the balance of river flow sources. The emerging water regime is characterized by an indistinct seasonal structure of the hydrograph and the transformation of the ground component of runoff into a technogenically transformed one, characterized by a greater volume of runoff compared to natural conditions. In different years and at different stations, it determines from 50 to 75 % of the annual runoff, while the spring floods account for 3,8 to 16,7 % and the rain runoff for 20 to 33 %. Compared to the second half of the 20^th century, an increase of over 15 % in the residential areas (by 30 km²), as well as winter thaws, including those caused by regional climate change, determined a twofold decrease in water volume during spring floods, and almost tenfold increase in frequency of rainfall flood events. All this leads to frequent floods in river valleys and damage to city infrastructure, which makes the monitoring results very important for the city’s economy.

   The identification of relationships between forest spatial distribution and relief features is among the main objectives in studying the structural and functional organization of forest ecosystems. The revealed patterns of forest distribution make it possible to predict their response to external environmental changes. In the Lower Amur River region, such studies are quite insufficient. The study objective is to identify relationships between spruce-fir and oak forests’ distribution and relief parameters in the region. For this purpose nine sampling plots were placed and described in 2014–2017 in spruce-fir and oak forests of the Udyl’ State Nature Reserve located in the Lower Amur River region. The relief matrix was obtained from the digital model of the NASA SRTM3 project, and morphometric values of relief parameters were calculated for each sample plot. It was found that there is a thermal inversion in soils of the region under study coming from the occurrence of permafrost in depressions and its absence on mountain slopes. As a result the altitudinal distribution of forests is disrupted – the oak forests grow higher on the slopes than the spruce-fir ones, thus producing the inversion of forest types. Spruce forests more often occupy the northern and eastern gentle slopes, while the oak forests grow on the southern and western steep slopes. Light intensity in the spruce-fir forests ranges from 20 to 22 %, being from 34 to 37 % in the oak forests. Light intensity in the oak forests increases with increasing azimuth and reaches the maximum when the Sun is in the southwest. Spruce-fir forests occupy negative topographic forms, growing in the zones of weak accumulation. Oak forests often occupy positive topographic forms, such as medium-convex and crest ones, located in the denudation zones of water and lithodynamic flows. Slopes with spruce-fir forests have larger catchment areas of liquid and solid substances, higher flow intensity index and topographic humidity in comparison with the oak forests.

   The article present the results of studying subrecent pollen spectra (SPS) and modern aquatic vegetation of the Lipovskoye and Beloye lakes located on the Kurgalsky Peninsula of the Baltic Sea, Russia. In 2023, paleolimnological researches of the lakes were initiated for the first time. An important role was assigned to macrophyte pollen. This led to the need to assess how accurately the subrecent pollen spectra reflect modern vegetation and to prepare a strong basis for paleogeographical data interpretation. Surface samples for pollen analysis, collected during few expeditions in 2019 and 2023, provided the data on short-term dynamics of macrophyte pollen. Pollen of Alisma sp., Myriophyllum sp., Nuphar lutea, Potamogeton sp., Typha latifolia and spores of Isoëtes sp. was recorded in the SPS of Lake Lipovskoye. Pollen of Myriophyllum sp., Nuphar lutea, Typha latifolia and spores of Isoëtes sp. was noted in the SPS of Lake Beloye. The studies of floristic diversity have revealed the dominance of submerged hydrophytes and helophytes in Lake Lipovskoye (Potamogeton perfoliatus, P. pectinatus, Batrachium marinum, Najas marina, Myriophyllum sibiricum, and Phragmites australis). In Lake Beloye, communities of submerged hydrophytes are developed, dominated by Lobelia dortmanna. According to the results of comparing the pollen data and floristic diversity, the species composition of submerged hydrophytes in Lake Lipovskoye and floating hydrophytes in both lakes are well reflected. The helophytes composition is weaker. Pollen of Lobelia dortmanna weren’t found in sediments of Lake Beloye. Both palynological and floristic studies data complement and clarify each other. Generally, the macrophyte composition of the Kurgalsky Peninsula lakes is partially reflected in surface samples. The obtained results will provide a better interpretation of paleolimnological data and will contribute to the regional database on subrecent pollen spectra.

   The authors have evaluated pollution with heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the soil and vegetation cover of the Kanonersky Island, St. Petersburg. The reconnaissance survey has identified the Western High Speed Diameter (WHSD) as a significant source of pollution. The territory of the island was divided into 4 zones according to their functional use and wind regime: recreational, transitional, windward and leeward relative to the WHSD. The main soil contaminants are Pb and Zn with concentrations varying from 5 to 376 mg/kg and from 16 to 1131 mg/kg (for mobile forms) and from 46 to 1179 mg/kg and from 64 to 2903 mg/kg (for gross content), respectively. The highest degree of MAC surcharge was found for the mobile forms of metals: Pb (63-fold in the transition zone) and Zn (50-fold on the windward side of the WHSD). The coefficient of total soil pollution with heavy metals ranged from 2 to 104 for the mobile forms and from 5 to 55 for the gross content. Maximum values were recorded in transition and windward zones, therefore soils of these territories were classified as moderately polluted. The highest mobility among the considered heavy metals on the island is for Pb (29 % – average percentage for its mobile forms), while the lowest is for Ni (4 %). At the same time, the accumulation by plants becomes higher in a row Pb < Cd < Ni < Cu < Zn. The highest values for Zn and Cu were recorded in tree leaves on the leeward side of the WHSD. The general assessment of the state of soil and vegetation cover of the Kanonersky Island revealed a moderate degree of soil contamination with the main localization on the windward side of the WHSD and partially in the transition zone.