What is zoning in geography. Zoning - the main regularity of the geographical shell

A region in a broad sense, as already noted, is a complex territorial complex, which is delimited by the specific homogeneity of various conditions, including natural and geographical ones. This means that there is a regional differentiation of nature. The processes of spatial differentiation of the natural environment are greatly influenced by such a phenomenon as zonality and azonality of the geographic envelope of the Earth.

According to modern concepts, geographical zonality means a regular change in physical and geographical processes, complexes, components as you move from the equator to the poles. That is, zonality on land is a successive change of geographical zones from the equator to the poles and a regular distribution of natural zones within these zones (equatorial, subequatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate, subarctic and subantarctic).

The reasons for zoning are the shape of the Earth and its position relative to the Sun. The zonal distribution of radiant energy determines the zoning of temperatures, evaporation and cloudiness, salinity of the surface layers of sea water, the level of its saturation with gases, climates, weathering and soil formation processes, flora and fauna, hydro networks, etc. Thus, the most important factors determining geographic zoning are the uneven distribution of solar radiation over latitudes and climate.

Geographic zoning is most clearly expressed on the plains, since it is when moving along them from north to south that climate change is observed.

Zoning is also manifested in the World Ocean, and not only in the surface layers, but also on the ocean floor.

The doctrine of geographical (natural) zonality is perhaps the most developed in geographical science. This is due to the fact that it reflects the earliest patterns discovered by geographers, and the fact that this theory forms the core of physical geography.

It is known that the hypothesis of latitudinal thermal zones arose in ancient times. But it began to turn into a scientific direction only at the end of the 18th century, when naturalists became participants in circumnavigations around the world. Then, in the 19th century, a great contribution to the development of this doctrine was made by A. Humboldt, who traced the zonality of flora and fauna in connection with climate and discovered the phenomenon of altitudinal zonality.

Nevertheless, the doctrine of geographical zones in its modern form originated only at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. as a result of research by V.V. Dokuchaev. He is admittedly the founder of the theory of geographic zonation.

V.V. Dokuchaev substantiated zonality as a universal law of nature, manifesting itself equally on land, sea, and mountains.

He came to understand this law from the study of soils. His classic work "Russian Chernozem" (1883) laid the foundations of genetic soil science. Considering soils as a “mirror of the landscape”, V.V. Dokuchaev, when distinguishing natural zones, named the soils characteristic of them.

Each zone, according to the scientist, is a complex formation, all components of which (climate, water, soil, soil, flora and fauna) are closely interconnected.

L.S. Berg, A.A. Grigoriev, M.I. Budyko, S.V. Kalesnik, K.K. Markov, A.G. Isachenko and others.

The total number of zones is defined in different ways. V.V. Dokuchaev singled out 7 zones. L.S. Berg in the middle of the 20th century. already 12, A.G. Isachenko - 17. In modern physical and geographical atlases of the world, their number, taking into account subzones, sometimes exceeds 50. As a rule, this is not a consequence of any errors, but the result of a passion for too detailed classifications.

Regardless of the degree of fragmentation, the following natural zones are represented in all variants: arctic and subarctic deserts, tundra, forest tundra, temperate forests, taiga, temperate mixed forests, temperate broadleaf forests, steppes, semi-steppes and deserts of the temperate zone, deserts and semi-deserts of the subtropical and tropical belts, monsoon forests of subtropical forests, forests of tropical and subequatorial belts, savannah, equatorial humid forests.

Natural (landscape) zones are not ideally correct areas that coincide with certain parallels (nature is not mathematics). They do not cover our planet with continuous stripes, they are often open.

In addition to zonal patterns, azonal patterns were also revealed. An example of it is the altitudinal zonality (vertical zonality), which depends on the height of the land and changes in the heat balance with height.

In the mountains, a regular change in natural conditions and natural-territorial complexes is called altitudinal zonality. It is also explained mainly by climate change with height: for 1 km of ascent, the air temperature drops by 6 degrees C, air pressure and dust content decrease, cloudiness and precipitation increase. A unified system of altitudinal belts is being formed. The higher the mountains, the more fully expressed altitudinal zonality. The landscapes of altitudinal zonation are basically similar to the landscapes of natural zones on the plains and follow each other in the same order, with the same belt located the higher, the closer the mountain system is to the equator.

There is no complete similarity between natural zones on the plains and vertical zonality, since landscape complexes change vertically at a different pace than horizontally, and often in a completely different direction.

In recent years, with the humanization and sociologization of geography, geographical zones are increasingly being called natural-anthropogenic geographical zones. The doctrine of geographic zoning is of great importance for regional studies and country studies analysis. First of all, it allows you to reveal the natural prerequisites for specialization and management. And in the conditions of modern scientific and technological revolution, with a partial weakening of the dependence of the economy on natural conditions and natural resources, its close ties with nature continue to be preserved, and in some cases even dependence on it. The remaining important role of the natural component in the development and functioning of society, in its territorial organization is also obvious. Differences in the spiritual culture of the population also cannot be understood without referring to natural regionalization. It also forms the skills of adapting a person to the territory, determines the nature of nature management.

Geographic zonality actively influences regional differences in the life of society, being an important factor in zoning, and, consequently, in regional policy.

The doctrine of geographic zoning provides a wealth of material for country and regional comparisons and thus contributes to the clarification of country and regional specifics, its causes, which, ultimately, is the main task of regional studies and country studies. So, for example, the taiga zone in the form of a plume crosses the territories of Russia, Canada, Fennoscandia. But the degree of population, economic development, living conditions in the taiga zones of the countries listed above have significant differences. In regional studies, country studies analysis, neither the question of the nature of these differences, nor the question of their sources can be ignored.

In a word, the task of regional studies and country studies analysis is not only to characterize the features of the natural component of a particular territory (its theoretical basis is the doctrine of geographical zonality), but also to identify the nature of the relationship between natural regionalism and the regionalization of the world according to economic, geopolitical, cultural and civilizational nym, etc. grounds.

Cycle method

The basic basis of this method is the fact that almost all space-time structures are inherent in cyclicity. The method of cycles is among the young and therefore, as a rule, it is personified, that is, it bears the names of its creators.

Known, for example, are the methods of energy production cycles by N.N. Kolosovsky, natural resource cycles I.V. Komar (1960–1970s), natural and social cycles Yu.G. Saushkina (1970–1980s) and others.

All these cycles, identified by scientists, include certain technological chains. But at the same time, they also have a rather pronounced spatial, regional aspect, since they are deployed in a certain territory. The regional specificity of the interaction of cycles, of course, has access to regional policy, is a factor in the justification of certain managerial decisions. So, N.N. Kolosovsky, on the basis of his concept, carried out in the late 1940s. zoning of the country, highlighting 30 regional production-territorial combinations and identifying possible prospects for their development.

The method of cycles was used in his concept of ethnogenesis by L.N. Gumilev. After analyzing the history of more than 40 superethnoi, he compiled a “curve” of ethnogenesis, highlighting seven of its cycles (phases, stages): rise, akmatic, break, inertial, obscuration, regeneration, relic. For each cycle of ethnogenesis, scientists determined periods of development (from 150 to 300 years), characteristic features of the passionary tension of the ethnic system, on which the behavior of the ethnos depends. The concept of L.N. Gumilyov, has an undoubted methodological potential in the study of regional ethnic processes.

In socio-economic geography, economic sciences, geopolitics, the concept of N.D. Kondratiev, which is called the concept of large cycles, or "long waves".

The concept of N.D. Kondratiev is closely connected with the theory of the world economy. A lot was written about the cyclicity in its development even before N.D. Kondratiev, including K. Marx. But at the same time, small and medium cycles were meant.

An analysis of the development of the world economy was given by N.D. Kondratieff in the 1920s to the conclusion about the existence of long, approximately half a century cycles of conjuncture. Their change, according to Kondratiev, is determined by three main elements - scientific and technological progress, the introduction of new forms of production organization and the corresponding geographical and territorial shifts.

The first big cycle is 1790–1840. - was directly associated with the industrial revolutions of that time, primarily in England. Subsequent radical changes in production laid the foundations for the second (1840–1890) and third (1890–1940) great cycles. Continuing this line, the fourth cycle (1940–1980) scientists, followers of N.D. Kondratiev, were associated with the scientific and technological revolution, and the fifth (since 1980) with the transition of the most advanced countries to the post-industrial stage of development.

Each of its cycles N.D. Kondratiev divided into two large phases, approximately 25 years each - the growth phase and the stagnation phase. Therefore, their graphic representation really resembles peculiar waves.

"Long waves", or big cycles, N.D. Kondratiev's ideas manifest themselves in one way or another in all countries, cover not only production, but also other spheres of human activity. Therefore, his concept is not only a tool for analyzing the current state of a particular society, country, region, but also has a great prognostic charge.

After the opening of N.D. Kondratiev of long-term cycles of development of the world economy, many researchers began, by analogy, to develop the theme of cycles of world political development.

Thus, I. Wallerstein (modern geohistorian, sociologist) defined three cycles of hegemony, each of which must pass through three phases - world war, hegemony of one of the great powers, decline. The first, according to Wallerstein, cycle of hegemony - the Dutch - lasted from 1618 to 1672, the second - British - from 1792 to 1896, the third - American - began in 1914.

The British scientist P. Taylor also agrees with the presence of cyclicity in the geopolitical world process. According to Taylor, the world hegemony of any one country is a rare phenomenon: it was only three times - the hegemony of the Netherlands in the 17th century, the British hegemony in the middle of the 19th century, the hegemony of the USA in the middle of the 20th century. True geopolitical hegemony, according to this scientist, does not consist in the conquest of colonial spaces, but in a global monopoly in production, trade, and the financial sector.

American political scientists J. Modelsky and W. Thompson proposed the concept of long world political cycles. They are defined by them as a sequence of rise and fall of great powers. Global economic processes, according to scientists, are associated with long political cycles - "leadership cycles". The change of such cycles periodically changes the structure of the world political system, contributing to the emergence of new great powers and geographic zones of their influence. Global leadership, in accordance with the concept of long cycles of development of world geopolitics by J. Modelsky and W. Thompson, is based on such factors as mobile military forces, an advanced economy, an open society, response to world problems with the help of innovations. J. Modelski and W. Thompson believe that there must be a deep internal connection between the Kondratiev cycles and the long cycles of world politics they have identified. They do not speak of a rigid determination of politics from the economy, but they draw attention to the possibility of the existence of self-organizing mechanisms of two types of world development cycles.

The logical development of the ideas of Modelsky and Thompson allows us to conclude that the states playing the role of world leader also serve as the initial sources of Kondratiev waves, i.e. global political leadership is closely linked to economic leadership.

I. Wallerstein also emphasizes the connection of “their own” hegemonic cycles with the Kondratieff cycles of the world economy. In the textbook V.A. Kolosov and N.S. Mironenko, the dual model of Kondratiev-Wallerstein is considered, analyzing which the authors draw a number of conclusions, including the fact that "geopolitical processes are inextricably, although not strictly determined, connected with world economic processes."

As can be seen, all models of the cyclicity of geopolitical development explore cyclic modifications in the geopolitical system of the world, the process of transition from one "world order" to another, changes in the balance of power between the great powers, the emergence of new zones, regions of conflicts, centers of power. Thus, all these models are important in studying the processes of world political regionalization.

Balance Methods

Balance methods are a set of mathematical calculations that make it possible to investigate, first of all, the processes of functioning and development of complex socio-economic, socio-political systems - dynamic systems, with steady flows of resources and products ("cost-output", "production-consumption", "import-export", natural resources-population density, radicalism-conservatism, etc.).

These methods occupy an intermediate position between statistical methods and modeling.

In economic sciences, socio-economic geography, the method is used to draw up balances of labor resources, fuel and energy, cash income and expenditures of the population, foreign trade, etc.

A special place in the sciences mentioned above is occupied by intersectoral and interdistrict balances. The first characterizes the production and distribution of the total social product by industry, the second characterizes the ratio of production, consumption and territorial distribution of the product by regions.

In our country, the model of intersectoral balance of production and distribution of products was substantiated in the 1930s. Leningrad scientists-economists V.V. Novozhilov and L.V. Kantorovich. In world practice, such a model is known as the "input-output" model of V. Leontiev, a Nobel Prize winner, a former compatriot of ours (V. Leontiev emigrated to the United States in the 1920s).

Balance models are well integrated with other types of economic and mathematical models. They, according to Yu.N. Gladky and A.I. Chistobaev, built in more than 80 countries and suitable for short-term and long-term forecasting.

The balance of power is a key concept in the theory of political realism. According to realists, the most effective means of maintaining peace is precisely the balance of power, which arises not only from the clash of national interests, but also from the unity of cultures, mutual respect for each other's rights and agreement on basic principles. This school of international relations studies distinguishes between a simple balance of power, known as a bipolar system, and a complex one involving several power centers (a multipolar or multipolar system).

HELL. Voskresensky, inclined to believe that the theories of "balance of power" and "balance of power" in principle still belong to the past, proposes to analyze the dynamics of interstate relations on the basis of a balance of interests and from the point of view of multifactorial equilibrium. That is, the concept of multifactorial equilibrium in international relations that he developed is also based on the principles of the balance method (See: Political Science in Russia: Intellectual Search and Reality, pp. 413–440).

The balance method is widely used in demography. It allows you to choose the optimal ratio between the various structures of the demographic complex. For example, the ratio between the number of labor resources and the development of labor-intensive industries, the ratio between jobs and the number of unemployed, between the availability of natural resources necessary for a normal life of people (water, energy, etc.) and population density, etc.

The balance method underlies the internal policy of any state aimed at ensuring political stability and stability: they are impossible without maintaining a balance of political, confessional, national-ethnic, regional, social, etc. interests both in the country as a whole and in its individual regions.

Geographic zonality is the main regularity in the distribution of landscapes on the Earth's surface, consisting in the successive change of natural zones, due to the nature of the distribution of the radiant energy of the Sun over latitudes and uneven moisture.

The processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, exogenous processes of relief formation, soil formation, formation and change of the biosphere are subordinated to geographical zonality.

In the mountains, zonality is superimposed and replaced by altitudinal zonality.

In some cases, not zonal, but local conditions (azonality) become the main factors in the formation of the landscape.

Altitudinal zonality is a natural change in natural conditions and landscapes in the mountains as the absolute height increases.

Altitudinal zonality is explained by climate change with height: for 1 km of ascent, the air temperature decreases by an average of 6 ° C, air pressure and dust content decrease, the intensity of solar radiation increases, and cloudiness and precipitation increase up to a height of 2-3 km.

Altitudinal zonality is accompanied by changes in geomorphological, hydrological, soil-forming processes, the composition of vegetation and wildlife.

Many features of altitudinal zonality are determined by the exposure of the slopes, their location in relation to the prevailing air masses, and their distance from the oceans.

The landscapes of altitudinal zones are similar to the landscapes of natural zones on the plains and follow each other in the same order. There are altitudinal belts that do not have similar zones on the plains (alpine and subalpine meadows).

Modern formation of the earth's crust. Basic types.

There are two main types of earth's crust: oceanic and continental. There is also a transitional type of the earth's crust.

Oceanic crust. The thickness of the oceanic crust in the modern geological epoch ranges from 5 to 10 km. It consists of the following three layers:

1) the upper thin layer of marine sediments (thickness is not more than 1 km);

2) middle basalt layer (thickness from 1.0 to 2.5 km);

3) the lower gabbro layer (about 5 km thick).

Continental (continental) crust. The continental crust has a more complex structure and greater thickness than the oceanic crust. Its average thickness is 35-45 km, and in mountainous countries it increases to 70 km. It also consists of three layers, but differs significantly from the ocean:

1) the lower layer composed of basalts (about 20 km thick);

2) the middle layer occupies the main thickness of the continental crust and is conditionally called granite. It is composed mainly of granites and gneisses. This layer does not extend under the oceans;

3) the upper layer is sedimentary. Its average thickness is about 3 km. In some areas, the thickness of precipitation reaches 10 km (for example, in the Caspian lowland). In some regions of the Earth, the sedimentary layer is absent altogether and a granite layer comes to the surface. Such areas are called shields (eg Ukrainian Shield, Baltic Shield).

On the continents, as a result of weathering of rocks, a geological formation is formed, called weathering crusts.

The granite layer is separated from the basalt Conrad surface , at which the speed of seismic waves increases from 6.4 to 7.6 km/sec.

The boundary between the earth's crust and mantle (both on the continents and on the oceans) runs along Mohorovichic surface (Moho line). The speed of seismic waves on it jumps up to 8 km/h.

In addition to the two main types - oceanic and continental - there are also areas of a mixed (transitional) type.

On continental shoals or shelves, the crust is about 25 km thick and is generally similar to the continental crust. However, a layer of basalt may fall out in it. In East Asia, in the area of island arcs (the Kuril Islands, the Aleutian Islands, the Japanese Islands, and others), the earth's crust is of a transitional type. Finally, the earth's crust of the mid-ocean ridges is very complex and still little studied. There is no Moho boundary here, and the material of the mantle rises along faults into the crust and even to its surface.

The doctrine of geographical zonality. A region in a broad sense, as already noted, is a complex territorial complex, which is delimited by the specific homogeneity of various conditions, including natural and geographical ones. This means that there is a regional differentiation of nature. The processes of spatial differentiation of the natural environment are greatly influenced by such a phenomenon as zonality and azonality of the geographic envelope of the Earth. According to modern concepts, geographical zoning means a regular change in physical and geographical processes, complexes, components as you move from the equator to the poles. That is, zonality on land is a successive change of geographical zones from the equator to the poles and a regular distribution of natural zones within these zones (equatorial, subequatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate, subarctic and subantarctic).

In recent years, with the humanization and sociologization of geography, geographical zones are increasingly being called natural-anthropogenic geographical zones.

The doctrine of geographic zoning is of great importance for regional studies and country studies analysis. First of all, it allows you to reveal the natural prerequisites for specialization and management. And in the conditions of modern scientific and technological revolution, with a partial weakening of the dependence of the economy on natural conditions and natural resources, its close ties with nature continue to be preserved, and in many cases even dependence on it. The remaining important role of the natural component in the development and functioning of society, its territorial organization is also obvious. Differences in the spiritual culture of the population also cannot be understood without referring to natural regionalization. It also forms the skills of adapting a person to the territory, determines the nature of nature management.

Geographic zonality actively influences regional differences in the life of society, being an important factor in zoning and, consequently, regional policy.

The doctrine of geographic zoning provides a wealth of material for country and regional comparisons and thus contributes to the clarification of country and regional specifics, its causes, which ultimately is the main task of regional studies and country studies. For example, the taiga zone in the form of a plume crosses the territories of Russia, Canada, and Fennoscandia. But the degree of population, economic development, living conditions in the taiga zones of the countries listed above have significant differences. In regional studies, country studies analysis, neither the question of the nature of these differences, nor the question of their sources can be ignored.

Cycle method

cycle method. The basic basis of this method is the fact that almost all space-time structures are inherent in cyclicity. The method of cycles is among the young and therefore, as a rule, it is personified, that is, it bears the names of its creators. This method has an undoubted positive potential for regional studies. Identified by N.N. Kolosovsky, energy production cycles, unfolding in certain territories, made it possible to trace the regional specifics of their interaction. And it, in turn, was projected onto certain managerial decisions, i.e. to regional politics.

The concept of ethnogenesis L.N. Gumilyov, also based on the method of cycles, allows you to penetrate deeper into the essence of regional ethnic processes.

The concept of large cycles, or "long waves" N.D. Kondratiev is not only a tool for analyzing the current state of the world economy, but also has a great predictive charge not only in relation to the development of the world economy as a whole, but also its regional subsystems.

Models of cyclical geopolitical development (I. Wallerstein, P. Taylor, W. Thompson, J. Modelski and others) explore the process of transition from one “world order” to another, changes in the balance of power between great powers, the emergence of new conflict zones, centers of power . Thus, all these models are important in studying the processes of political regionalization of the world.

20. Program-target method. This method is a way of studying regional systems, their socio-economic component and, at the same time, an important tool of regional policy. Examples of targeted integrated programs in Russia are the presidential program "Economic and social development of the Far East and Transbaikalia for 1996–2005", "The federal program for the development of the Lower Angara region", adopted in 1999, etc.

The program-target method is aimed at solving complex problems and is associated with the development of long-term forecasts for the socio-economic development of the country and its regions.

The program-target method is actively used to solve the problems of regional policy in most countries of the world. In Italy, within the framework of regional policy, in 1957 the first law on "growth poles" was adopted. In accordance with it, in the south of Italy (this is a region with a strong lag behind the industrially developed North), several large enterprises were built, for example, a metallurgical plant in Taranta. Growth poles are being created in France and Spain. The core of Japan's regional programs is the target setting for the development of infrastructure associated with an increase in exports.

The development and implementation of targeted programs is a characteristic feature of the policy of the European Union. An example of such, for example, are the programs "Lingua", "Erasmus". The purpose of the first of them is to eliminate the language barrier, the second is to expand the exchange of students between the countries of the Union. In 1994–1999 within the framework of the EU, 13 targeted programs were financed - "Leader II" (social development of the countryside), "Urban" (liquidation of urban slums), "Reshar II" (coal industry), etc.

Similar information.

Geographic zoning is due to the zonal distribution of solar radiant energy. Therefore, as S.V. Kolesnik, "on earth, the temperature of air, water and soil, evaporation and cloudiness, atmospheric precipitation, pressure relief and wind system, the properties of air masses, the nature of the hydrographic network and hydrological processes, the features of the geochemical processes of weathering and soil formation, the type of vegetation and fauna, sculptural landforms, to a certain extent, types of sedimentary rocks, and finally, geographical landscapes, united in a system of landscape zones".[ ...]

Geographical zonality is inherent not only to the continents, but also to the World Ocean, within which different zones differ in the amount of incoming solar radiation, balances of evaporation and precipitation, water temperature, features of surface and deep currents, and, consequently, the world of living organisms.[ ...]

The foundations of the geographic zoning of soils were laid down by V.V. Do-gchaev, who pointed out that "the same zoning.[ ...]

The study of the geographical distribution of ecosystems can only be undertaken at the level of large ecological units - macroecosystems, which are considered on a continental scale. Ecosystems are not scattered in disorder, on the contrary, they are grouped in fairly regular zones, both horizontally (in latitude) and vertically (in height). This is confirmed by the periodic law of geographical zoning of A. A. Grigoriev - M. I. Budyko: with the change of the physical and geographical zones of the Earth, similar landscape zones and some of their common properties are periodically repeated. This was also discussed when considering the ground-air environment of life. The periodicity established by the law is manifested in the fact that the values of the dryness index vary in different zones from 0 to 4-5, three times between the poles and the equator they are close to unity. These values correspond to the highest biological productivity of landscapes (Fig. 12.1).[ ...]

The periodic law of geographical zoning of A. A. Grigoriev - M. I. Budyko - with the change of the physical and geographical zones of the Earth, similar landscape zones and some of their common properties periodically repeat.[ ...]

THE LAW OF PERIODIC GEOGRAPHIC ZONING (A. V. GRIGORYEVA - M. I. BUDIKO): with the change of physical and geographical zones, similar landscape zones and some of their general properties are periodically repeated. Dryness index values vary in different zones from 0 to 4-5; three times between the poles and the equator they are close to unity - these values correspond to the normal biological productivity of landscapes.[ ...]

The geographic zonality is significantly influenced by the earth's oceans, which form longitudinal sectors on the continents (in the temperate, subtropical and tropical belts), oceanic and continental.[ ...]

Logging types are characterized by geographic zoning.[ ...]

Subsequently, the radiation bases for the formation of the zoning of the globe were developed by A. A. Grigoriev and M. I. Budyko. To establish a quantitative characteristic of the ratio of heat and moisture for various geographical zones, they determined some coefficients. The ratio of heat and moisture is expressed as the ratio of the radiation balance of the surface to the latent heat of evaporation and the amount of precipitation (radiation index of dryness). A law was established, called the law of periodic geographical zoning (A. A. Grigorieva - M. I. Budyko), which states that with the change of geographical zones, similar geographical (landscape, natural) zones and some of their common properties are periodically repeated. Based on the radiation balance, the radiation dryness index, taking into account the annual runoff, showing the degree of surface moistening, A. A. Grigoriev and M. I. Budyko plotted the geographical zonality of the northern hemisphere (Fig. 5.65).[ ...]

As you know, the factors that make up the climate are characterized by geographical zonality. In addition, the nature and individual properties of the climate are very importantly influenced by the distribution of land and water spaces on the surface of the globe, which forms climates - continental and maritime. The forest also exerts its influence by shaping its own ecoclimate, or rather a series of them.[ ...]

Milkov FN Physical geography: the doctrine of the landscape and geographical zoning. Voronezh. 1986. 328 p.[ ...]

The purpose of the work is to determine the content of mercury in soils of various geographic zoning by the method of atomic absorption.[ ...]

O. Classifications based on the principle of "latitudinal and altitudinal physical-geographical zonality"

A. Wallace's rule, from which the review in this section began, is valid for geographic zoning in general and for similar biotic communities, but only for similar ones, since the absence or presence of one or (as a rule) group of species indicates that we we are dealing not with the same, but with a different ecosystem (according to the rule of correspondence between species and cenosis - see section 3.7.1). At the same time, similar ecosystems can be within different vertical zonality - the further south, the higher mountain belts (the rule of changing vertical belts), or on slopes of a different exposure; for example, ecosystems of more northern landscape differences are formed on the northern slopes. The latter phenomenon was formally established in 1951[ ...]

The ideas of A. A. Grigoriev had, although not immediately, an impact on the entire course of development of geographical science in the USSR. A number of works were carried out by him jointly with the geophysicist M. I. Budyko. The latter belongs to the works on the heat balance of the earth's surface, the introduction of the radiation index of dryness as an indicator of bioclimatic conditions, used in the justification (together with A. A. Grigoriev) of the periodic law of geographical zonality.[ ...]

A. A. Grigoriev (1966) owns theoretical research on the causes and factors of geographical zonality. He comes to the conclusion that in the formation of zoning, along with the magnitude of the annual radiation balance and the amount of annual precipitation, their ratio and the degree of their proportionality play an enormous role. A lot of work was done by A. A. Grigoriev (1970) on the nature of the main geographical belts of land.[ ...]

The main natural feature of the Timan-Pechora region is a clear manifestation of latitudinal geographic zonality, which determines the main parameters of the ecological and natural resource potential of the territory (the natural living conditions of the population and the quantity and quality of natural resources), and imposes appropriate requirements on the territory development technology - laying roads, construction, operation of oil and gas fields, etc. Zonal features also determine the corresponding restrictions that must be observed in the developed territories in order to maintain the optimal quality of the natural environment.[ ...]

Consequently, the underground runoff into the seas from the European continent is also subject to the latitudinal physiographic zoning (Fig. 4.3.3). Local geological, hydrogeological and relief features of the catchment areas complicate this general pattern of runoff distribution and can sometimes cause their sharp deviations from typical average values. An example of such a determining influence of local factors on the conditions for the formation of underground runoff is the coastal regions of Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, where the screening effect of mountain structures, the widespread development of karst and fractured rocks lead to azonal high submarine runoff.[ ...]

The dependence of lake water mineralization on physical and geographical conditions, and especially on climate, determines the geographical zonality in the distribution of salt lakes over the earth's surface. In the Soviet Union, a strip of salt lakes stretches from the lower reaches of the Danube in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, located mainly in the zones of steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. In this strip there are large lakes - the Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Lake. Balkhash and many small, sometimes temporary salt reservoirs. The northernmost position in this strip is occupied by carbonate lakes.[ ...]

The formation of meadow clearings in the place of green mosses with fresh, dryish soils is also strictly subordinated to geographical zonality; to the south they are replaced by reed grass and some other types.[ ...]

The publication of the work of V. V. Dokuchaev (Russia) "On the doctrine of the zones of nature", which formed the basis of modern ideas about geographical zonality.[ ...]

Since climate is the most important soil-forming factor, to a large extent, the genetic types of soils coincide with geographic zoning: arctic and tundra soils, podzolic soils, chernozems, chestnut, gray-brown soils and gray soils, red and yellow soils. The distribution of the main types of soils on the globe is shown in fig. 6.6.[ ...]

The formation of meadow clearings, formed on the site of green mosses with fresh and dry soils, is also strictly subordinated to geographical zonality. To the south, they are replaced by reed grass, as well as some other types. You can not overestimate the figures given in the table and give them absolute values for a long period. As logging further develops and expands to include different types of forest, the figures may change. But geographical patterns in the distribution of felling types will remain, even more pronounced, in particular, in relation to swampy clearings, as well as other types.[ ...]

An analysis of the distribution of values of groundwater runoff into the seas and oceans from the territory of Africa shows that it also obeys the latitudinal physical and geographical zonality (Fig. 4.3.2).[ ...]

At the first stage of field work, reconnaissance is carried out along several shortened routes, which makes it possible to obtain information about the regularities of the geographical (zonal) distribution of the main soil types and the features of the structure of the soil cover as a whole. The accumulated information can be extrapolated from soil surveys to adjacent territories with similar soil formation conditions and similarly displayed on aerial and satellite photographs. After reconnaissance, research is carried out along all the planned routes, laying the main and verification sections. Samples are taken from the main sections according to genetic horizons for analytical processing. Between the points of laying the main sections along the route, inter-point descriptions of landforms, vegetation, soil-forming rocks and other natural conditions are carried out.[ ...]

Lakes are very diverse in terms of the set and concentration of dissolved substances, and in this they are closer to groundwater than to the ocean. The mineralization of lakes is subject to geographical zonality: the Earth is surrounded by brackish and salty lakes, characteristic of arid and desert zones. Salt lakes are often endorheic, i.e. they receive rivers, but water flows do not flow out of them, and dissolved substances brought by rivers gradually accumulate in the lake as a result of evaporation of water from its surface. The water of some lakes is so saturated with salts that they crystallize, forming crusts of different shades on its surface or settling to the bottom. One of the saltiest lakes found in Antarctica is Lake Victoria, the water in which is 11 times saltier than the ocean.[ ...]

It was found that regional natural conditions determine many features of the regime of a small river. However, on the whole, its characteristics, and, consequently, its use and protection, are most closely related to geographic zoning, to the conditions of moisture that determine its water content - excessive, unstable, insufficient. The possibilities of using a small river (especially as a source of local water supply) differ significantly depending on whether it is located in the upper reaches of a large river basin, in its middle or lower part. In the first case, a small river actively forms a runoff, creates the water content of the main river arteries, so its use for local "small" irrigation, water withdrawal for industrial and agricultural water supply affect the water management balance of large regions. Limitations were pointed out in determining the volumes of water taken from small rivers in the upper parts of the basins of such rivers as the Dnieper, Oka, etc. On the contrary, the active use of the flow of small rivers in the lower part of a large river basin (for example, in the Rostov region) is associated with less consequences for the water management of the river basin as a whole.[ ...]

On Earth, there are very clear patterns in the distribution of zones in space, with corresponding clear sets of natural features, such as the ratio of the components of heat and water balances, zonal features of rock weathering processes, biogeochemical processes, soils and vegetation. The existence of these features and their regular distribution reflect the geographic zonality of the Earth's landscapes.[ ...]

They are also subject to other natural phenomena, such as the main types of soils and geochemical processes, climate features, water balance and regime, many geomorphological processes, etc. This is the so-called law of geographical zoning, generalized by M.I. Budyko and A.A. Grigoriev.[ ...]

The qualitative and quantitative composition of the bird fauna of the northern part of the Urals characterizes it as typical of the taiga zone. The natural character, features of the distribution and advancement of species are consistent with the physical-geographical, zonal-latitudinal features and the transformation of landscapes on the plains adjacent to the Urals.[ ...]

A. Humboldt formulated the first ideas about the biosphere as an unification of all living organisms on the planet and environmental conditions. Lavoisier, in addition, gave a description of the carbon cycle, Lamarck - adaptations of organisms to environmental conditions, Humboldt - geographical zonality. Peru Lamarck owns the first warning predictions of the possible detrimental consequences of human influence on nature (see Alarmism). T. Malthus formulated ideas about the exponential growth of population and the danger of overpopulation. A huge contribution to ecology was made by Charles Darwin's ideas about natural and artificial selection, which explained the adaptability of wildlife species to various habitats and the loss of these features by cultivated plants and domestic animals.[ ...]

When carrying out a similar processing of data for 1990 and 1991. for 46 stations of the Middle and Lower Volga, using a larger number of abiotic parameters in high summer, four classes were more clearly distinguished, including from 7 to 10 stations and corresponding to the geographical zonality of the cascade (Table 31).[ ...]

In particular, the contribution of the "father of botany" Theophrastus, who formulated the first ideas about the life forms of plants and about geographical zonality, was especially great.[ ...]

The largest land communities, occupying large areas and characterized by a certain type of vegetation and climate, are called biomes. The type of biome is determined by climate. In different areas of the globe with the same climate, similar types of biomes are found: deserts, steppes, tropical and coniferous forests, tundra, etc. Biomes have a pronounced geographical zonality (Fig. 45, p. 142).[ ...]

For example, within the northern hemisphere, the following zones are distinguished: ice, tundra, forest-tundra, taiga, mixed forests of the Russian Plain, monsoon forests of the Far East, forest-steppe, steppe, desert temperate and subtropical zones, Mediterranean, etc. The zones have mainly (although far from 1 e always) broadly elongated outlines and are characterized by similar natural conditions, a certain sequence depending on the latitudinal position. Thus, latitudinal geographic zoning is a natural change in physical and geographical processes, components and complexes from the equator to the poles. It is clear that we are talking primarily about the totality of factors that form the climate.[ ...]

EVOLUTION OF BIOGEOCOENOSIS (ECOSYSTEM) - the process of continuous, simultaneous and interrelated changes in species and their relationships, the introduction of new species into the ecosystem and the loss of some species from it that were previously included in it, the cumulative impact of the ecosystem on the substrate and other abiotic ecological components and the reverse effect of these changed components to the living components of the ecosystem. In the course of evolution, biogeocenoses adapt to changes in the planet's ecosphere and the emerging regional features of its parts (shifts in geographical zoning, etc.).

As a result of studying the material in this chapter, the student should:

know definition of the law of geographical zoning; names and location of geographic zones of Russia;
be able to characterize each geographical area on the territory of Russia; explain the specifics of the configuration of the geographic zones of Russia;
own understanding of zoning as a natural and cultural phenomenon.

Geographic zonality as a natural and cultural phenomenon

Medieval travelers, overcoming large spaces and observing landscapes, already noted the natural, not random nature of changes in nature and culture in space. Thus, the famous Arab geographer Al-Idrisi compiled a map of the Earth, where he showed seven climatic latitudinal zones in the form of stripes - from the equatorial strip to the zone of the northern snowy desert.

Naturalists of the second half of the XIX century. tried to explain the phenomenon of geographic zoning from a systemic standpoint.

Firstly, they found out that the main reason for the occurrence of this phenomenon is the spherical shape of the Earth, which is the reason for the uneven flow of heat at different geographical latitudes. Based on the material of field studies carried out mainly on the Russian Plain, the outstanding Russian scientist V.V. world) are distributed over the earth's surface in a certain pattern. The scientist noted that “due to the known position of our planet relative to the Sun, thanks to the rotation of the Earth, its sphericity, climate, vegetation and animals are distributed over the earth's surface in the direction from north to south, in a strictly defined order, with a regularity that allows the division of the globe into belts. - polar, temperate, subtropical, equatorial, etc." .

Secondly, scientists explained why geographic zones do not always have a latitudinal strike: if there were no oceans on the Earth and its entire surface would be flat, then the zones would encircle the entire Earth in the form of parallel stripes. But the presence, on the one hand, of the oceans, and on the other, of irregularities (mountains, hills) distorts the ideal picture. Geographic zoning is better expressed on the plains in the form of certain bands, belts or zones. It is no coincidence that the landscapes of the watershed plains and lowlands in geography are called zonal. To azonal include those landscapes that differ sharply from typical zonal landscapes. Let us recall, for example, the landscapes of the Nile River valley, which are completely different from the zonal landscapes of the surrounding tropical deserts. The most common azonal landscapes are river valley landscapes and mountain landscapes.

However, the most important discovery made by V.V. Dokuchaev is that geographic zoning represents natural and cultural phenomenon. It affects not only nature, but also culture and human activities. According to Dokuchaev, a person is zonal in all manifestations of his life:“in customs, religion (especially in non-Christian religions), in beauty, even in sexual activity, in clothing, in all everyday situations; zonal - livestock ... cultivated vegetation, buildings, food and drink. Anyone ... who would have to travel from Arkhangelsk to Tiflis could easily see how much the buildings, dress, customs, customs of the population and their beauty change depending on the climate, animals, plants, soil characteristic of a particular area.

Under geographical area V. V. Dokuchaev understood such a system in which nature (climate, water, vegetation, wildlife) and man, his activities are interconnected, “tuned” to each other.

It is obvious that the relationship between human communities and the surrounding landscapes was closer before the industrial revolution, when the technical capabilities of man were more modest, he lived closer to nature, and there were much fewer people. Nevertheless, each, even the most “technicalized”, people retains the memory of the “mother” (quite definite zonal or azonal) landscape, forest or wall, of the images of the Motherland associated with this landscape, not only visual, but also cultural and linguistic . The language preserves the memory of the developed landscapes and contains their characteristics.