Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2020 number 1

Use of the basin approach and other modern research methods (information-logical analysis, and geomodeling) helped to reveal the interaction and special features of the mutual location of geosystems of altitudinal belts and river catchments which form the characteristic features in the differentiation of vegetation and soil cover in mountain conditions. It is shown that the landscape pattern and morphometric characteristics of river basins indicate different processes of destruction of the mountain massif in the western and eastern parts of the Basegi Ridge. It was found that the asymmetry in the slopes of the ridge and the associated hydrothermal conditions lead to a differentiation in the structural organization of the basins. This study determined the degree of dependence of the plant community and the soil type on the slope steepness and exposure, the absolute elevation and structural elements of the catchments of small rivers. According to an enhancement in the degree of influence on the growth conditions of plant communities, the topographic features under study form a series: slope exposure < elements of river ba sins < slope steepness < height above the sea level in meters. Specific conditions of vegetation and soils corresponding to the elements of the basin are determined. It is concluded that tundra and meadow vegetation is more informative. Based on the generalized spatial analysis, the cartographic model was developed for the soil cover of the Basegi Ridge. The elements of the catchments are characterized by different soil cover. A maximal diversity of plant communities and soil cover variegation on the slope surfaces of river basins is more clearly pronounced. Soil cover variegation implies a combination of zonal soils (Brown forest soils, Cambisols) of the mountain taiga and azonal soils (Gleezems (Gleysols) and peat soils (Histosols)). Hence, with the processes of basin formation predominating, the slopes show some “deformation” of the existing structure of altitudinal-vegetation belts. In watershed spaces, above the energy zones (catchment funnels), the influence of basin formation is weakening and the altitudinal zonation-associated differentiation is enhanced.