Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and natural resources 2018 number 1

To identify current trends in the functioning of the geosystems of the Tunkinskaya depression and the mountains surrounding it, this paper considers the natural course of their development and anthropogenic transformation. The main landscape-forming factor is represented by the characteristics of the morphological structure of the surface of the mountain-basin territories experienc ing the effects of intense current dynamical trends: aeolian processes, debris flow activity and eutrophication which enhance the polychronicity of the landscape structure. Landscape discontinuity is complicated by the ongoing economic activities. Significant areas of the gentle slopes of the depression are occupied by agricultural lands; periodically recurring human-caused fires that are responsible for a widespread occurrence of secondary small-leaved forests. For forecasting the trends in the natural-economic situation, an assessment is made of the rehabilitation dynamics of the biotic component of geosystems. In the absence of the an thropogenic factor, the rehabilitation of natural piedmont pine (Pínus sylvestris) forests will require about 40-50 years, and several centuries in the case of natural mountain taiga larch (Larix sibirica) forests. The characteristics thus identified were used in compiling the landscape map for the Tunkinskaya depression and the mountains surrounding it which gives a complete picture of the current state of the geosystems. Evidence obtained in this study can provide a scientific basis for forecasting the evolution of geosystems, carrying out measures for nature management optimization and in dealing with nature conservation issues.