No 4 (2024)

At the beginning of the last century, V.I. Vernadsky believed that associated humanity would act rationally in accordance with the collective mind, a powerful science, changing the biosphere in a direction favorable to society. At the turn of the XX–XXI centuries, technocratic social theories justify the transition of mankind to post-industrial development with a high level and quality of life on the planet. But the modern technogenic world is developing in accordance with the interests of capitalistically developed countries focused on their own well–being due to the accelerated destruction of world biological resources, the comprehensive expansion of the artificial environment of life – the urban technosphere, which results in the destruction of soil cover as the basis of biospheric life, deterioration of human population health and shortening of his life expectancy. Over the past two decades, the interrelated integration of the processes of social, artificial and biological development has been studied by scientists of the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Philosophical School of Socio-Technogenic Development of the World and come to the conclusion that the technosphere shell of life is rapidly taking the place of the age-old soil shell of the biosphere development on land. People should not allow the death of the biosphere on land, which leads us to the need to approve a safe socio-biosphere strategy for the development of life instead of a socially man-made way of its destruction.

The article provides an overview of information about the fossil Jehol biota, one of the most studied and well–preserved continental ecosystems of the Early Cretaceous. The Jehol biota is represented by an assemblage of fossils of excellent preservation, consisting of the remains of numerous plants, including the most ancient angiosperms, charophytes and dinocysts, freshwater gastropods and bivalves, numerous crustaceans (conchostracans, ostracods, higher crustaceans), insects, arachnids, fish, amphibians, turtles, choristodera, lizards, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, including feathered and birds, as well as the largest mammals of the Mesozoic, originating from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian and Jiufotang formations in northeastern China. However, similar deposits containing key elements of the Jehol biota – crustaceans Eosesteria, insects Ephemeropsis and fish Lycoptera are known from Transbaikalia. This may indicate that during large-scale excavations, the remains of vertebrate organisms, similar in preservation to the fossils of the Jehol biota, can also be found in Transbaikalia.

Конкреции, насыщенные раковинами фоссилий, ювелирно-поделочного качества недавно появились на мировом рынке, включая россий-ский, и остаются геммологически слабо изученными. Авторами впервые детально изучены конкреции с раковинами аммонитов из графстваДорсет, Англия, в качестве камнесамоцветного сырья. Конкреции диаметром 5–10 см, известные в Англии как «coinstones» (камни-монеты),происходят из синемюрского яруса нижней юры. Проведенными исследованиями установлено, что они состоят из кальцита (88 масс.%),присутствуют: арагонит, анкерит, доломит, пирит, кварц, апатит, каолинит, иллит, плагиоклаз. Из элементов-примесей фиксируются повышен-ные содержания Sr (0.0793 масс.%). Раковины аммонитов небольшого размера, кальцитового минерального типа. Стенки и перегородкисохраняют частично арагонит. Неразрушенные гидростатические и жилые камеры выполнены известковым мергелем. Мергель конкрецийи раковин тонкозернистый с пелитовой структурой. В нем присутствуют прожилки кальцита разного размера и структуры. Конкреции ха-рактеризуются высокой декоративностью и положительными технологическими характеристиками, позволяющими изготавливать широкийассортимент изделий, включая ювелирные.

An assessment of breeding forms of Chaenomeles for use in further breeding in the direction of obtaining fruit products was carried out. The studyincluded 50 new hybrids of Chaenomeles speciosa, C. cathayensis, C. × superba. A wide variability of a group of hybrids in terms of large fruit,pulp thickness, yield, shape, taste of fruits and other economically valuable parameters has been established. Based on the complex of traits, sixgenotypes of different maturation periods were identified that exceeded the control or were at its level, two of them did not have thorns, as well asfour of the most promising – for some of them. A high and very high level of content of biologically active substances in the fruits of most breedingforms was noted. One hybrid with the most balanced composition of chemical compounds was singled out.